Spending a weekend afternoon at home, drinking tea brought by a friend from an old village. The tea was brewed by the friend's parents, a vibrant green color, poured into a transparent glass cup, the tea leaves unfolding, rippling in the cup, with a sweet aftertaste, without any bitterness.

Drinking Anhui's green tea, I thought about the peach blossoms in Huangcun at this time.

Huangcun is close to Nanjing, a half-day drive. I've almost been there every year in recent years. The scenery changes with the seasons, with a unique charm, but I miss the food there the most.

Anhui's spring signature – Bamboo Shoots

Bamboo shoots are Anhui's calling card.

Walking around Huangcun for an hour, spring bamboo shoots can be seen everywhere.

There are dried bamboo shoots, a spring bamboo shoot cut into several pieces, placed in a large sieve basket, neatly arranged. There are also bamboo shoots boiled in water, with some soy sauce for flavoring, which is tender with a fragrant aroma when eaten. There are also bamboo shoots dried, the bamboo skin peeled, preserved with salt, and paired with local ham and bacon, particularly flavorful. Households would have stir-fried bamboo shoots, bamboo shoots in soy sauce, and bamboo shoots with pork belly, which are excellent with beer.

In Anhui, 'Red Stalks, White Meat, Crushed to Pieces' bamboo shoots are most famous,

Just like bamboo shoots, spring bamboo shoots smell a bit strange, but those who truly know how to appreciate food will say it's delicious, it's the prelude to deliciousness!

Bamboo shoots are different from stinky tofu, although both smell bad, they have significant differences in appearance. Bamboo shoots look a bit unpleasant at first glance, making people avoid them. After appropriate temperature fermentation, the tofu is uniformly mature, the white hair is squeezed together, like spring willow branches, or winter snowflakes.

Bamboo shoots taste fragrant after being fried in 'broad oil.' When stir-fried with green peppers and onions, the outer layer of hair gradually disappears. When eaten, the texture is similar to that of ordinary tofu, which is quite different.

It's best to eat bamboo shoots by the roadside. A small stall sets up a flat pot, and customers call for it to be fried. Sitting by the pot, eating mouthfuls of fragrant bamboo shoots.

Stinky Eel: Heavy oil, heavy color, fragrant and delicious. It's a delicacy with fragrance and aroma.

Just like bamboo shoots, stinky eel smells a bit strange, but it's incredibly fragrant when eaten.

Peach blossoms bloom and goldfish are fat, fish dealers in the river region transport goldfish to Huizhou, and then sell them in the mountains.

To prevent the fish from spoiling during the journey, they use a method of layering fish with a solution of salt water, turning it over repeatedly for several days, and arriving in Huizhou.

The Huizhou people wash the goldfish and pan-fry it over low heat, cooking it slowly, smelling it and then tasting it – the fragrant stinky eel was born.

'Golden Hua Ham is in Dongyang, Dongyang Ham is in Huizhou.'

'Golden Hua Ham is in Dongyang, Dongyang Ham is in Huizhou.' This isn't boasting, Huizhou ham is one of the local specialties that Huizhou merchants always carry with them when traveling and trading.

The seasoning of Huizhou cuisine is mainly salty and fresh. Huizhou people are particularly good at making ham. When you arrive in Huangcun, don't miss this dish.

Good ham should be coated with salt evenly, the ham should be pressed flat, the blood should be squeezed out, otherwise it will be fishy and will spoil. After brining the ham, it is evenly fat and lean, salty and fresh, with a plump layer of fat and tender pieces of meat, it looks very appetizing.

In Huangcun, you can find ham everywhere – on the eaves of houses, in corners, at street stalls – people tell stories about this village with ham, inheriting the culture of this place.

Ear Mushrooms and Eggs are a perfect match

There are 'Three Stones' in Huizhou – ear mushrooms, stone chicken, and stone bass fish.

Ear mushrooms are similar to wood ear mushrooms, but much smaller. Ear mushrooms grow on cliff faces, which are difficult to harvest, so ear mushrooms are particularly precious.

Famous dishes in Huizhou cuisine include ear mushrooms with stone chicken, ear mushrooms with old duck and chicken, and ear mushrooms with chicken soup. When eating in a Huangcun guesthouse, a plate of stir-fried ear mushrooms and eggs is a wonderful spring dish.

And other delicious foods –

Local people love to eat pickled mustard greens. It's most common to see pickled mustard greens wrapped in dough to make steamed buns. The large buns are called pickled mustard green buns, and the round ones have a cute name – 'Crab Shell Yellow.'

You can also use pickled mustard greens as a base, spread it on a steaming pot, and steam duck legs and chicken legs. The meat will be rich and fragrant after steaming.

Everywhere you go, there are workshops making pickled mustard greens and various types of pickled mustard greens, many of which can't be eaten outside of Anhui.

How to dispel the heavy taste? Let's drink green tea. In Anhui, in Huangcun, you can drink homegrown mugwort tea, pearl ear tea, and monkey ear tea. These famous teas gather here and can arouse your deep craving.

Finally, a shop with a decent taste

By chance in the evening, in a renovated old house called 'Zhenguan Manor Private Kitchen'

Ordered stone chicken stir-fried with ear mushrooms, stir-fried fresh bamboo shoots, five-flavor-pepper eggs, knife plate ham, and old hen soup.

Stone chicken is similar to stone chicken, its meat is firm and juicy, and it's a rare delicacy when combined with ear mushrooms.

In Huangcun, many restaurants have a wild herb called 'five-flavor-pepper,' which is edible and also has medicinal properties. The owner uses the 'egg-cracking' method – adding eggs to the oil to extract the flavor of five-flavor-pepper.

Drink a bowl of old hen soup, simmering in a pot, the fire under the pot is always burning, the chicken soup is bubbling, and the yellow chicken oil spreads throughout the clear chicken soup. The chicken meat is tender and rotten, and eating it doesn't feel greasy.

Finally, use a cup of Huangcun's homemade flowering plum wine to toast to spring in Huangcun.