Chapter 6 Section 3 Sweet and luscious chestnuts

Chestnut (Castanea mollissima) belongs to the chestnut genus Beech (juju) family.In ancient times, there was a saying of "red dates and brown chestnuts", which is an important dried fruit native to China.As far back as the Spring and Autumn Period more than 2,000 years ago, "The Book of Songs·鄘[yong] Feng·Dingzhi Fangzhong" already recorded "the hazel chestnut of the tree, the lacquer of the tung tree and the lacquer of the chair".my country has a long history of cultivating chestnut trees, which are generally divided into two types: chestnut and mountain chestnut.The former has large fruit, while the latter is slightly smaller, and they are distributed all over the country. The chestnut in the north is the most famous and has strong disease resistance. Many famous chestnut species in the world can be traced back to the Chinese chestnut family.Since the Tang and Song Dynasties, many chestnut gardens have been developed in northern China, such as Liguan Garden in Chang'an County, Shaanxi Province, Liyuan Village in Hebei Province, and the village names of Front Liyuan and Back Liyuan in Miyun County, Beijing.

Chestnut is a tall tree with a tall trunk, oval leaves, involucre needles and hairs, the seed coat in the nut can be peeled off, and there are yellow, sweet and sweet chestnut kernels inside.The well-known varieties include Hebei Anming chestnut, which has a hard skin that is easy to peel off, and the meat is fine, waxy and luscious, with high yield and good quality.Hebei Zunhua chestnuts and Beijing Liangxiang chestnuts belong to this category.Shaanxi Chang'an Mingjian chestnut, Tancheng Dayou chestnut, Shandong Tai'an Cao chestnut, and Guangxi Qing chestnut enjoy a good reputation in the international market.

Chestnut trees are full of treasures. Because young trees grow slowly, it takes five to eight years to bear fruit.Although it is not as profitable as the jujube tree, it is a high-yielding tree species with a fruiting period of more than 100 years.People call the chestnut tree a cash cow that "plants one year, reaps for many years; plants for one generation, enjoys for many generations".Chestnut fruit is rich in nutrition, containing 5%-10% protein, 7%-8% fat, 10%-20% sugar, 60%-70% starch, and various vitamins.It has a nourishing effect on the elderly, and has the functions of curing the spleen and nourishing the liver, invigorating qi, and thickening the stomach.Chestnut wood is hard, resistant to moisture and corrosion, and can be processed to make bridges, sleepers, poles and furniture.The husk can extract tannin, and the leaves can be used as fodder.Chestnut has a long flowering period and is a source of nectar.

Stir-fried chestnuts in sugar in Beijing are fruits with unique flavor. "History of Liao Dynasty" records that Liao Xingzong Yelu Zongzhen (reigned 1031-1055 AD) asked the Liyuan official in Nanjing (near today's Beijing) about the skill of frying chestnuts, which is enough to show that sugar-fried chestnuts had become a popular phenomenon as far back as 1,000 years ago. of gourmet food.This traditional snack has spread to Japan and Southeast Asian countries.Good fruit spreads friendship, chestnut fragrance floats thousands of miles.