With the autumn breeze, delicious food has been listed one after another.
For xi'an people, there is an irreplaceable nostalgia, that is, fire crystal persimmons.
My mom especially loves persimmons, I don't.
I don't like to eat persimmons, first, I feel that peeling trouble, I don't have this patience, second, if I don't have the patience to peel the skin clean, it will be full of astringency, and third, persimmons are too soft and tender, I don't have a good grasp of the weight, and I tend to eat a face and a hand. The combination of these few strokes has led me to stay away from persimmons since I was a child.
But my mother did the preliminary work in order to let me eat a bite of the persimmon that she thought was "particularly delicious": the skin was peeled clean, the persimmon was removed, and the small black spots around the persimmon were also removed, and finally handed to my mouth, I just needed to pout and suck from the top.
Almost without much effort, a package of cool and sweet honey syrup is sucked into the mouth, from the tip of the tongue to the stomach all the way down, the heat is fresh, very able to drop just into the autumn by the parents forced to put on the dry heat of autumn clothes and autumn pants.
This kind of persimmon that can suck out the flesh of the fruit with a pout of the mouth, grew up to know that it is called fire crystal persimmon, my mother said that it is because the persimmon is ripe and hangs in the treetops like a fiery red translucent lantern and got its name.
It was also a college exchange with classmates, only to find that this kind of persimmon is not everywhere, and even the students in northern Shaanxi and southern Shaanxi are not very eaten, which is unique to Xi'an.
More precisely, it is unique to The Lintong District of Xi'an.
Although Lintong to Xi'an is very close, it is about thirty kilometers, but in the early years, whether Xi'an people can eat fire crystal persimmons, all depends on the uneven road - fire crystal persimmons are small, it is as big as an egg, the skin is as thin as paper can be transparent, covered in the newspaper can see the following words, plus when plucked from the tree has been ripe, it is not easy to transport, thirty miles into the city road to be extra careful.
I remember that people who sold persimmons used a ten-centimeter-high wooden box to spread thick corn leaves or rubbed newspapers, and then put the persimmons neatly arranged in a neat arrangement, and there were soft objects between the persimmons and persimmons, which were very delicate.
People who buy persimmons are also solemn, more careful than buying eggs, eggs can also be carried back in a plastic bag, but fire crystal persimmons are not OK, you must bring a shoe box or some other box to buy, otherwise it will rot for you in minutes.
Although it is not convenient to buy, but the fire crystal persimmon is not expensive at all, a while ago a small long holiday to go out to play, on the side of the road can also buy five a dollar, when I was a child, a few dollars can bring a box back. It's just not easy to buy.
Sometimes it is randomly encountered in the vegetable market, the two mouths selling vegetables in addition to the vegetables also brought some home-grown persimmons, sometimes it is a fruit shop in the alley, the boss wrote a "fire crystal persimmon on the market" cardboard placed in front of the store, under the cardboard is a small red persimmon.
More is a gift between relatives or neighbors, "the old yard / village head / self-reserved land planted a tree, can not eat everyone to share", but also shows the preciousness of this small fire crystal persimmon.
Before, I didn't quite understand that since everyone likes to eat, how not to plant it on a large scale, so that friends from other provinces can also taste it. It was not until more than a decade ago that the fire crystal persimmon became a "National Geographical Indication Product of China" and read the relevant reports to know that this persimmon can only be grown in Lintong, and even can only grow well in some villages and towns. Without here, you can only grow into an ordinary persimmon, no longer has the unique flavor of fire crystal persimmon. Because this area is not only suitable for altitude, but also the soil is also a flood silt soil deposited over thousands of years, whether it is density or pH, it is unique.
Thinking about it, I also think that Lintong is really interesting, not only is it the place where Qin Shi Huang chose to rest for a long time, but also has hot springs and delicious fire crystal persimmons, so it is no wonder that it has been a much-loved tourist destination from ancient times to the present.
Tang Taizong once built a "hot spring palace" under Lishan Mountain in Lintong, and in addition to repairing bathing facilities, he also planted many flowers and fruits and trees, including many persimmon trees. I don't know if the emperor and his old man have soaked in the steaming hot spring while sucking in a cold and sweet fire crystal persimmon.
Leave him alone, anyway, everyone knows that Zhang Xiaojing, a bad handsome man in the Kaiyuan years, sneaked up on the streets of Chang'an. He used a straw to insert one after another, and very well informed the world of the characteristics of the fire crystal persimmon "red as fire, cool as crystal, and thin as paper". It is said that when he had not finished sucking a persimmon, the search volume of a certain treasure doubled.
■ Figure | TV series "The Twelve Hours of Chang'an"
The Tang Dynasty poet Liu Yuxi later wrote a poem called "Wing Hong Persimmon": "Xiao Lian stars are shadowed, and the sun hangs in the evening." Although I wrote the luster of the fire crystal persimmon, I think it is more accurately recorded in the "Tujing Bencao" compiled by the Song people: "The persimmon is out of Huashan, like a tomato and round and small, the skin is thin and lovely, and the taste is more sweet and precious."
Now it is the season of eating fire crystal persimmons, autumn is getting deeper and colder, wear warm and warm, and then peel a fire crystal persimmon, persimmon as desired, and suck and cool.
Author | Mo Jiangnan | Chastity author