The food in Hezhou also has regional characteristics, such as the tofu in Daning, which must be made of Ningjiang water to have a unique flavor. Legend has it that there is a huge square tofu stone on the Ningjiang River. The processing method of ancestral Daning tofu is: the soybeans soaked in Ningjiang are ground into raw soybean milk with a stone mill and cooked, and then weighed with boulders taken from Ningjiang. The processed white tofu is quickly fried with wild camellia oil to make square tofu, which is generous, white and yellow, and the meat is white and tender. It is called "Gold Covered Silver", and it is said that feudal society paid tribute to the court. Every festive season, ten pots of Daning tofu are full of fragrance, which makes people linger. It is puzzling that tofu processed in other places, using the same processing method, does not have this taste. (bagui Style: TV commentary)

My friend, whenever you come to Hezhou all the year round, you can taste the unique Hezhou-style dish-Cainiang at the dining table of Hezhou people. Hezhou people can brew anything, such as bean products, fruits and vegetables, root vegetables, leafy vegetables, even pig intestines, pig blood, pig oil, and raw onions and garlic! According to statistics, there are 108 kinds of Hezhou cuisine.

The intersection of Guangdong and Chu cultures makes Hezhou cuisine have a long history. From the Qin and Han Dynasties to the Tang and Song Dynasties, Hezhou was the frontier of the "thoroughfare of Guangdong and Chu" for more than 1000 years. In the sixth year of Ding Yuan in the Han Dynasty (11years ago), Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty set up Helin County in the middle reaches of the river, and the resident town of Helin County served as the political, economic and cultural center of the river basin for more than two thousand years. According to records, there are more than 65,438+0,000 top scholars and Jinshi with well-known surnames working in Hezhou. The arrival of these days has also brought one side's food culture, and the frequent flow of people and logistics between the Central Plains and Lingnan on the ancient river road has also promoted the prosperity of Hezhou cuisine.

Hezhou, as a multi-ethnic community, also makes Hezhou cuisine full of rich ethnic characteristics. The pig large intestine brew of Nanxiang Zhuang nationality is made by pouring raw glutinous rice directly into the pig large intestine, and the pig blood brew is made by pouring glutinous rice flour mixed with pig blood into the pig small intestine. Bamboo shoots of Yao nationality are made of glutinous rice and glutinous rice flour, and the stuffing is meat. Hakka bean curd, local eggplant, garlic and melon all have their own national characteristics.

It may be the originality of Hezhou people to integrate food and wine into love culture. At the wedding banquet of Hakka people in Hezhou, there is an essential bean curd brain. From their two-part allegorical saying "Tofu Braised with Brain-Rest assured", it can be seen that both men and women held banquets to congratulate relatives and friends, and both sides can rest assured that they will grow old together in the future. The Yao girl specially brewed raw onion for her sweetheart, which symbolizes her emotional blessing to her lover and hopes that her sweetheart will be smart.

One side of soil and water breeds one side of culture, and so does Hezhou cuisine. The oily tofu brewed by Daning people is generous, golden in color and tender in meat, and is dubbed as "gold covered with silver". Legend has it that it was a tribute to the court. The melon wine of Hejie people is cooked in a large pot and sweet to the heart. There are three kinds of stuffed bell peppers in Guilin, and eggplant in Xindu, which is fried and fragrant. The same stuffing, the same production process, changing a place will lose the flavor of the original authentic origin. Hezhou cuisine is inseparable from that magical land.

Hezhou cuisine is high, which is high in the process of making dishes. It combines the cultural essence of Confucian culture that advocates fine food and fine coarse grains, and makes dishes taste. For example, there is a kind of green vegetable called "pig woman dish". No matter how skilled you cook it, it doesn't taste good. Usually, farmers grow this vegetable mainly to feed pigs. The Zhuang peasant women in Nanxiang, on the other hand, wrap glutinous rice or glutinous rice flour with the leaves of pig radish, which has a unique taste! There is also a dish made of chopped fat and other seasonings, which makes people feel fat after eating it. Even putting pigs in water to make all kinds of exquisite dishes, etc., all these reflect the progress of human beings and the civilization of society.

Hezhou cuisine pays attention to traditional production, does not need too many modern seasonings, and does not like advanced microwave cooking methods. Farmers' cauldron-boiled tofu brain and cauldron-boiled melon flower are the purest. The hotel has introduced three kinds of fermented bean curd, melon flower and wax gourd, which have been drunk by many foreign tourists. For thousands of years, the hundreds of dishes of Hezhou people have brewed the sweetness of life and a song of a nation that is not old. People ate bowl after bowl and tasted happiness and happiness.