Entering the waxing moon, each family will enter the production of hemp leaf preparation, on the one hand, the family's barley (wheat can not be) washing, heat preservation, germination, the first link of the germination is vital, because the memory seems to have been a time due to the growth of the malt was hindered, resulting in that year's hemp leaf production was unsuccessful experience; on the other hand, to be steamed until the glutinous rice _ into a hard state! A grain of rice after frying into fried rice, to be ready for both aspects of the preparatory work, hemp leaf production of the play only began to officially staged.
The chicken crowed two times, the family began the night before has been grinding the rice paste (rice and malt) on the pot to boil, split the power of the wood fire so that the malt water and the rapid separation of the wheat skin, this time can be used to hang in the beams of the house in the tofu rack (i.e., the two crosses of the stick tied to the head of a cloth bag) to start filtration, with the two hands continue to rock to shake to go to the gradual filtration of the malt water out. The day began to slowly dawn, into the pot of the second boiling pure malt water began to play a role, followed by a refreshing aroma of sugar slowly invade the nostrils, the aroma of sugar attracted adults and children have surrounded the pot, chattering and clamoring to drink malt water, not exactly stingy grandmother in order to safeguard the fruits of victory only had to scare us, "malt water to drink the stomach to die of pain! "Frightened us quickly dropped the ladle, until the aroma is full of when we again Hou in the stove, grandmother only scooped down a small bowl for us to taste. Only, by this time the syrup has begun to thicken, mushy in the throat is not good to swallow. When the sugar on the spatula was in the form of rows of ice cream, my grandmother's heart was slowly released.
After the sugar was boiled, the rest of the work was to cut the hemp leaves. By this time, it was already time to light the lamps, and the next-door neighbors were invited to come over to increase the number of people cutting the leaves. The next step was to put a little bit of sugar into the pot, pour the fried rice into it and quickly knead it into a pile and then put it on the board. My father used a knife to flatten it little by little until it was pressed into straight strips and then distributed it to the people who helped to cut the hemp leaves, and with the sound of "cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut", about two inches in length, the hemp leaves were cut into pieces and the next step was to cut the hemp leaves into pieces. With the sound of "cut, cut, cut", the hemp leaves about two inches long and one inch wide were cut down. The freshly cut hemp leaves were soft, but when they cooled down, they became particularly crispy and appetizing, and my generous grandmother would send a scoop of freshly cut hemp leaves to the next door or so, and then she would put the cut hemp leaves into a pre-prepared jar with a tight mouth. In addition to the day we can enjoy the luxury, in order to prevent the mouth, mother usually put the hemp leaves upstairs on the floor, want to eat a mouthful, but also have to carry a ladder up the stairs, careful, impression of an altar of hemp leaves have been able to eat until the beginning of spring.
In addition to this pure combination of rice and sugar hemp leaves, there is also a mixture of a little sesame and orange peel hemp leaves, encountered a good year, the mother will be fried sesame and orange peel into a little bit, the flavor will be more fragrant, the taste will be better, just that era, farmers are planted sesame but basically turned over to the family to enjoy the family is not much, the orange peel is in the material scarcity of the era is also a The orange peel was also a rarity in those days of material scarcity. Cutting hemp leaves near the end of the time, usually leaving a little bit of debris, grandmother will use the rest of the sugar will be crushed into these crumbs a small hemp ball, because the sugar is more, very sweet, small children love this bite, just you if you are greedy forget to wipe your mouth to go to sleep, then, the mouse can run in the middle of the night to 0 your mouth to share the sweetness with you oh.
Married to the in-laws later, less than 10 kilometers away from each other, the countryside is so similar, the family boiled sugar to become the annual New Year's Eve must be a traditional program. Usually this time mother-in-law will wait for me to vacation at home *** with the cooperation, which gives me to return to the hometown of the New Year unlimited power and yearning. After the New Year's Eve, my mother-in-law will be happy to be hemp leaves, turning dumplings, lotus leaves, fried rice, these hometown snacks into a number of parts, so that hemp leaves are far away from the thousands of miles to complete the mother-in-law on the children of that strong love and thoughts.
With the father and mother-in-law into the city, the family has no place no environment to boil sugar to make hemp leaves, the market in order to cater to people's tastes, has begun to these traditional food workshop, industrialization, everywhere in all kinds of flavors of hemp leaves. The market has been very good to help us complete everything, speedy everything, no need for us to labor and effort. But the market is like an invisible hand cut the whole process of food production in the past, buy these traditional food in addition to the exchange of money and goods, and I no longer have any relationship, to get the hand, eat to the mouth of the food is no longer half the temperature, and I and the food between the existence of even a little bit of feelings.
When I was quiet, I also thought, compared to the present wide range of exquisite food, hemp leaves are so rough, so inconspicuous, what makes me so memorable so unforgettable. Maybe only people born in that era have this experience! Maybe it is the sweetness of maltose that still lingers in the memory! Or maybe it's the warmth of the memories we have in front of our grandchildren as they go round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round!
Only the experience of boiling sugar and cutting hemp leaves can only be fixed in my mind forever, becoming a lingering memory of the lost years. Yes, our lives have changed forever, and we can't go back to the past.