For old Beijingers, as soon as the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month arrives, the New Year atmosphere becomes more intense day by day. In most parts of North China, there is a custom of soaking garlic in vinegar on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, which is called "Laba Garlic".

According to the old man, the word "garlic" in Laba garlic has the same pronunciation as the word "suan". This is the day when various businesses close their accounts and calculate the income and expenditure for the year to see the profit and loss. , including foreign debts and foreign debts, must be settled clearly on this day, which is what "Laba Calculation" is all about. On Laba day, a creditor who wants to pay a debt has to deliver a message to someone who owes him money, so he should be prepared to pay back the money. There is a folk proverb in Beijing: "Laba porridge and Laba garlic are the messengers for those who settle accounts; those who owe debts pay back." Later, some people who owed money to others used garlic instead of the word "calculate" to express taboo and avoid the word "calculate" used to settle accounts. "The word, in fact, what you owe others must be paid back after all. As the New Year approaches in old Beijing, there are vendors selling spicy vegetables in the streets and alleys, but there are no vendors selling Laba garlic. Why is this? Think about it, you have to shout to sell Laba garlic. How to shout? Just shout "Laba garlic!" The debtor's heart skipped a beat when he heard the shout, why are there still shouts on the street to collect debts? Besides, who does you, a small businessman, care about? It's good if people don't settle with you, so you can't go out to the streets to shout about Laba garlic. Every household makes the Laba garlic by themselves and calculates for themselves how they will spend this year.

To soak Laba garlic, you need to use purple-skinned garlic and rice vinegar. Peel off the old skin of the garlic cloves, soak them in rice vinegar, put them in a small jar and seal them tightly. Unsealed on New Year's Eve, the garlic cloves will be bright green, and the garlic will be fragrant with spicy acetic acid. Together, it is tangy and is the best condiment for eating dumplings. It can also be used in cold dishes and has a unique taste.

Why do you need to use purple garlic when soaking Laba garlic? The small purple-skinned garlic cloves are soaked thoroughly, the garlic cloves are hard and solid, and the garlic is crispy and fragrant. In recent years, purple-skinned garlic has become rare on the market. Use ordinary garlic and soak it. Although the cloves are large, they are not crispy and turn purple. What about those who grow garlic? Purple-skinned garlic has a low yield, and the harvest is 20% less than ordinary garlic. Who would grow it? Purple-skinned garlic is occasionally seen in the market. It comes on the market after the wheat harvest, and its price is one-third higher than ordinary garlic. Isn't this the same principle? If the harvest is small, it may be sold at a good price!

Why do you need to use rice vinegar to soak Laba garlic? The color of rice vinegar is light, and the color of soaked garlic remains as before. It is orange-yellow and emerald green. It tastes moderately sour and spicy, and has a strong and slightly sweet aroma. The old vinegar-smoked garlic will turn black after soaking in vinegar, the garlic cloves are not green enough, and the taste is poor. Especially the smoked vinegar has a slightly pasty taste. Maybe this is its characteristic. In fact, it is just a habit. It is not as delicious as you love to eat. Well!

In the past, people used to say that the color of the garlic soaked was not green on Laba Day. That's not the case at all. The reaction of soaking garlic in vinegar is that the green garlic cloves are spicy and sour; vinegar is sour and spicy. Nowadays, if you go to an old Beijing-style restaurant to eat noodles with soybean paste, you will be served a small plate of green Laba garlic all year round.

Laba garlic

Ingredients:

A few heads of garlic and a bottle of vinegar (Shanxi mature vinegar or Zhenjiang balsamic vinegar is best).

Method:

1 Start brewing on the winter solstice, or the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. Peel the skin off the garlic and cut off the stems. Then put the garlic into a sealable jar or bottle.

2 Pour the vinegar until the garlic cloves are covered.

3 Seal the container and place it in a cool place.

After 7 – 10 days, the garlic will turn green and you can eat it