The shell of tartary buckwheat is brown, similar to pepper. When I was a child, I always thought that those dark things like rice bran that made pillow cores were the shells of crops, which could neither be fed to animals nor used as fuel. And this kind of crop called "Tartary Buckwheat" is neither good-looking nor delicious. It can be said that it is an insignificant crop.
When I am a little sensible, I often play with my friends on the hillside of a small street not far from home. "The leaves of sugar pears are rouge, and buckwheat flowers are white and fragrant." In spring, winter snow melts, and everything opens its sleepy eyes from hibernation. Next to the golden cauliflower field, where bees are flying, you can often see the God-given bitter buckwheat, which is delicate and elegant. Tartary buckwheat has thin longitudinal edges and straight lavender stems, which is about half the height of adults. Petals are oval, white or lavender. In the early autumn, the rape flower has withered, the pedicel looks like the belly of a pregnant young woman, and the bitter buckwheat flower "looks far away from the mountain without painting, and if the lips paint sand, it is Zhu", which attracts beautiful flowers and remains fragrant.
Later, I gradually learned that bitter buckwheat is also called buckwheat, sweet buckwheat and wild orchid buckwheat. Mango, as big as a small soybean, has three edges and longitudinal grooves. The upper edge is sharp, and the lower half is blunt and serrated. When it is mature, it is dark brown and dull in color. The flowering period is more than half a year, and the fruit matures for nearly one year. The seeds, hulls, straws and silage of tartary buckwheat can be fed to livestock and poultry, which is a precious feed.
Because of its unique medicinal efficacy, tartary buckwheat shell has been turned into treasure by hometown folks. Traditional Chinese medicine and modern medicine believe that tartary buckwheat shell has the effect of clearing brain and improving eyesight, and can prevent and treat insomnia, dreaminess, tinnitus and other symptoms caused by insufficient blood supply to the brain. However, the pillow core made of tartary buckwheat shells is very elastic because of the air passage formed between the shells, which can keep the physiological curvature of cervical vertebrae in various sleeping positions in the sleeping state, thus ensuring that the internal carotid artery and internal jugular vein are not oppressed, and will not lead to nervous system diseases such as insufficient blood supply to the brain, which plays a unique role in preventing and treating cerebrovascular accidents.
In this way, bitter buckwheat should be a silent hero, not a dispensable thing. In Wumeng Mountain, Guizhou, most people's ancestral homes are from other provinces; Born and raised, only the Yi compatriots. The soil quality of Wumeng Mountain in Guizhou is not only suitable for planting corn, but also especially suitable for planting tartary buckwheat. No wonder the Yi people's feelings for tartary buckwheat are much higher than those of us from other provinces in Wumeng Mountain, Guizhou Province. Vaguely remember, when I was a child, I studied a Yi folk song with my grandfather who was studying in a private school:
Tartary buckwheat seeds are sown on the hillside, Mabel Miao in January.
Young leaves are like umbrellas and flowers are like snow.
Fruitful and interesting, buckwheat is piled up like a mountain, which can be eaten and worried.
The old man gave it back to the child, and the doll could live for a long time after eating it.
The girl's eyes are like autumn water, her hair is shining and her figure is soft.
Fingers are as thin as bamboo shoots, legs are as long as willows.
……
Although tartary buckwheat is usually valued only by Yi people's hometown, it is not planted in Han people's hometown. However, in the dry season, when corn or rice can't be planted in cracked fields, bitter buckwheat becomes a life-saving angel. As far as I can remember, my grandmother, hunched over, hobbled with little feet, dressed in faded blue cloth and a black silk handkerchief, would grab a handful of bitter buckwheat seeds from her waist pocket and scatter them in the cracks in those fields. The tartary buckwheat seeds on the side can be brushed several times with a palm leaf broom and then brushed into the gap. In this way, even if bitter buckwheat is planted, there is no need to water and fertilize. It won't be long before you can eat bitter buckwheat rice ground by your own stone mill. Time has passed, and with the improvement of living standards, it has gradually drifted away from bitter buckwheat. However, once in a while, bitter buckwheat will be reunited after a long separation.
The mother of a young colleague came and insisted on inviting me to dinner in order to express her gratitude to me as a bookworm. Under the hospitality, is there any reason not to promise? She comes from Shibin, southeast Guizhou, and I don't know what snacks we have in this small town. Under the leadership of young colleagues, in the autumn rain and autumn wind, I got off the overpass and came to the "Bitter Buckwheat Rice Black-bone Chicken" hotpot restaurant surrounded by Liu Yin at the door. About half a year ago, in order to welcome two young female colleagues from other counties to our department, I specially brought them here to taste bitter buckwheat rice and black-bone chicken hot pot. Unexpectedly, just once, the ugly and sweet smell of bitter buckwheat made them miss it. The shop is so small that four people sitting around the hot pot don't feel crowded. Instead, it increases an affinity. My colleague's mother is a high school Chinese teacher in a local middle school. Although she is not the biological mother of her colleagues, she doesn't have that kind of stepmother and stepdaughter, and she gets along with her colleagues like a family. According to this colleague's stepmother, when his son was still starving, his ex-husband died of illness, leaving orphans and widows, who were hard-working and had a hard life. Fortunately, I met my divorced colleague's father, appreciated each other and became a family. I listened and even said, "What a hard family!" After eating, it is difficult to give up the bitter buckwheat rice in my hometown. Colleague's mother specially asked the owner of hot pot restaurant to buy buckwheat rice that she had never eaten. The owner of the hot pot restaurant generously gave it to me. Full of gratitude, she took the bitter buckwheat rice in a disposable lunch box and muttered: "Bitter buckwheat is bitter first, then sweet; Bitter buckwheat is not bitter ... "
On the overpass, the drizzle is still continuous and the cool breeze is still blowing. When saying goodbye, there were not too many pleasantries, only a touch of bitter buckwheat.
Tartary buckwheat can be made not only into rice, but also into tartary buckwheat cakes. Bitter buckwheat cake, like corn bread in the north, is emerald green and tastes slightly bitter but sweet but not greasy. And buckwheat jelly is really proud of buckwheat. No matter spring, summer, autumn and winter, three or two people, or brothers and sisters, or relatives and friends, or neighbors and classmates, can often be seen walking into the bitter buckwheat jelly stall with shed. Sitting on the long wooden stool in front of the booth, I watched the buckwheat jelly covered with a white scarf lying in front of me, like white jade, stuffed into strips one by one by buckwheat jelly, and placed in a white porcelain dish layer by layer. After that, do it yourself: spoon red pepper noodles, finely cut houttuynia cordata, fried soybeans and so on. According to your own taste, put it in a small bowl with moldy tofu and garlic water in front of you. In this way, while I was eating, I looked at the river behind the buckwheat jelly stall that passed through the city, reflecting the dancing tree shadows, blue sky and white clouds, slowly flowing and nourishing the vegetation living by the water. The rhythm of buckwheat contained in buckwheat bean jelly seems to have an elegant taste of "hydrophobic soybean is the predecessor, and buckwheat is a late bloomer". It can be said that eating bean jelly made of buckwheat is not only to taste its unique spicy and fragrant flavor, but also to taste the beautiful scenery, customs and food culture of hometown.
The bitter buckwheat in my hometown, though ugly, is full of fresh beauty, which makes the ridicule in the world come to an abrupt end; In its tenacious survival, it gently opened the curtain of silent dedication, and the gentle cold current turned into a spring breeze with a full face, warming the residual snow into a trickle, moistening the embarrassment and washing away misunderstandings that were considered insignificant.