Ash poncho, also called water poncho, flying poncho and poncho wood in some places. Born in the hills, mountains, wasteland, is a grassy plant with high alkaline content and seeds. Gray poncho contains alkaline, and the seeds contain much starch, which can be used as fodder. Three years of difficult times, people grinding its seed surface to feed the hungry, bitter and difficult to swallow.

People use it instead of alkali to roll out steamed bread, now many cities in the Northwest in use, such as the authentic Lanzhou beef noodles must use ash water and noodles can not be stretched out as fine as cotton threads, "a nest of silk", there is no sinewy and pliable texture;

And the noodles of Gansu Wuwei, the noodles are also in the process of production of this kind of pasta! The addition of ash in the production process, making the production of yellowish color, texture, unique flavor, is one of the most popular snacks of the local people.

Expanded Information:

The main ingredient of ponchoi is potassium carbonate, with the formula K2CO3, and a molecular weight of 13.5 pounds. K2CO3, molecular weight is 138. pong ash is grass ash burnt with pong firewood grass, after hundreds of years of use. The ash is only used in Lanzhou beef noodles, and there is no national standard to enforce.

Now on the market using a kind of poncho ash is poncho grass burned, a kind of enterprise according to the poncho ash composition of the preparation, poncho ash contains lead, arsenic ingredients, but the content is far below the national standard.

The Institute of Health Supervision has been conducting regular and irregular sampling tests of the ash used in beef noodle shops, and found that the lead and arsenic content of the prepared ash was lower than that of the burned ash.

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