Approaching the end of blogging (at least for the food one), I would love to appreciate everyone who really read and follow my blogs for the entire time. Although this is the assignment, I do value the time I spent in these blogs and they are truly amazing especially when I saw how many I wrote in the last seven months. For this last blog, I want to write about the bamboo and materials from China to end this journey.
What is the smell of bamboo shoots in the spring of South of China?
A fragrant sauce, full of oily bamboo shoots, crispy and sweet. Cooked with bacon and fresh meat, and can play the most delicious taste of itself. Or is it astringent, and it becomes the taste of bamboo shoots and ham? After eating these dishes, I feel that spring is really coming. Good spring bamboo shoots need to be selected. And the Southern part is the best place to find the bamboos.
During the Southern Song Dynasty, the bamboo shoots in Lin An were very famous. The climate here was humid and the geology was ancient. The most important, the loess coverage was quite high, which was very suitable for bamboo forest growth. According to Ai’Ge, The main features of the bamboo shoots here are: (1) It is thick and delicious, but it is delicate and scum-less. (2)Sap tender (3) The umami taste is obvious, you can give up the kind of meat.
Before and after the vernal equinox, the temperature in China rises, and the tender and thunder shoots will naturally emerge from the fertile soil. The locals call this bamboo shoot “natural bamboo shoots.” Natural bamboo shoots are wild and organic products that are crisper and tenderer. There is also a kind of bamboo shoots, which grows thickly in the bamboo forest when the climate is slightly cold.
The best natural bamboo shoots are only in the period from late March to mid-April. Because there are the most suitable temperature and humidity. The dug bamboo shooters enter the mountain in the morning, greet the first sunshine in the mountains, take the bamboo shoots and bath them in the spring breeze, then deliver them in the afternoon after a little processing. When they were fresh, they eat fresh.
Such good ingredients, of course, also need better recipes. Stew a pot of pickled fresh, spring bamboo shoots, bacon, and fresh meat aroma and essence, clear and fresh soup color, taste a spring is bright. Stir-fry a plate of oily bamboo shoots. You can smell a few bamboo shoots when you stir-fry, and finally, wrap the sauce with a bowl of white rice.
In the right time in the year, staying with the right place and people, cooking by the right method, share the right ingredients, I can’t tell what is happier than this.