(1472 words)
Autumn has arrived, and from time to time the streets of silver come the familiar shouting sound: "Sell melons, sell good seeds and melons!" The shouting of the sale reminds people that it is time to eat seeds and melons again.
At this time, even the most delicious watermelon is no longer attractive. Seed melon, like lanzhou beef noodles, is a very regional food. Outsiders don't know what seeds and melons are. Locals eat seed melon has a characteristic, not with a knife to cut open a tooth and tooth to eat, but with both hands to pick up the melon, on the ground "bang bang" a few times, wait for a small hole, along the mouth with a fist smash a few times, and then a break, the seed melon will be cut in half, and then take a spoon to dig and eat. On the yellow, white, yellow and white melons, there are large melon seeds that are black and shiny and black. The taste of the seed melon is refreshing, the sweetness is moderate, and it is better to have a yellow mouth and a large and flat seed. After eating the melon, wash the seeds, dry them for a day or two, you can eat a large plate of melon seeds, one melon and two to eat, it is really enjoyable.
Old varieties of seed melon
I remember when I was a child in Jingyuan County, in the autumn, melon farmers would run to the county town to set up stalls, and as long as the diners paid a dime, crouched at the side of the melon stall, chose a melon to mix a few times, and then smashed it with their fists, they could let go and eat, how much they could eat, but they must leave the melon seeds to the stall owner. The pale green round seeds and melons are piled up like hills, and the diners crouching on the street spit out black seeds while eating, making a landscape of their own.
Seed melon is a kind of health food that moisturizes the lungs and warms the stomach, and the "Compendium of Materia Medica" records: "The seed melon is sweet and sweet"; "Materia Medica Truth Seeking" records: "The gravy of the seed melon can moisten the lungs, relieve the heart, spleen and stomach heat, quench thirst, and eliminate ulcers."
Seeds and melons are properly stored and can be eaten until winter. When I was a child, the villagers stored the seeds and melons in the cellar and took them with them. Seeds and melons placed in the cellar can be kept fresh, and they are no different from the seeds just purchased. The seed melon stored in the waxing moon is a rare thing, and my grandmother often uses it to treat us.
I remember that one winter I had a cold and cough, and after eating the Chinese medicine prescribed by the barefoot doctor, I didn't see any good, so my grandmother took a seed melon from the cellar with a pair of small feet trembling, carefully cut off the surface of the light green melon skin with a kitchen knife, and then used the knife to spin a small bowl of seed melon with a belt to tell me to eat it, and I said: "Milk, your Xiaxia is coughing like this, why don't you want me to eat the seed melon, and let me eat the melon skin." "My melon doll yo, milk is to treat you, the old generation left the soil method, people who have a cold and cough eat seeds and melons for half a month will not cough, do not eat the green skin on the head when eating, you have to eat with a belt, but also drink some melon water." I forgot that I had eaten a few seeds and melons that winter, and my cough had gotten better.
From autumn to winter, every time we finished eating the seeds and melons, my grandmother had to wash and dry the seeds, and at the end of the year, she had saved up a basin full of them. Of course, I always do not forget to secretly grab a handful of relief, in fact, five or six years old I have neither patience, nor a mouthful of teeth to enjoy this delicious, always put seven or eight melon seeds in the mouth to chew randomly, smack a bit of melon seed juice, and then spit out the full mouth of melon seed skin, such a way of eating, neither eat well, but also wasted.
Large plate of melon seeds
One autumn afternoon, my grandmother finished the work at hand and asked me to move two small stools. Sitting under the eaves of the house, my grandmother sniffed the melon seeds, and then peeled out a white and fat melon seed for me to eat. Grandma also said that the little doll's teeth are tender, and the seeds and melons hurt the teeth and flowers, and it is better for adults to eat them. Grandma's neighbor, my third aunt and grandmother came to visit the door, saw grandma sniffing melon seeds for me to eat, and laughed at grandma: "Look at the doll habit, I see you are well calculated, no matter how painful it is, it is also someone else's doll, and the grandson is not as good as the vegetable root." Grandma said, "Xiaxia was brought up by me, I can feel sorry for this girl, and the root of the dish is also a dish..." When my aunt and grandmother left, I pulled my face and did not want to greet her. After the neighbor left, my grandmother disciplined me, and she said that even if the adults said something unpleasant, the children could not give people a face, so it was the most rude. Since then, no matter who said me, I have tried my best to restrain myself from giving people a look. Later, I read Mr. Hu Shi's article "My Mother", and he wrote: "I gradually understood that the most disgusting thing in the world is like an angry face; the most vulgar thing in the world is like putting an angry face on others." It's worse than scolding. I lamented that my grandmother, who could not read a single word, had such wisdom.
Later, Grandma left us, but she did not go far, and the bits and pieces of life related to her will always appear at the right time, and she still lives in our hearts. Every year when it's time to eat seeds and melons, I think of that autumn afternoon when our grandchildren sat under the eaves and sniffed melon seeds.
It's autumn, let's eat the seeds and melons together!
The new variety Bought today - big becomes smaller
Text/Chivalrous