Where is the best bayberry in China?

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China, a big agricultural country, is actually not a big country of origin of crops.

The so-called local fruits we eat today are partly brought back by Zhang Qian from the Western Regions, and partly by the Maritime Silk Road and Zheng He's fleet from Nanyang during the Song and Yuan Dynasties. There are very few real native fruits.

But Myrica rubra is one of the few representatives of native fruits in China.

Today, Myrica rubra from Japan, South Korea, Southeast Asia, India and California all point to the Yangtze River valley in China and the humid mountainous areas in southwest China. China's planting area is more than 5 million mu, and its annual output is 6.5438+0 million tons, which exceeds the sum of other countries.

Number: 1 one

In fact, the Chinese civilization, which originated in the Central Plains, has no deep intersection with the southern part of China, where Myrica rubra originated.

Although it was said that some people used bayberry to make wine in Shang Dynasty, most of them were wild bayberry, which was given to the southern vassal States as a tribute to the silver capital, without breeding and domestication. This kind of fruit has little meat and sour taste. Shang nobles didn't know how to eat. They just throw it in wine for fermentation to provide flavor, which is not serious consumption.

The large-scale propagation of Myrica rubra in China should be after the Northern and Southern Dynasties, when the political center of China moved southward. Xiao's words were recorded in the Book of Songs of the Southern Dynasties: "The only treasure in the South is litchi. It tastes absolutely beautiful. Myrica rubra can vote for princes. " Litchi is the best fruit in the south, and other bayberry oranges should be thrown into the toilet.

Although it was proved that the breeding and domestication of Myrica rubra was not mature at that time and its taste was poor, it had appeared in the official history at least and was taken seriously as a fruit.

Shortly thereafter, in Shi Shuo Xin Yu, there was also a story about a scholar named Kong poking fun at Yang's child "Yangmei is the fruit of your family". Prove that Yangmei began to be widely accepted, both officially and privately.

During the reign of Yang Di, Myrica rubra was introduced into Luoyang Palace Garden, but obviously, Myrica rubra was still unpopular. The concubines in the palace like sweet plums, but they don't like sour bayberry. Emperor thinks that "being tired of Yang and loving Li" is an ominous sign of Li Yuan's regime's self-replacement.

After the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the cultivation of Myrica rubra gradually matured, the acidity decreased and the sweetness increased significantly, and it became a seasonal snack for literati gatherings.

Poems praising Yangmei also appeared in large numbers. "Myrica rubra ripens in the rain" (Wang Anshi), "Plum ripens should be eaten by the same generation, and eighty brothers believe in Soochow" (once upon a time), "Plum blossoms are wonderful in the world, and their flavor is better than other families" (Yang Wanli), "Seventy-two peaks are green, and Yang Meihong is in April and May" (Guo Yi).

But it was the famous prostitute Li Shishi who really changed Yangmei from "delicious" to "interesting".

Number: 2 er

The love triangle between Song Huizong Evonne, the great poet Zhou Bangyan and Li Shishi, a famous prostitute in the capital of song dynasty, has produced many lace stories.

It is said that the emperor read what Zhou Bangyan wrote to Li Shishi: "The sword is like water, and no salt is better than snow, which means intermittent new oranges." Jealousy flies, and the sixth house is boring. He casually wrote two poems: "Choose a meal but don't like it, the chef is empty."

An academician who is good at trying to figure out the meaning knows the emperor's mind and continues to say for him, "Everyone has a taste, only Yangmei is a little sour."

The relationship between monarch and minister in Song Dynasty is more like investors and professional managers, rather than the master-slave relationship in Ming and Qing Dynasties. The emperor must not steal women because of jealousy, thus abusing his power over civil servants.

So the words "Yangmei is a little sour" gave the emperor a long face. Not only from the taste, but also from the oranges in Zhou Bangyan; He also put on a self-deprecating gesture and told Zhou Bangyan: I'm jealous, so it's up to you.

In the future, the sweet and sour taste of Myrica rubra is not limited to the delicious category, but the life interest pursued by literati. Some people say that sweetness is the skin of Myrica rubra, acid is the skeleton of Myrica rubra, and Myrica rubra with a proper proportion of sweetness and sourness is a beautiful bag wrapped in a symmetrical skeleton.

Among the current varieties of Myrica rubra, Usuren and Dongkui are the sweetest, but it is recognized that the top-grade water chestnut is the closest to perfection in the ratio of sweet and sour.

third place

For children born in the south of the Yangtze River, the keynote of summer is the bowl of Yangmei soup with rock sugar, simmered on a small fire, and then put it in the refrigerator overnight.

So many Jiangsu and Zhejiang people who went north to study and work as adults, after tasting the sour plum soup in Beijing Xinyuanzhai for the first time, all looked puzzled: the soup boiled with black plum hawthorn was not sour enough, too sweet, and still had a faint medicinal taste, which was far from the fresh and smart Yangmei soup.

Yes, Yangmei is too delicate, and its geographical location and season have great limitations: too high or too low altitude will affect the growth of Yangmei; Too strong sunlight will burn the surface pulp of bayberry; Although the black land in Northeast China is fertile, it is not what Yangmei likes. There must be a warm and humid climate in the south to breed fruits; And the more rainy it is, the more Yangmei likes it. Even on the same hill, bayberry on the north slope will be more delicious than that on the south.

In addition, the picking time is particularly critical. In the competition of fruit growth, Myrica rubra is a player with thick accumulation and thin hair, and there will be no obvious change in the initial stage of growth. Until the arrival of the discoloration period, Myrica rubra will expand rapidly, and sugar and anthocyanins will accumulate rapidly. The period of this discoloration is generally only 8 days.

If you pick it too early, you will miss the flavor explosion of Myrica rubra during the discoloration period. If it is late, the flavor of bayberry will gradually lose with the aging cycle.

This leads to a paradox: berries without peel are easy to deteriorate, and hot and humid environment will accelerate the reproduction of microorganisms and insects, so Myrica rubra is easy to deteriorate, and the speed of deterioration is even faster than litchi, which is "riding a princess in the red dust and laughing".

The solution is to make all kinds of flavored foods to extend the shelf life, except that bayberry is sour in just a few days when it is on the market in a year. In addition to Yangmei soup, it can also be soaked in high-alcohol liquor and added with rock sugar to make Yangmei wine, which can ventilate and dissipate heat; Adding white sugar, and drying to obtain candied dried Myrica rubra; Add maltose and cook until it is gelatinous, and make bayberry jam for dipping; Can also be frozen to make various fancy waxberry ice cream. ...

But in any case, the best way to eat bayberry must be the moment you pick it from the tree and put it in your mouth. Just like a girl in her twenties, no amount of women can compare with her.

According to the standard of direct eating, where is the best place to eat Yangmei in China?

Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau: Big Charcoal Plum

Myrica rubra in Tomb-Sweeping Day |

Myrica rubra in China originated in the south, while Myrica rubra in the south originated in the southwest.

According to the study of species origin, Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau is the earliest birthplace of wild Myrica rubra. Red loess is widely distributed on this plateau, especially suitable for the growth of Myrica rubra. It was not until the Himalayan Mountains rose and the Hengduan Mountains formed that the subtropical ecological environment changed dramatically, which led to the gradual migration of Myrica rubra from southwest to east and north.

Therefore, Yunnan and Guizhou provinces have not only preserved the most wild Myrica rubra varieties, but also many new varieties. Including Shiping and Fumin around Kunming, Yunnan, and Dali and Tengchong in the west; Myrica rubra is widely planted in Guiyang, Zunyi, Meitan, Kaili, Dushan and Rongjiang in Guizhou.

Wang Zengqi mentioned in his essay "Rain in Kunming": "Yangmei in Kunming is very big, and there is one kind as big as table tennis, and its color is black and red, called' charcoal plum'."

In fact, this kind of charcoal plum has both the head of Dongkui Yangmei and the color of water chestnut. Fruit juice may not be as rich as Zhejiang Yangmei, but the fullness and rich sweetness of the meat make Huotanmei unique.

More interestingly, because of the high altitude and warm climate, Myrica rubra in Yunnan and Guizhou was listed one or two months earlier than that in the eastern region. Every April, when the people in the south of the Yangtze River are immersed in the chill of spring, the first batch of bayberry in Kunming and Guiyang has matured.

Mountain area in western Hunan: Myrica rubra

| The proportion of sweet and sour is just right |

The mountainous area in Xiangxi, Hunan Province is the transition zone from Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau to Nanling Mountains.

Therefore, compared with Myrica rubra produced in Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, Myrica rubra in western Hunan began to show a fusion change-compared with Myrica rubra in Guizhou, the meat quality of Myrica rubra in western Hunan was obviously hardened, the meat column was thick and round, the juice increased, the sweetness decreased, and the sweet and sour reached a better proportion.

Myrica rubra in western Hunan is mainly distributed in Huaihua, Jingxian, Huitong and Zhijiang to the west of Xuefeng Mountain, and Rongjiang, Liping and Congjiang to the east of Guizhou. Excellent varieties include small insects, bayberry and so on.

Jingzhou Yangmei is the best in western Hunan. Jingzhou plum is not a certain variety, but an excellent variety of Myrica rubra distributed in Jingzhou area, especially the Myrica rubra with bright leaves produced in Mudong Village, Aoshang Town. The poem "Jingzhou Local Records" says: "Yangmei in the wooden cave is famous, and pear and chestnut in the Shen Garden are also contended. You can buy it at a stall for 100 yuan, but you hate going to Beijing. "

Going to Beijing is Shenyang, the capital of the Qing Dynasty. Although the poem is well written, it can be concluded that Jingzhou Yangmei is indeed a tribute of the Qing Dynasty.

It is worth mentioning that Jingzhou also has a tradition of making wine with bayberry. Instead of soaking in wine, juice is squeezed to remove the core, and the sugar contained in bayberry is fermented to produce alcohol, which is a rare way to eat bayberry elsewhere. Wine is sweet, astringent and mellow, with a taste similar to that of dry red wine.

Taihu Plain: Crystal Bai Mei

| Freshness of regional customization |

Taihu Plain is one of the core producing areas of Myrica rubra in China, where the river network is dense, the sandpaper soil is soft and the hills are undulating. The humid and sultry rainy season in June every year is also Yangmei's favorite climate. The lakeside in Wuxi, Wuzhong and Changshu in Suzhou, Liyang in Changzhou and Changxing in Huzhou all produce high-grade bayberry.

For example, in Dafu Mountain by the lake in Wuxi, there are old Myrica rubra trees over 30 years old everywhere, with large output and stable quality.

Taihu Plain is also the place where China produces the most literati. Where there are literati, there is a taste of food, especially Yangmei, a fruit with a strong interest label. Notes and local chronicles written by scholars such as Tai Hu Bei, Qun Fang Pu and Gu Su Zhi all praise the local Myrica rubra in different ways. One of the most famous words is what Su Dongpo said: "Litchi in Fujian and Guangxi, grapes in the west are cool, unlike bayberry in wuyue".

Scholars have also given many beautiful names to Yangmei in Taihu Plain, such as Impatiens Red, Daye, Qingti, Wumei, Crystal Bai Mei and so on.

Among them, Crystal Bai Mei is the native variety of Taihu Plain. This white bayberry is not sweet, but it tastes a little fresher than ordinary bayberry, especially suitable for cold storage. Moreover, whenever white bayberry leaves Taihu Plain and is transplanted to other places, the acidity will rise linearly and become unpalatable.

Oranges are born in Huaibei, and so are white bayberries.

Hangzhou Bay Coast: Myrica rubra

| Waiting for the sweetness of being late |

On Mother's Day in Zhejiang, a huge trumpet-Hangzhou Bay flows out at the mouth of Qiantang River.

This rare form of river entering the sea in the world has not only created the world-famous Qian Jiangchao, but also created a unique environment for Myrica rubra: similar to the hot and humid environment in Taihu Plain, the moist water vapor blown from the sea along the Yangtze River and the large amount of organic matter brought by the salty tide in Qiantang River make Yuhang, Xiaoshan, Shangyu, Yuyao, Cixi, Haining, Zhoushan and other counties and cities along the Hangzhou Bay suitable for Myrica rubra planting.

The most delicious and top-grade variety of Myrica rubra, Eleocharis tuberosa, is produced in Shangyu, Yuyao and Cixi at the junction of Shaoxing and Ningbo. Wang recorded in Qunfangpu: "Myrica rubra is the highest yield in the world", which explains the special position of the south bank of Hangzhou Bay in many Myrica rubra producing areas in one sentence.

In fact, among all Myrica rubra, water chestnut varieties mature at the latest, and generally can not be listed until the middle and late June; It's not pretty either. Small in size and deep purple in color, it is named after dark water chestnut dug in the soil.

People on the south bank of Hangzhou Bay gave it enough patience and tolerance and waited for a long time. Only for the accumulation of more flavor substances in Myrica rubra, you must taste it yourself to realize the characteristics of round fruit shape, soft meat, sweet taste, small core and rich juice.

Coastal areas of Zhejiang and Fujian: Myrica rubra in Dongkui

What you eat is your body shape.

From southern Zhejiang to north-central Fujian, Myrica rubra began to show a completely different style from Hangzhou Bay.

From Sanmen, Linhai and Xianju in Taizhou, Zhejiang, Ouhai and Ruian in Wenzhou, to Fuding and Fuan in Ningde, Fujian, Jianyang and Jian 'ou in Nanping, Lianjiang and Changle in Fuzhou, and Xianyou in Putian, Myrica rubra is planted in a large area, extending from the coast to the mountains.

Influenced by the high temperature and humidity along the coast, there is plenty of sunshine and excellent rain. The rolling hills in southern Zhejiang and Wuyishan provide a unique growth environment for Myrica rubra.

Therefore, the most recognizable feature of Myrica rubra along the coast of Zhejiang and Fujian is "big". Folks call the producers in the coastal areas of Zhejiang and Fujian "table tennis bayberry", which means it is as big as table tennis.

Dongkui Yangmei is the best quality of this batch of big Yangmei.

Dongkui is a brand-new variety of Myrica rubra, which is grafted and propagated by a wild Myrica rubra tree called "the ancestor of Dongkui". From discovery to today, it has spread all over the coastal producing areas of Zhejiang and Fujian in 30 or 40 years.

The ancestor of Dongkui still lives in Dongao, Huangyan, Taizhou. In the 1970s, Wu Gengmin, the founder of modern horticulture in China, named it Dongkui Yangmei, which means "the best in the East", but the local people insisted that the "East" of Dongkui refers to its origin in East Australia.

South China Seashore: Black Crispy Myrica rubra

| A little sweeter than sweet and sour |

A Jinjiang naturally divides eastern Fujian and southern Fujian. Not only dialects, weather and customs are different, but also the varieties of Myrica rubra are quite different.

From Quanzhou, to Xiamen and Zhangzhou, and then to the Chaoshan area in the northeast of Guangdong, the species of water chestnut and Dongkui in Zhejiang began to decrease, while the black crisp waxberry native to South China began to increase.

The so-called black crisp can be literally understood as black in color and soft and juicy in taste. According to legend, this bayberry variety was introduced from Anhai, Jinjiang by sea as early as the Southern Song Dynasty, so it is also called Anhai Bayberry.

Because of the more stable high temperature and longer light in the south, the sugar content and sweetness of Wusu bayberry are higher than those of water chestnut and Dongkui, but the acidity is lower. People who like to eat Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai and Yangmei may find it too sweet and greasy, but for those who are afraid of acid, Wu Sumei should be the best choice.

The most famous producing areas in Wu Sumei are Fugong Town in Zhangzhou and Xiqiao Town in Shantou. It is called "soft silk" in the floating palace and "sweet crisp" in Xiqiao. In fact, there is little difference between the two, and because of their high sugar content, both of them have great shortcomings such as easy corruption and poor transportation, so they are unknown in the field and their reputation is far less than that of Dongkui Yangmei and Lingjiao Yangmei.

South corner of Taiwan Province Province: Myrica rubra in Hengchun.

The bitterness south of the border

The administrative system of Taiwan Province Province is different from that of mainland China, and the levels of "county" and "city" are reversed. For example, Taoyuan County governs Yangmei City.

This place got its name because when Zheng Chenggong asked Jinxia's people to move to Taiwan Province in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, he saw wild Myrica rubra growing everywhere. It shows that the soil and water in Taiwan Province Province are suitable for planting Myrica rubra.

But today, Myrica rubra in Taiwan Province Province is mostly a new exotic variety. Japanese Ruiguang Myrica rubra, mainland Anhai Myrica rubra, Dongkui Myrica rubra and their hybrid varieties are the main varieties, which have good taste and combine the advantages of each variety.

Wild Myrica rubra, which is truly native to Taiwan Province Province, is only preserved in the peninsula.

Yes, it is the narrow peninsula at the southernmost tip of Taiwan Province Island, where Cape No.7 sang "South of the Frontier".

Hengchun Myrica rubra is a kind of green Myrica rubra, the color is between Taihu Crystal Bai Mei and Yunnan Charcoal Plum, and it is bluish yellow with red. High acidity and refreshing taste. The most commendable thing is that Yangmei is exposed to the tropical sea breeze of the peninsula all year round, and it began to mature in 65438+February. It is the earliest known Myrica rubra variety.

In other words, during the Spring Festival when people in southern Taiwan Province firecrackers and eat hot pot, people in southern provinces can eat bayberry.

end

Sour and sweet

Although many producing areas are listed, in fact, the best bayberry must grow on the nearest branch and taste sweet and sour in the mouth.

Well, it's just Li Shishi that Song Like and Hui Zong dream of. A little sour love is sweeter!