Chapter 4 4. Toon tree in Murakami

Chinese toon trees not only grow in the south of the Yangtze River, but the most moving Murakami toon trees grow in the soft and windy Jiangnan.The Chinese toon tree is a majestic and beautiful man among the trees, with a straight tree shape, dark red and glossy material, and refreshing and moving texture.The most delicious leaf buds grow on the branches in spring, and in the early summer, the shade of their delicate white flowers will cover all the courtyards in southern villages. Back then, in front of the old house of my grandmother's house, there were two Chinese toon trees with the same root as thick as the waist, which were conjoined and stood between the corners of the courtyard by the bamboo fence.After the rain in spring every year, under the sun, they shake the cute red leaves on the branches together, grow and breathe proudly in the fumigation of April, and the air is filled with wisps of green fragrance.

When winter turns to spring, the cuckoo crows, the water rushes in the ditches, and the countryside is full of moving smiles in spring. The mountains in the distance look ethereal and distant, and the toon branches, big and small, are in the forest and around the house. The head starts to sprout.When the spring breeze blows in three or five days, those crooked bud beetles scramble out from the purple-brown velvet layer, stretching the young leaves. Under the sunlight full of moisture, from a distance, the whole tree seems to be burning bright red flames.Girls and children can pick up the bamboo pole and the fork and laugh and say "beating the toon head".

The vegetables that grow on the trees are graceful and unrestrained, and they must be a little different, and they will not follow the customs in a low-key manner.The rushing and rushing fresh air of the toon head has a super fire-fighting function, which can make people feel happy physically and mentally.Wash the Chinese toon head, put it in boiling water, scald it, chop it, mix it with tofu, pour some sesame oil, and before you lift your chopsticks, the attractive color and fragrance will already float into your mouth—as Wang Zengqi said, "One piece of chopsticks, three springs Do not forget".A plate of snow-white tofu slices, with a small amount of green and finely chopped Chinese toon in the middle, seeing such a back-to-basics dish at a banquet with a lot of oil and meat, it will make people look and talk very refreshing!And toon scrambled eggs, whether it is a grass-roots kitchen or a luxury restaurant, is the most popular dish.It’s just that it’s called Xiang Toon Stuffed Eggs in restaurants, and minced meat is added to it, and sometimes very finely chopped dried tea is added, and it’s plump and swollen when fried in heavy oil. The taste is really good.

In my early memories, my grandma sometimes cut the Chinese toon heads I picked into thin shreds and mixed them with fried yellow egg skins, put them on a white porcelain plate, poured boiled rapeseed oil on them, and it was green and light red. A bright yellow plate is served on the table, not talking about eating, just looking at it, as much as it is eye-catching.Chew a mouthful of such toon head, let the fresh air slowly spread in your mouth, it feels like holding spring in your mouth, savoring it bit by bit... Even the childish heart is full of the joy of Xinning's life Peaceful and beautiful.

In Jingchuan, which is adjacent to us, the locals use toon heads as shallots and coriander to enhance freshness and remove fishy smell.For example, boil fresh fish soup, sprinkle some toon leaves, after eating fish, you can drink two big bowls of fish soup in a row.When Huizhou people leave their hometowns, among the dry food they bring with them is toon 粉, also known as panzang 粉. Eating this kind of 🍠 will never forget their homeland for thousands of miles.And a kind of "toon noodle fish" with a very local flavor is a bit of a spoof. It is to wash the tender toon head, drain the water, drag it in the batter without thinking, and hang it Deep-fried in hot oil until golden brown, with an unusual salty, crispy and fragrant taste, it is definitely much more delicious than the fried tomato lettuce in western restaurants.Because the whole Chinese toon head is fried, the branch looks like a fish, so it has this name.

The bamboo shoots before the rain (grain rain) and the bamboo shoots after the rain are very particular about the season.There is a proverb in my hometown: before the rain, the toon head is tender without silk, and after the rain, the toon head grows wooden branches.People in my hometown only hit the side branches and the buds and leaves that are not yet shrunk, but don't touch the strong toon heads at the top of the main branches.The chopped toon heads couldn't be eaten for a while, so grandma dried them and marinated them, put them in a water-absorbing jar and sealed them. No matter how long it took to open them, they still smelled so fragrant, and even the color didn't change much.

People often push Taihe toon to the extreme.The famous Chinese toon varieties in Taihe include purple oil toon, black oil toon, red toon and green toon, and the quality of purple oil toon is the best.According to legend, in the Tang Dynasty, purple toon was used as a tribute. Every time around the rainy season, the fast horses on the post road carried the top-quality purple toon buds, and they flew to Chang'an day and night.What a smile of a concubine in the world of mortals, no one knows that it is "Xiang Toon"!Just like being fat, swallows and thin are beautiful and sad. I don’t know what kind of Chinese toon in my hometown, but all the Chinese toon in my hometown are bright red leaves and shiny stems. Yes, because cuckoos always like to stop on the tall toon branches and sing long, spreading the news of spring.

Sometimes I can't help but wonder if a person's love for the food of one's hometown has a direct relationship with the formation of his personality?I am a poetic person, the wind comes and the rain goes, the clouds roll and the clouds clear. Whenever I enjoy the nostalgia as a delicacy, I can't help but think of some deceased people who shared them with me.The flavor and rhyme of my hometown are like an old record, it turns slowly in the depths of my heart, and the wind lifts me up...