Qilu Evening News Qilu One Point reporter Wang Zhen
For Jiaodong people, swallowing a mouthful of flowers, this year can be considered into the heart. After entering the winter, in various parts of Wendeng District of Weihai City, more than 200 households of huabao production industry have started a fire to prepare for the peak sales season of Jiaodong huabao. As the "hometown of flowers and flowers in Shandong Province", the total output value of the flower and food industry in Wendeng District reached 300 million yuan, and a large number of rural women were absorbed into local employment, so the flower food has become a local rich people's characteristic industry.
Pumpkin juice and golden yellow noodles are kneaded into the body and head; white dough slices are lightly cut a few times to make a beard; chopsticks are lightly poked twice, and then two black beans are stuffed into the eyes... A small tiger-shaped flower bounty quietly emerged from the hands of the skilled cook.
In the production workshop of Shandong Yiyang Dekang Food Technology Co., Ltd. located in Houjia Town, Wenden District, the dough mixer and the dough roller continuously transport the noodles to the board, and one by one the skilled chefs follow the kneading, shaping, and assembling, and one by one, the "MengHu BaoBao" flowers and dumplings are continuously produced, steamed for 30 minutes and then cooled, and then packed, packed, and shipped.
"About a third of a year's business is concentrated in the Waxing Moon." Lin Rongtao, technical director of Yiyang Dekang, said that the company has recently stopped other products, all of which are used to produce "Meng Hu Bao Bao", "a three-pound weight, selling for 128 yuan." We are fully engaged in production, and we can produce more than 1,000 in a day, or the supply is in short supply, and one-third of the orders come from online. ”
Lin Rongtao's other identity is the inheritor of the Weihai Municipal Intangible Cultural Heritage Jiaodong Flower Dumpling Customs. Since childhood, he followed his mother to make flower dumplings, graduated from the Chinese pastry major, became famous in various skills competitions in the catering industry, and studied with teachers everywhere to learn and learn from others, Lin Rongtao is famous for his achievements in Jiaodong flower dumplings.
In Jiaodong, flower dumplings have been passed down for hundreds of years, and making flowers and flowers is a "compulsory course" for women in Jiaodong. What is the difference between the flowers that every household can make and Lin Rongtao's flowers? The answer can be found in the office building of Yiyang Dekang, which is also the cultural and creative industry base of Huabao in Wenden District.
Lin Rongtao's studio is full of dazzling, the fairy surrounded by shou peach and the dragon head with all the hair are full of atmosphere, the goldfish play lotus and the pine crane Yannian are small and exquisite, and dozens of works are all ingenious. "There are many themes, such as birthday celebrations, birthday celebrations, wedding celebrations, and further education. As long as the customer has the needs, we can design it. Lin Rongtao said that one of his most proud works is "Li Long Bai Shou", that is, at the Li Long Cultural Mountain Conference in 2013, he spent a month and made a three-meter-long "Li Long King" with more than 200 pounds of noodles, the dragon body was swirling, and each of the four dragon claws showed a big shou peach, "At that time, 8 strong men carried up the mountain, and as soon as they appeared, they caused a sensation in the audience." ”
The vitality of Jiaodong Flower Rao is getting stronger and stronger, precisely because there are inheritors like Lin Rongtao, who are developing with the times while inheriting. Lin Rongtao, who is also a national senior arts and crafts artist and a national-level Chinese pastry technician, has made Hua Rao "both inside and outside".
Outside, refers to the shape and color. "Exquisite appearance is the most basic condition for attracting customers." Lin Rongtao took the reporter to the research and development room, and there were 30 kinds of tools such as knives, tweezers, scissors, combs, etc. on the table, "cutting different mouths with different scissors, and cutting different mouths with different knives." He held up an "iron pipe" that the reporter did not know, "This is called a poking knife, which is commonly used by hotel chefs, and I use it to make fish scales, feathers, double eyelids, etc." Lin Rongtao said that shaping is a delicate work, and the same tool plays an unequal role in the hands of different people, "We must be careful." A slight deviation makes the presentation very different. ”
The blending of colors is a science. In order to answer the reporter's questions, Lin Rongtao took the reporter to the laboratory. "The earliest flowers were used for sacrifice, so the older generation used paint and dye to color, which led to the skin of the flowers looking good but not eating." Lin Rongtao said, "Now we all use fruits and vegetables to squeeze juice and noodles to ensure that any part of the flowers can enter the mouth and stomach." The "apple" in a "fruit basket" once made the reporter think that this was true, Lin Rongtao explained: "In fact, it is made of pumpkin juice and noodles, made into a golden yellow apple, and then carefully brushed with cactus fruit powder to make red stripes." "Here, spinach juice is made to produce green, purple potatoes are made to be purple, and red is obtained from the juice of red yeast rice or dragon fruit." Now, everyone is using fruit and vegetable juice to ton, but after many days of high temperature steaming and storage, the color of the finished product is very different. This brings us to the issue of color preservation. Lin Rongtao then explained, "For example, adding some baking soda to the spinach juice and adding some white vinegar to the purple potato juice can make the color brighter and last longer." ”
Inside, it means delicious and healthy. This is also what Lin Rongtao pays the most attention to. "The same pasta, with different techniques and processes, adds different ingredients, and presents different flavors." Lin Rongtao said that the most basic kneading of dough is also technical work, and kneading badly not only affects the taste of the tendons, but even the surface is not smooth; and adding sugar to the noodles requires more caution. "When ordinary food becomes a commodity, it must strictly follow the standards of the food industry." Lin Rongtao said, "Many elderly people suffer from high blood sugar, diabetes, can not eat sugar, children grow up is not easy to consume too much sugar, but less sugar in the flowers is less sweet, so we use xylitol instead of sugar." ”
Lin Rongtao also understood the truth of the road to simplicity. "I can make very beautiful and complex samples, but after all, the flowers need to be quantitatively produced, and they must be made by ordinary women, which requires the flowers to be beautiful, delicious, and simple and easy to do." Lin Rongtao's design director status is precisely from this, only since the opening of Yiyang Dekang Food in May 2020, he has designed more than 100 kinds of products, so that ordinary village women who come to work can learn it several times, and also ensure that more than 60 women receive a monthly salary of 3,000 or 4,000 yuan here all year round.
The honor room is filled with a wall of honorary certificates, while the three certificates at the top belong to Lin Peng. For Lin Rongtao, his son Lin Peng is his greatest honor. The 25-year-old Lin Peng is also a research and development staff of Yiyang Dekang, who studied in the workshop all day and won many awards. Seeing that his son was busy all day, Lin Rongtao was very pleased, "Do this line to meet two points, bear hardships and work hard." This kid did it all. ”
Inheritance has long since abandoned the view of portals. In recent years, Lin Rongtao has served as a visiting professor at Shandong Business Vocational College, Weihai Vocational College, and Wenden Technician School, teaching traditional skills on campus; he has also opened lecture halls in his own company to teach the surrounding flower and food business owners and kitchen ladies for free, and even often goes to peer companies to teach techniques and experience selflessly; there are hundreds of well-known apprentices, some even from Hainan, Tibet, Inner Mongolia and other places. "This craft is not my own, and I am very happy if it can help many people start a business and get rich." Lin Rongtao said that wenden Jiaodong flower and food folk customs were listed in the intangible cultural heritage of Shandong Province in 2009, and he sincerely hopes to pass it on and pass it on, so that more people can understand the food culture of Jiaodong.