Without the company of delicious food and beautiful scenery, the journey and life cannot be complete. If you have the opportunity, it is best not to miss it. Among the green landscapes and ordinary alleys of "Wandering and Eating Guizhou", there is a Guizhou that you can see, encounter, smell and eat waiting for you.

When you see the coveted place, it’s time to set off.

I also said in my column last week that the late spring cold has passed, and in the blink of an eye, I was slapped in the face. It was gloomy and rainy for several consecutive days, the temperature dropped sharply, the spring mood was not good, and I even felt depressed. Fortunately, my friend didn't give up and sent me some Qingming cakes with brown sugar filling, which I have always liked. Add a little oil to the pot and fry slowly over low heat. When the filling is completely melted, your mouth will be full of sugar and your mood will become lighter.

I had never eaten Qingming cake when I was a child. The first time I tried it was in Anshun. The taste is also very delicious, and the addition of spring vegetables is also the finishing touch, which adds to the flavor and makes the spring spirit seem to be strong.

The so-called Qingming cake, as the name suggests, is related to the season and the wild vegetables growing in this season.

An indispensable Qingming dish in Qingming cakes, the scientific name is sage grass, a plant in the Asteraceae family. It occurs in spring, and its stems and leaves are the most tender at this time and can be eaten. Qingming cakes are made in many places in Guizhou. There are slight differences in each place, but the glutinous food is the same. The picked stems and leaves are washed and chopped, mixed with glutinous rice noodles, and filled with fillings. It can be salty or sweet, and each has its own flavor. Method, shape into a cake the size of a child's fist, steam or fry, and enjoy. After being mixed with Qingming vegetables, the glutinous rice cake is dyed an attractive green color. Just looking at it makes people happy. It is not only the color, but also the taste. It is difficult to describe it in detail. I can only say that it has a different kind of country. The breath of wildness is the beauty of Qingming cake.

As for the wormwood, I have not read much and have little knowledge. I seem to have found no relevant records in the local literature in Guizhou that I have read. However, my almost torn copy of "Plant Names" by Wu Qijun "Shitu Kao" mentions it in Volume 14, and it is quite detailed: "Ratula striata" was first recorded in "Supplementary Materials of Materia Medica". Li Shizhen thought that it was "Rattus leucocephala" in "Bielu", "Phyllostachys striata" in "Medicine Pair" and "Youyang" Zazu》荍蜉 wine, also known as rat ear. Today, Jiangxi and Hunan call it water ant grass, or it means 荍蜉wine, and it is still used for making pancakes. Green is the most popular porridge in the spring in central Hunan. It must be picked during the Qingming Festival to commemorate it. It is called Qing, which means that the spring grass will be green again after the rain and dew. Now that it is wet, a gentleman must be wary. Although he is a wild beast, does he have a different nature? There is a poem by Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty that said: "The rat's ears are forbidden to smoke when they are born, and they are looking for spring in Qingming." "Along the River" is a beautiful scene. I wonder if I recall the scenery of the imperial capital after crossing the south. I still remember that the temple still looks the same.

There is a lot of information in this text. Although it is recorded as a custom in Hunan, dyeing glutinous rice noodles to make glutinous rice cakes is no different from the current practice in Guizhou. As for the "porridge" in "Porridge in the market", it is also known as "Vend" here, that is, it is sold. meaning. Its relationship with the Tomb-Sweeping Festival is very poetic and connotative in Wu Qijun's records, and it is also related to the Confucian teaching of "be cautious in pursuing the past". It was written by a local official, which is very consistent with his status.

Not long ago, while browsing Bilibili, I saw the video account of a migrant worker couple named Brother Sichuan. They brought a Qingming vegetable dumpling stuffed with thirteen sausages and bacon to the construction site for lunch, and placed it in a huge It was poured out into a thermos bucket and all stuck together, but it tasted extremely sweet and made my mouth water.

I also saw a saying on Baidu that Qingming dishes are also called "Mian Xutou" and "Hanshi dishes" in southern Jiangsu. Folk herbal medicine even calls Qingming dishes "Zhui Gu Feng". Folks often pick young seedlings before and after Qingming, cook them, and knead them into rice flour to make cakes.

This is also consistent with my own experience. In my hometown in the countryside of Zhejiang, I also eat similar food, called Qingtuan dumplings, which are more elegant than Guizhou’s Qingming cakes. In my impression, they are smaller and mostly have sweet fillings. After steaming, it can be eaten hot or cold. It is delicate and fragrant. Nowadays, it is also made into pastries, which are more delicate and can be bought on Taobao. I don’t bother to do any delicate operations. I just chop the stems and leaves of Qingming vegetables and mix them into the glutinous rice noodles. The filling is also rough and solid. One bite will satisfy you, even for those who have a small appetite. , one is full. However, many relatives and friends in Jiangnan now are likely to miss this taste of spring due to the epidemic. They only hope that the lockdown will be lifted as soon as possible and they can catch up with the Qingtuan consumption.