The pancakes are folded into "flowers", and the "Chinese Kung Fu" of Shandong Dama is really magical

□ Yu Jiacheng

"Old irons, do you all have such troubles?" Buy flowers to send to your sweetheart, afraid of being blamed for waste, do not buy and afraid of being said to be not romantic enough? My flowers are both edible and beautiful! ”

As long as there is time, 51-year-old Shandong aunt Xu Haixia will live stream the goods on the mobile phone, that proficiency, with a strong fashion style.

Xu Haixia's "flowers" are not ordinary, they are made of pancakes, but they are exquisite enough to compete with flowers, not only bringing Shandong pancake culture to the rest of the world, but also leading a group of rural women in Yimeng Mountain to achieve poverty alleviation.

That streak of pancakes in memory

Xu Haixia and her husband Zhao Jian live in Changlu Town, Mengyin County, Linyi City, Shandong Province, and in the early years, the couple worked in a local embroidery factory, and in 2005 the factory closed down and both were laid off. The two have to raise their 4-year-old son and take care of their 70-year-old mother-in-law, and the family's economy is very tight.

By chance, a relative who opened a pancake shop at that time had another development, and Xu Haixia consulted with her husband and took over the shop.

Pancakes are a local specialty of Shandong, which is found on almost every household table, and can be dipped in sauce or eaten with a variety of vegetables and meats. Xu Haixia got up early in the morning to work in the dark, heated the tweezers (an ancient pasta making tool), sprinkled with soybean oil, and as the tweezers swirled, poured the paste in one hand, and the other hand was followed by a spoon to flatten, with the hot aroma, a pancake was freshly baked.

The pancake business that gradually embarked on the track aroused Xu Haixia's entrepreneurial fighting spirit. Although the small storefront can solve the family's food and clothing problems, she is not satisfied with this, thinking: "Almost everyone here can spread pancakes, and they must have their own characteristics." ”

On a rainy day in 2018, Xu Haixia saw a grandfather carrying a large basket of purple potatoes on the side of the road, and his clothes were almost all wet. As soon as her heart softened, she immediately bought them all.

But looking at the purple potatoes in the basket, Xu Haixia was worried. Suddenly, she had a flash of inspiration, why not make purple potatoes and pancakes together? When it was dry, she steamed the purple potatoes, crushed them, mixed them into flour, and then made purple potato pancakes. A faint purple color with a potato flavor is unique.

Purple potato opened Xu Haixia's pancake new ideas, she gave an example, trying to use spinach juice, dragon juice, mango juice and flour mixed together to make a variety of colors of pancakes, not only colorful, rich taste, but also high nutritional value.

Colored fruit and vegetable pancakes occupy an absolute market advantage, the price is much higher than traditional pancakes, and Xu Haixia's business is getting better and better. Zhao Jian simply stopped working odd jobs around and took the initiative to help his wife pack and deliver.

The pancakes are full of flowers

With the expansion of business, Xu Haixia, who was short of manpower, began to recruit soldiers and horses, turning her attention to some rural women with difficult families in the local area. They do not have any skills, guard a few acres of mountainous land, take care of the elderly and children, and live a very hard life.

"Come and work with me, have a bite to eat, and you will never be hungry." Xu Haixia went door to door to recruit workers. Although everyone is eager to try, but the heart is still worried, how much money can be made by spreading pancakes?

To this end, Xu Haixia took time out to take them from a shop to visit, looking at the colorful, paper-thin pancakes, everyone is particularly curious.

"Sister Haixia, I'll follow you!" Xiaoqing was the first to stand up.

Xiaoqing, who was 30 years old at the time, did not read for a few days because of his family's poverty when he was a child, her husband was disabled, and he could not earn a few dollars all year round, and the life of a family of three was very poor. Xu Haixia's shop is not far from her home, which can earn money and take care of the family, and she does not want to miss this opportunity.

Holding Xiao Qing's hand, Xu Haixia could not hide her excitement: "Women must have the ability to support themselves, no matter what identity or age." ”

With Xiaoqing taking the lead, some sisters have also joined the team of making pancakes. Soon, Xu Haixia rented a factory building and began to expand its business. In 2019, her pancake processing factory was awarded the "Yimeng Big Sister Home Entrepreneurship and Employment Demonstration Base" by the Linyi Women's Federation, and more sisters came to visit.

Watching the sisters' lives get better and better every day, Xu Haixia was happy and felt that the burden on her shoulders was getting heavier and heavier. Times are progressing, people's requirements for food are getting higher and higher, how can we add new vitality to old pancakes? Xu Haixia thought about it for a long time and never had a clue.

At the beginning of 2020, Xu Haixia sent a large bag of pancakes with different flavors to the neighbor Grandma, who happily boasted: "Haixia, your hands are so clever, make all the pancakes into flowers!" ”

The speaker has no intention, the listener has a heart, Xu Haixia suddenly thought, can you really spread the pancake into a flower? For many days in a row, she studied in the factory, the pancakes are not cloth or paper, they are easy to dry, and they must be folded into flowers before drying, which is a test of craftsmanship. In order to find the right proportion of various ingredients, she tried countless times, one stall after another, stacked again and again, and tasted in one bite.

The night was so quiet that even the sound of pancakes breaking was very clear. Zhao Jian stayed up late with his wife, and his son looked for various flower types on the Internet for his mother's reference. The kung fu paid off, Xu Haixia finally made a pancake flower, the petals are flexible and shiny, the taste is sweet and delicate, and the color and fragrance are complete.

Then she tried to make roses from dragon fruit pancakes, moonflowers with yellow peach pancakes, blueberry pancakes for blue charmers, peony flowers, camellias, tulips, and cherry blossoms.

It is not a simple task to perfectly combine the aroma of fruit and the taste of pancakes, and the amount, softness and ripeness of the fruit must be well handled. After repeated experiments, Xu Haixia not only tasted good, but also had a high success rate in making a flower type.

In order to make the flowers more colorful, Xu Haixia's pancake raw materials in addition to the traditional corn, flour, sorghum, but also added celery, carrots, sweet potato leaves, beetroot, bananas, cherries, etc., according to the seasonal changes, the launch of seasonal pancake flowers.

Xu Haixia taught her sisters the craft of making pancake flowers without reservation and began mass production. The factory has become a garden, and the pancake flowers are competing for beauty, so that everyone is in a beautiful mood and has endless energy.

The days of making pancake flowers have a head start

The flowers are lively, the pancakes are fragrant, many customers are amazed, have sighed, ate a lifetime of pancakes, did not expect that pancakes can become as beautiful and delicious as flowers.

Some children love picky eaters, but they especially like pancake flowers, eat while playing, and their appetites have become better. Many restaurants will also come to customize pancake flowers instead of flowers to decorate dishes, which is cheap and good. Xu Haixia will also use pancake flowers to make various styles of products according to the different needs of customers, which is more suitable for birthdays, teachers, lovers, etc.

On February 14, 2021, Chen Xiaojie, who lives 40 to 50 kilometers away, ordered pancake flowers to congratulate his mother on his 60th birthday. Xu Haixia made carnations out of pancakes, and considering that it was Valentine's Day, she deliberately added a few roses and painstakingly twisted them into a heart shape.

Chen Xiaojie's mother likes flowers, but because her birthday is on Valentine's Day, it is particularly expensive to buy flowers on this day, and she is distressed about money and never lets her family buy them. Sure enough, when Chen Xiaojie delivered the flowers to her mother, she looked distressed: "How much does it cost?" ”

Chen Xiaojie smiled and put the flower under his mother's nose: "Smell, what is it?" "Mother felt the smell of pancakes, looking left and right, unable to believe her eyes. Chen Xiaojie picked a rose and stuffed it into his mother's mouth. Eating the taste of pancakes, the mother looked surprised: "It's really pancakes, how is this made?" It's amazing. ”

Chen Xiaojie completed the wish of sending flowers to her mother to wish for her birthday, and Xu Haixia was also happy for them, feeling that pancake flowers not only increased sales, but also decorated people's lives and carried more meaning.

Pancake flowers are sought after by locals and are also exported to the United States, South Korea, South Africa and other countries on the e-commerce express. Raman, a South African teacher who works as a foreign teacher at a school in Mengyin County, is a regular visitor, saying: "My friends see pancake flowers and don't believe they can eat them. ”

Perhaps under the influence of the "flower career", Zhao Jian also became romantic. On May 4, 2020, the 22nd anniversary of their marriage, he made 9 red roses with pancakes for his wife, and showed a favor in the circle of friends: "Every year the flowers are similar, and every year is you." ”

Xu Haixia's son is in his junior year, and when he comes home from winter and summer vacations, he will help his parents work, and the process of making pancakes has long been cooked. The couple hopes that their son will come back after graduation to help them "make this pancake flower together."

Traditional old pancakes have become fashionable pancake flowers, and in the past, the purchase group was dominated by middle-aged and elderly people, and now young people have gradually become the mainstream of consumption. Xu Haixia's annual sales of pancakes have exceeded 5 million yuan, leading more than 30 families to achieve poverty alleviation.

But Xu Haixia is not satisfied, dare to think and dare to do, she will continue to develop new products, let the pancake business go further, she firmly believes that how colorful the pancake flowers are, how sweet the days will be.

"Everyone said, Yimeng Mountain is good, Yimeng mountain is good, good scenery..." With the sisters folding pancake flowers and singing Yimeng minor tunes, every day, Xu Haixia felt happy and contented.

Edit/Hand Warm

Reprinted from/Women Magazine, No. 5, 2021