The fate of sauerkraut jar

in my hometown (where I have lived for decades), everyone has sauerkraut jars, and no one is unfamiliar. Eating sauerkraut is the favorite of most people. Sour beans, sour radishes, sour peppers, sour cucumbers, sour Chinese onion heads, sour taro lotus, pickled cabbage stalks (the stems of a big leafy vegetable).

Sauerkraut in Hunan is different from pickles in Sichuan. We use cold boiled water with salt to let it naturally cool and then ferment to sour. The sour water itself does not add any seasoning except salt, and it is eaten raw and cooked with seasoning.

The so-called raw food is to take out the pickled cabbage from the jar, clean it and cut it into required shreds and slices, mixed with chopped Chili, Chili noodles and soybean oil.

Cooked food is mainly boiled fish with sour peas and radish, and fried shredded pork with sour peas. I remember that my favorite food at that time was sour taro lotus. Cut some lean meat and fry it together with soybean oil, which is refreshing and incomparable for next meal.

In the era when people were short of food and drink, there was not a huge sauerkraut jar in Changning, almost half a person's height, which was the guarantee for the whole family to eat all year round.

In late winter and early spring, there were no vegetables, but a big jar of sour radish soaked years ago. Once in a while, I bought a silver carp as big as a handbreadth, cooked a big bowl of sour radish, and the whole family gathered around the dining table. That's delicious food!

My wife is a native of China, and she has a special liking for sauerkraut. In addition, his mother's unique skill in making sauerkraut makes him forget it.

When it comes to cooking jar dishes, I have to talk about my wife and grandmother. Her jar dishes are really unique. She has been dead for decades, and some people have commented that her jar dishes are good, and she has never eaten such delicious jar dishes again.

although I tried to follow her method, I have to admit that I really didn't learn.

When I was single at work, I cooked my own jar dishes, that is, I chopped a little pepper and Rob squeezed it (homophonic). After I got married, I brought two exquisite jars with me to my husband's house.

After my mother-in-law died, everything at home was old "antiques", so I asked brother in law to take whatever she liked. Unexpectedly, he didn't like anything else, except my two jars. His brother had to tell the truth that it was your sister-in-law's "dowry".

One of my neighbors is also a family friend of my parents-in-law. In the past, the old lady was in charge of arranging the family life. Later, she was too old to do anything, and her living conditions improved.

Daughter-in-law no longer cooks a big bowl of sour radish with a small silver carp, as she did then, but there are more fish and fewer radishes.

The old lady was very unhappy. She said that her daughter-in-law was "slapping", which meant that she was too poor to live, and she insisted on being rich when she was poor. You can imagine how poor the old lady used to be.

I don't like to eat pickles here after I came to Kunming. No matter what pickles are added with sugar, I really resist the sweetness in pickles.

I bought my own jar to make sauerkraut. At first, I learned to make Sichuan kimchi, but I didn't succeed in the end according to the instructions on the Internet, and the kimchi was broken.

I immediately changed course and made sauerkraut in Changning, but the taste was not as delicious and fragrant as in my hometown, and my wife didn't like it.

I am attached to the pickle jar in my hometown and covet the pickle, but also to satisfy my wife's nostalgia for the pickle in my hometown. The next year, I went back and asked someone to bring a bottle of sour water, and started the jar again to make sour water.

hehe, this time it was very successful, and the sour smell was just like home. I made a lot of sour beans, and my friends who gave sour radishes to Kunming said they were delicious.

why is this?

When I was still in my hometown, the old jar water broke when I left home for too long. When making sour water again, my friend told me to add old sour water to taste better, which is like making steamed bread with old flour and using strains to help fermentation.

Sauerkraut is made, but the Sauerkraut with Changning flavor is definitely not authentic if it is not seasoned with Changning soybean oil.

Changning's soybean oil and pickled cabbage are a pair of close brothers and sisters. They depend on each other and help each other, and they are not perfect without each other.

Today, people in Changning still want to eat sauerkraut, but it is no longer the only guarantee for next meal. People eat sauerkraut just to adjust their taste, and there is no room for a sauerkraut jar at home.

Small counties have built their own houses, and most of them are modern integrated kitchens. Only old people of my age will have several pickle jars at home.

At first, people just changed the big jars into small ones. Now young people don't have sauerkraut jars at home, but it doesn't mean that they don't eat sauerkraut anymore. It's because some people see business opportunities and start a business specializing in selling sauerkraut.

Not only are there no jars, but few young people have inherited this craft, and many people can't cook jar dishes. Buying ready-made food is their best choice.

many years ago, I still remember my wife saying that even if he went to the United States, he would take sauerkraut with him from his hometown. Although he hasn't been able to go to the United States yet, he did take Changning sauerkraut to travel abroad.

when you can't swallow your meal after eating those unpalatable dishes, can you imagine what it's like to open the Changning sauerkraut in the bottle?

It is hoped that this special dish, which has carried generations, can be made into bottles and bags and spread to other places like other semi-finished products.

Let a wanderer in Changning find the flavor of his hometown, miss his relatives in his hometown, and miss the deceased old man even more.