Persimmon Flower Knots—Essay

My home is in the northern mountains of Shaanxi Province, in the (Wèi-bě qū líng dìtài) region of the Qinlu County, Shaanxi Province.

There's a saying: 'A talented youth from Jiangnan (Southern China) with a Shandong governor; Shaanxi yellow earth buried an emperor'.Indeed, Xi'an is the Thirteen Dynasties' ancient capital, with eighteen emperors and twenty-four dynasties. Many emperors were buried here…

Now, people love to travel, and Xi'an is a must-visit because she's known as 'the ancient capital'.

When one comes to thePast generations loved the eight waters and eight scenic spots of Chang'an— (Yuè xiān) was gazing at the Хaoshan Passage, the morning bell of the Ta Temple rang south of the city, the Mountain at dusk was wrapped in Qin soil, the flowing River drank around Chang'an, the willows were warm in the snow and wind in spring, and Mountain accumulated snow in June. was shrouded in smoke, and the ancient crossing of (Xiányáng) stretched for ten thousand years.

Now it's different; many people favor Shaanxi's flavor snacks, such as beef noodle soup, meat pie, tofu brain, and braided bread…

There are eight major cuisines in China: Lu, Sichuan, Yue, Jiangsu, Fujian, Zhejiang, Hunan, and Hubei; but Shaanxi, with its Thirteen Dynasties' ancient capital, has never been included. This makes me often wonder, why…Shaanxi's culinary culture, with its legacy of no distinct cuisine, only small snacks!The many emperors who lived in Shaanxi during their reign didn't favor elaborate Northern dishes; they preferred small snacks?It was these snacks that were so delicious that they made the emperor forget the big dishes? Or did the imperial chefs' elaborate 'stir-frying, boiling, steaming, roasting, braising, stewing, and poaching' – several processes – fail to compete with Shaanxi's small dishes?Couldn't Shaanxi's small dishes beat the elaborate Northern dishes?Perhaps it's true: when Liu Shiu (Liu Xiu) was fleeing, he ate a rice dish prepared by a village woman's husband, who was working in the field, and found it incredibly delicious, and wrote something like this:

'South of Nanyang, Chen's Village, Chen Youyi, Deng Sujun, borrowed a rice dish and saved the emperor's life.'

Liu Shiu's ascension to power didn't make him crave the elaborate Northern dishes; he kept thinking about the small snacks prepared by Deng Sujun's village woman, but he didn't know what they were called, only saying, 'Not too wet, not too dry.'

The soup, when put in the mouth, was sweet, fragrant after swallowing, and looking at it resembled noodles; but it wasn't noodles—each piece was pinched into a small finger-sized knot. It turned out that the snack was 'wheat flour knots' ( - mái rén tāng).This shows how deeply the wheat flour knots left an impression on Liu Shiu, the emperor.

Wheat flour knots are a common traditional snack in Shaanxi Province's Guanzhong region. They come in meat knots and vegetable knots. Meat knots are made with meat mixed with wheat flour, added with seasonings, and steamed. Vegetable knots are made with vegetables mixed with wheat flour, added with seasonings, and steamed.

Typically, they are made with pea shoots knots, alfalfa knots, and potato shoots knots ( - Sháibě dìqū jiào yángyú chāchā – potato shoots in Northwestern Shaanxi), and persimmon flower knots ( - yáng huī huā gēdà),

Yesterday during Qingming Festival, I paid respects to my ancestors and saw blooming persimmon flowers. I was tempted, and we went to a small persimmon tree forest and found an old beekeeper to get a jar of persimmon flower honey.

——

……

……

……

……

……