Chapter 93 High Chair Camellia

When we first arrived in Gaoyi, we were treated as honored guests. The host gave each of us a bowl of steaming camellia oil. After sitting at the Eight Immortals table and drinking the camellia oil, we were led by a village girl to visit the village and learn about the ancient dwellings of Gaoyi. history. Camellia oleifera belongs to the rural morning tea series. It is earlier than breakfast. It is an early morning for children to honor their elders and relieve hunger before breakfast.After the parents get up, the children pour water for the parents to wash their faces, put a bowl of hot oil tea on a small red lacquer tea tray, put it on the Eight Immortals table in front of the shrine in the main room, respectfully wait behind the parents, and call their parents to drink tea.Help the parents to sit up, and then hand the oil tea after the parents sit down.After the parents drink the camellia tea, they start to take care of their duties as parents for a day and assign their children a day's work.

The high chair is located on the bank of Wushui River, a tributary of the Yuanjiang River in Huitong County, at the western end of Hunan Province, and belongs to the category of Greater Western Hunan. Gaoyi Ancient Village has been multiplied here since the descendants of Yang Zaisi in the Song Dynasty. After hundreds of years of development, it has formed a large-scale and relatively complete ancient Ming and Qing architectural complex.There are 104 ancient houses with brick and wood structure in the whole village, 60% of the people are surnamed Yang, living a life of farming and studying in a paradise, and have a special way of life and customs of the Dong people. Camellia oleifera is one of their customs, mixed with Hunan Features and the mysterious and southern flavor of Xiangxi.

The old man in the high chair drank camellia oleifera all the year round after his children and grandchildren got married, and his life expectancy was relatively long.Gaoyi Ancient Village currently has four elderly people over a hundred years old. Many are in their eighties and nineties, and they are all in good shape. Even the grandma who made oil tea for us is in their seventies. Ten years old, he moves quickly and works non-stop all day. The main raw materials of Camellia oleifera are brewed tea, rice tofu and steel beans (kidney beans). The special method of high chairs and the special eating method of the Dong people are used to create the atmosphere of Camellia oleifera.

Rice tofu is very popular among ethnic minorities in western Hunan, and is a very common snack and drink.Grind rice into a slurry, solidify and press gypsum to make tofu, cut into small pieces, soak in soup and eat hot.In Gu Hua's novel, he wrote about the rice tofu in Furong Town, which was very detailed and vivid. He introduced the rice tofu to the people of the whole country, and also made Furong Town famous. Bubble tea is a special product in Huitong, and it is somewhat similar to ordinary sesame candy.Tea is made from glutinous rice. Cook the glutinous rice, cool it and dry it in the shade. Do not expose it to the sun to prevent the rice grain from bursting or breaking. When it is fried, it will enter the gravel and crush it, and then press it into thin pieces. It can be used after drying.The difference is that sugar is not used for bonding, there is no greasy sweetness, and there is a fragrance; sesame candy is usually pressed into large pieces, cut into small pieces with a knife, and they are still stuck together, which can be opened when eating; It is a thin sheet that becomes a nest after drying.Bubble tea is named after boiling water for drinking. It is mostly used during festivals and weddings. There are two kinds of red and yellow, which represent prosperity and joy.

Camellia oleifera also needs garlic, diced green onion, ginger, chili powder, and broth.Camellia oleifera is very particular about broth, which is made according to the special method of the Dong nationality, and boiled with extra ingredients and secret soup ingredients.It is very delicious after drinking and has a refreshing effect.Other ingredients are also a bit particular. The garlic is taken as a unit, and it is cooked in boiling hot broth; the green onion is taken from the south, and the green onion leaves are cut into cylindrical fines, and the oil tea is soaked and scattered on the soup; Ginger is shaved to remove the rough skin, without slicing or rice, just pull a ginger branch from the ginger palm and put it into the soaked oil tea. When eating, the spicy taste of ginger slowly emerges, and the taste becomes more and more spicy; the chili powder is very delicate , scattered in the broth, drinking in winter has the effect of dispelling cold.The green beans are cooked, warm when eating, put in the broth and sink to the bottom of the bowl.Rice tofu is cold, after soaking in boiling hot broth, it starts to heat up, and it doesn't burn your mouth when you eat it.

The tea is slowly blended into the soup, and it is soft when you pick it up. There is still some salty and spicy taste in your mouth, which is smoother and more tenacious.Gently take a sip of the soup, the taste is very delicious, pure natural sweetness.Rice tofu has no alkali and gypsum taste, but a kind of mellow rice and tender tofu, and the texture of the surface is elastic.Kidney beans are very sweet without any bitter taste.After eating a bowl, my hungry stomach has a substrate, and my spirit is very refreshing, which leads the way for appetizing high chair delicacies. While appreciating the style of Gaoyi Ancient Village, I sighed the culture of camellia oleifera and the filial piety of Gaoyi people. It was really a different feeling.