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Yangmei is a famous specialty of Ningbo, and is most famous in the area of Yuyao and Cixi. The plums produced in Ningbo have a long history and enjoy a great reputation. From the Yuyao Hemudu culture site, it was found that the people had eaten wild prunes 7000 years ago. The cultivation of prunes has been documented in the literature since 2,000 years ago, when the Han Dynasty rhetorician Sima Xiangru praised prunes as a tribute in the Shanglin Fugue. Su Dongpo also made a comment on prunes: "Litchi in Min Guang, grapes in Xi Liang, not as good as the prunes in Wu Yue." The Ming dynasty Wang Jin's "Qunfang Spectrum" contains: "Yangmei, Huiji producers for the world's crown. According to the "Nengchangzhai Manlu": "Yuezhou (Tang in Yuyao set Yuezhou) the best plums, the natives called fern plums." The old "Zhejiang Tongzhi" said: "Now Yuyao's Candle Lake is the best, followed by Xiaoshan." Yangmei trees blossom in March and April, and the fruit ripens in May and June. Yangmei flowers bloom special, it is the night of the fury, daybreak that thank, even if you have the heart to watch the plant at night to enjoy the flowers, but also difficult to see the flowers. The only thing you can smell is the fragrance. Yangmei name comes from a variety of opinions: one theory is that the ungrafted Yangmei tree, leaves like water poplar, fruit flavor with sour plum, the later grafted fruit is called Yangmei. Another theory comes from a legend: that there is a beautiful fruit fairy in the sky, in the world tour, was abducted by the devil, but fortunately live in yuyao yangjiazhao of a young hunter rescued, married, very loving. Because there is a plum lake nearby, the fairy took the name of Meizhu. Later, the devil designed to use magic to lift the fairy down from a high mountain. Before dying, the fairy asked the hunter to bury her under a big tree. The hunter buried the fairy with tears in his eyes, and then avenged the death of the fairy by killing the devil. The next year, in the burial of the fairy tree, bearing a purple fruit, people pick to taste, and sweet and refreshing, slightly sour flavor. People say, this fruit is the plum beads transformed, she left the sweetness to the townspeople, but also let the townspeople to remember her and the hunter separated from the bitterness of the fruit, the descendants will call this fruit as Yangmei. Ningbo Yuyao Department of superior fruits. Cixi Linghu to Yuyao Mazhu about forty kilometers long hilly area, is the concentration of prunes origin. There are four major species: white, pink, red and black. Early large species, belonging to the red species, the fruit is bright red when ripe, the flesh is thicker, more acidic, belonging to the white species, because the fruit is yellow-white or milky white when ripe and named, the sweat is fresh and clean and delicious. As a seasonal fruit in Ningbo, Yangmei is well known in East Zhejiang and overseas. Yangmei is rich in sugar, fruit acids, vitamin C and many kinds of vitamin B. The content of iron is also quite a lot. According to "Compendium of Materia Medica", "Yangmei can quench thirst, and the five organs, can cleanse the stomach and intestines, in addition to the annoyance and anger. "Yangmei to fresh food is the best, but also can be made of candied prunes, dried prunes, prune drinks, prune sauce, sugar water prunes, roasted prunes and so on. The efficacy of "burning prunes" is "relieving illness, dispersing summer heat and driving away wind and cold", and it is often used as a gift for friends and relatives. Drinking prunes has the effect of generating fluids, quenching thirst and dispelling summer heat, which is a good product to eliminate summer heat. As a seasonal fruit, due to the colorful taste, since ancient times, become a traveler's homesickness complex. During the Ming Dynasty, a Yuyao man named Sun Sheng lamented that he couldn't eat his hometown's prunes every year because he was an official in Beijing, and he wrote a poem: "The old prunes are gorgeous purple haze, and the candles and lakes are even better, and since the name is tied to the golden maiden's house, I don't taste them every year when I'm not at home." In Ningbo, there is also a good story of "Throwing Plums and Painting Plums". Yao Xie, a talented scholar from Zhenhai, was famous for his calligraphy and painting. Once, when he was reading the article "Sick Plum Pavilion" written by Gong Zizhen, a friend asked him to draw plums, and it was the season of eating plums. Yao Xie while eating prunes, while eating leftover kernels one by one to the hanging tent, will be a plate of prunes eat all, white tent was also made mottled. And then the pen to draw branches, a white tent instantly became a sparse branches across the escape, the stamens of the plum blossom painting, many uprooted from their homes in the world countries seeking development of Ningbo people, each to taste the hometown of prunes as a good fortune, or trust friends and relatives to bring some prunes to taste overseas, to comfort the idea of homesickness.