"The son of candied haws" is a small businessman selling candied haws and straws on his shoulders. Most of them walk around the streets or go to the market for temple fairs. Now many of them are peddling by bike. In the city, it is common to have a fixed booth, and the sugar-coated haws are placed in the glass cover, which is more sanitary.
There are many kinds of sugar-coated haws, including hawthorn, yam, begonia fruit, persimmon, orange petal, yam bean, water chestnut, apple, black date, grape and walnut kernel. There are only a few kinds of candied haws, such as raw, cooked and brewed. Hawthorn candied haws are the most common and varied.
Fu Cha Dunchong wrote in Yanjing Years in the late Qing Dynasty: "Sugar-Coated Berry is made of bamboo sticks, dipped in grapes, yam bean, begonia fruit, hawthorn and other things. It's sweet, crisp and cold, and eating it in winter night can get rid of coal ... "Eating sugar-coated haws can also prevent gas poisoning, but its scientific nature is still unclear. This is just 100 years ago. But hawthorn does have medicinal value.
Hawthorn, called red claw wood in ancient times, is named after its sour taste like hawthorn. Alias hawthorn, red fruit and carmine. Hawthorn can help digestion, dispel blood stasis and dissipate stagnation. According to legend, during Shao Xi's reign in the Southern Song Dynasty, Song Guangzong's favorite concubine was ill, sallow and emaciated, and did not think about food. The doctor used many expensive drugs, but it didn't work.
The emperor saw his beloved princess haggard and unhappy all day. Finally, I had to post a list of doctors. A quack entered the palace and felt the pulse of the imperial concubine. He said: "As long as you boil hawthorn brown sugar and eat five to ten tablets before meals, it will be fine for half a month." The imperial concubine took it according to this method and recovered after ten days. Later, this sweet, sour and crispy hawthorn dipped in sugar was introduced to the people and became a sugar-coated gourd.
A few years ago, I once saw a booth dipped in Sugar-Coated Berry, which was very popular. Liquefied gas tank, electric ignition stove, put the pot to boil sugar, slightly add peanut oil, wrap the gourd in hot sugar in advance, put it on the flat slate with sesame oil, gently pull the bamboo stick handle back by hand and gently pick it up. The sugar water on one side of the gourd is flat and bright, and the top protrudes for a while, which is very beautiful and appetizing.
Vendors call candied haws, but in fact, most of them are boiled white sugar dipped in haws. The key to dipping sugar-coated haws is the heat of boiling sugar. Without fire, sugar-coated haws are mushy and opaque. Too much sugar, heavy color, slightly bitter taste, do not eat. Boil sugar in a copper pot, which is the best to ensure that the color of sugar is clear and not turbid.
In the early 1990s, I interviewed the old man He Liqiu. The TV feature film "What's the Record of Sugar-Coated Berry" was broadcast on CCTV Economic Channel and won the second prize of "Eyes Open", which had a great influence. People in Henan, Northeast China and other provinces and cities have written letters to worship the old man He Liqiu as a teacher. The foreign trade departments of big cities also contact export matters. Later, Sugar-Coated Berry from Baoding also participated in the Spring Festival Gala of provincial TV and CCTV.
He Liqiu is an old man, Manchu, whose ancestors were in the flag. He is the sixth generation descendant of He Ji's sugar-coated gourd craft, and the sugar-coated gourd made by his ancestors was once enjoyed as a tribute by Cixi Lafayette. Old man He Liqiu dipped in candied haws, which was clean and beautiful and crystal clear, and was called "glass candied haws". His mouth is crisp and does not stick to his teeth, and he does not stick to sand when landing. This is all well controlled by temperature. To dip in sugar-coated haws is actually to turn the string of sugar-coated haws with instant noodles in the sugar jar upside down and hang a layer of sugar evenly on the fruit, which is called "hanging" in the industry.
He also has a unique skill, dipping in red bean paste balls and Sugar-Coated Berry. Bean paste is divergent, and it is not easy to string it on bamboo sticks. You have to dip sugar in the boiling pot, so you have to sprinkle the bean paste balls into the pot. He can also make candied haws for Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Huang Zhong, Ma Chao and Zhao Yun, using white mud stuffing of yam, sand stuffing of red beans, black sesame paste, melon seeds, orange petals, orange peel and so on. , make the sugar-coated haws lifelike and magnificent.
He said that this is a candied gourd made by the older generation for the rich people's birthdays. Although I learned, I didn't do much, and the staple food was the most. Old man He Liqiu can make dozens of candied haws such as figures, flowers and birds. "Butterflies" dance and "flowers" compete to open ... Sugar-coated haws are rare at first glance, and they are simply handicrafts. Many people have studied it for a long time and are reluctant to eat it right away.
Old man He Liqiu said that he used to sell candied haws in the bathhouse. The temperature and humidity there are high, and Sugar-Coated Berry melts easily. Generally, people who sell candied haws are afraid to get involved. After taking a shower, my mouth is thirsty. Rich people are willing to eat snacks besides drinking tea and water, especially some people have low blood sugar. Eating a sugar-coated gourd will help. As a result, the old man He Liqiu got a "bag" of candied haws, which was taken away by the rich people who took a bath and the singers at once.
Most of the sellers of Sugar-Coated Berry swam to get a straw handle, while the old man He Liqiu made an oval gourd out of wood. Sometimes with your hands, sometimes with your arms, sometimes with your head. He said it was a Manchu selling method. In the past, there was a method of selling Sugar-Coated Berry by lottery, that is, putting a sign in a bamboo tube with a scale on it, and customers drew lots, spending a lot of money at a time, and holding the scale, they could take several strings of Sugar-Coated Berry. Of course, most labels have a rating.
Old man He Liqiu has been dead for more than ten years, and some of his unique skills have also been lost. Fortunately, Baoding sells a lot of candied haws, most of which are of good quality. Most of the hawthorns are potholes, and the candied hawthorns with stuffing earn kung fu money. Two half-opened red fruits, much like mussels, are filled with beans, red and black, and inlaid with a circle of melon seeds. They are very beautiful, and some stalls often queue up to buy them.
There is a poem "Zhi Zhu Ci" written by sugar-coated haws in Qing Dynasty:
Hawthorn appetizers digestion, but only hate sour taste.
When caramel is sweet, it is really cheap.
Hawthorn is like a red top, so it's best to wear it in a string.
Is it true that many officials have bought titles in recent years, and there are countless red tops?
The poem uses red hawthorn to compare the red tassels of coral pearls worn by Qing officials, which can't be sold out, and satirizes the corrupt politics of selling officials and titles, which is really funny.
Nowadays, there is a popular song "Sugar-coated Hulu":
It is said that sugar-coated haws are sour and wrapped in them are sweet.
It is said that sugar-coated haws are sweet, but they are actually wrapped in acid.
Sugar-coated haws look good on bamboo sticks, symbolizing happiness and reunion.
Connect happiness and reunion in a string, without worry, without worry.