A wild fruit reminds me of my childhood, and memories come before my eyes one after another

I passed a small bridge during my morning exercise. When I stopped to rest, I saw a plant that was commonly used to cut grass in my childhood - Black Egg Egg. So, I thought of those edible wild fruits and vegetables, and the fields of my childhood.

Black Dandan

The scientific name of Black Dandan is Solanum nigrum. Also known as: Seven-button, Sky Eggplant, Wild Grape, Black Tiantian, etc., the names vary from place to place. Because the fruit is black, we call it black egg. Nightshade has larger plants, oval leaves, white flowers, and strong vitality. It is common in fields and in front of and behind houses. The fruits of nightshade are in bunches, with seven or eight fruits growing together. Maybe this is the reason why it is also called "Seven Buttons". The ripe fruit is black, like a black pearl, which is why we call it black egg. The reason why nightshade is so popular and leaves such a deep impression is because its black fruit is edible, and because it carries the childhood memories of countless rural people.

The ungrown nightshades are mixed in the grass and are equal to other grasses. They will not attract attention and are often unrecognizable. They are often cut home as pig grass and become pigs. , sheep delicacies. The nightshade that slipped through the net grew up day by day, until it bloomed with white flowers and received green fruits, it was "looked at differently" by us, and even hid it like a hidden treasure. Most of the nightshade seedlings have been cut off by us, so not many will grow up and bear fruit. Therefore, it feels like finding a treasure when you see a nightshade with black fruits hanging from the grass. I couldn't wait to pick the ripe fruit and put it directly into my mouth. It was sweet, slightly sour, and had a different taste. It was rare to eat fruits in childhood when material was scarce, and fruits such as grapes were even rarer. The ripe nightshade fruit, Black Egg Egg, is like a delicious grape in our eyes.

The juice of nightshade juice is black, and it is difficult to wash off if it stains your hands and clothes. It is said that in older times, the juice of nightshade fruit was also used as a dye. After eating nightshade fruit, my teeth and tongue are stained. Sometimes I don't pay attention and it stains the corners of my mouth. If it is more exaggerated, it may look like a monster in a modern ghost movie. Thinking about it, with his face covered in sweat, maybe even muddy patches, and his hair stained with grass seeds, he should look silly and ridiculous, but that didn't feel like it at the time.

When I met a nightshade with green fruits on it, I was afraid that others would find it, so I picked the fruits and covered them with grass so that I could enjoy them again in a few days when the green fruits were ripe. But many times it is hidden, and when we come again, the fruits are still green, but much less. I don’t know who picked the ripe fruits, and they also used the same method to cover them with grass.

There is youthful excitement in the nightshade fruit, and teenage love in the nightshade fruit.

Lei, Jun and Hua are classmates. They often go to and from school together and often cut grass together. Hua is a quiet girl who is often taken care of by them. The three of them play well. When three people were mowing the grass, they saw nightshades with unripe fruits, so they covered them with grass and agreed to come back together in a few days when the fruits are ripe. After four or five days, Lei proposed to pick the ripe nightshade fruits. Jun said that the time was too short and the fruits would not be ripe. He would not go there for another two days. Hua also said that the time was too short and he was afraid that the trip would be in vain. At the end of school the next day, Jun said that his father had asked him to do other work and he could not mow the grass. Hua felt that she was going to mow the grass with a boy for fear that her friends would gossip about her, so she did not go. Lei was walking slowly on the road alone, carrying a basket on his back and holding a sickle. Without the company of his friends, he couldn't get up to work. Lei waved his sickle carelessly on the big furrow at the end of the field. The grass on the furrow had grown old with each harvest. It was hard to cut, and the cattle and sheep didn't like to eat it. They stretched it into the furrow between the fields or the corn fields. There was tender grass, but Lei did not dare to go deep into the cornfield alone. Lei misses Hua Hejun. At this moment, Lei heard Hua Hejun's voice. Lei felt puzzled and thought it was an auditory hallucination caused by missing his friends. However, Hua Hejun's voice continued. He stopped holding the sickle in his hand and listened carefully to their voices. Jun said, "Look, this fruit is quite ripe. I will pick it for you to eat." Hua Shuo agreed to come together, and Lei would definitely be unhappy if he found out. Jun said that he would not be able to tell if we pick some and leave some behind and come with Lei tomorrow. Lei walked forward and could see the shadowy figures of Jun and Hua through the cornfield. Jun gave all the nightshade fruits he picked to Hua. Hua took them but didn't eat them. Jun said you eat them, Hua said let's go together. Eat it, Jun said I won’t eat it, you can eat it if you like. Hua was a little embarrassed.

Lei suddenly understood the reason why Hua and Jun both said there was something going on at home. From then on, Lei and Jun no longer cut grass together.

Later, the words "Wait for me in Hexi" were circulated in the class, which was said to be the content of a small note intercepted. Later, Jun and Hua stopped talking.

The song "Red Mountain Fruit" was popular a few years ago, "You picked red mountain fruits again and gave them to me one by one." I was reminded of the nightshade fruit. If they were older, would Jun and Hua have a beautiful ending of "they will stay with me for a hundred years". Without the intercepted rumor of "Waiting for me in Hexi", Hua Hejun would have become a stranger.

Teenage love affairs are beautiful but also have regrets, but perhaps it is the regrets that make them more beautiful.

Ma Suoer

Ma Suoer is also called Ma Suoer, and its scientific name is 苘(qing) hemp, also called green hemp. In our area, we call it wild hemp tree. This plant is larger and much stronger than the plant of Solanum nigrum. It is common on the roadside and in front of and behind houses, especially in potholes.

It seems that milfoil does not belong to the grass category. Anyway, we never want milfoil when mowing grass. The reproductive capacity of milfoil is very strong. A few sparse trees can spread into a large area, and if left unchecked, it can quickly engulf the crops. Therefore, if milfoil is found in the ground, it must be removed.

The plant of milfoil is upright and has a thick stem. "The fluffy hemp grows upright without support" refers to the importance of the environment. In fact, it also shows that the hemp grows upright. The grown amaranth is like a cotton plant, and it takes a lot of effort to pull it out by the roots. The stems, leaves and fruits of amaranth are all green. The leaves are as big as the palm of your hand and can be used to wrap things. I remember when I was a child, I used impatiens to dye my nails red and wrapped my fingers with hemp leaves. When I was a child, I played a game with hemp leaves, which was to put the hemp leaves in the tiger's mouth and clap them, and compete to see who could make the loudest sound. The outer skin of the hemp stalks can be peeled off and twisted into hemp ropes. I remember that there was a big pit in the east of the village. After a heavy rain, most of the pit was filled with water. Someone put bundles of hemp in the water, saying that it was retting to a certain extent, and the outer skin of the hemp was easy to use. Peeling. Later, I learned the poem "I work in the fields during the day and harvest hemp at night, and the children in the village are responsible for their own houses." I often thought of the work of twisting hemp ropes and the hemp in the puddles.

The whole body of Amaranth is green and the flowers are yellow, which is very eye-catching and beautiful. But it has never been among the ranks of ornamental flowers. The Amaranth fruit, also known as Ma Shuoer, is green and looks like a lotus pod, but it has regular wrinkles on the outside. Mazuoer can be eaten, but the edible masuoer should not be too young or too old. Once the skin of the masuoer is too tender, there will be very little left. If the skin of the masuoer is too old, the skin cannot be peeled off. The seeds are too old and hard to eat. There are also tips for eating moxa. First of all, you need to look for moxa that is neither old nor tender, and then you need to be skillful in peeling the skin. First remove the staking from the roots of the mozao, and then peel off the wrinkled green outer skin from the middle. After going around, lift it up and remove the outer skin on the top, and a white seed ball will be ready. The edible hemp seeds are white and arranged in rows in a circle. There are more than ten rows with three seeds in each row. Hemp seeds have a slightly sweet taste, a grassy and woody aroma, and a bit of astringency, which makes them crunch in your mouth.

Amaranth has high medicinal value. Grind fresh milf leaves into a paste and apply it to the swollen area to reduce swelling and relieve pain. Hemp seeds are also a traditional Chinese medicinal material that has the effects of clearing away heat and promoting dampness, reducing inflammation and detoxifying. It can also prevent the three highs, accelerate the metabolism of fatty acids and cholesterol in the body of middle-aged and elderly people, and prevent the increase in blood pressure and blood lipids. When I was a child, I accidentally cut my hand while cutting grass in the field. I picked up a piece of hemp leaf and packed it randomly, and tied it with a few grass roots without delaying my work. Now I think it may be because of the medicinal value of hemp.

Lantern fruit and horse melon

Born in the countryside and playing in the fields, I have a special affection for the fields and a soft spot for the plants in the fields. Wild fruits that can be eaten in the fields include lantern fruit, which is named because of its lantern-shaped outer skin. Its scientific name is physalis. After the fruit matures, it can be divided into two types: yellow and red. It can be eaten fresh. The taste is a bit sour and spicy, which I don’t like eating very much. Now after consulting the information, I know that the lantern fruit is not only very high in vitamins, and regular consumption can enhance the body's immunity. It is also rich in Physalis alcohol, Phosphorus rubin, alkaloids, citric acid, carotene and other ingredients. Regular use can promote Human growth and development. If I had only known that if I had eaten more when I was young, I might have grown a few centimeters taller and become a tall, graceful person.

There is another wild fruit that is more well-known to everyone, which is mapao, also called mapao melon. The leaves of Mapao look more like cucumber leaves. They are vines with small yellow flowers. There can be many Mapao on one vine.

When the horse bubble is not mature, it is green and hard. When the horse bubble matures in August, the color of the horse bubble will slowly change from green to yellow, and the fragrance will become stronger and stronger. The most attractive thing about Ma Pao is its fragrance, which is similar to that of melon and can be smelled from a long distance away. The children were obsessed with the scent of Ma Bu, so they picked a few and put them in the desk bucket. However, Ma Bu was too fragrant and the teacher often found out. However, the teacher sometimes just asked and warned him not to bring it to the classroom next time. Ma Pao will not be thrown out. Yes, who can resist the fragrance of plants? Everyone has the heart to love beauty and cherish fragrance. Sometimes they put Mabu in the wardrobe so that the clothes can be stained with the fragrance of Mabu. However, sometimes it is self-defeating. If Mabu is left in the suitcase for a long time and is forgotten, the Mabu rots in the suitcase. , the fragrance turned into a sour smell, which was not beautiful.

Wild vegetables

In addition to some edible wild fruits, many wild vegetables were also common on the dining table in that era. The wild vegetables that I often ate when I was a child include almonds, broom greens, gray greens, purslane, and sage, but shepherd's purse is not often eaten. Almond greens and purslane are often used to make big steamed buns, broom greens are best eaten steamed, and slender greens and gray greens are used cold. I heard from my mother that during the famine years, wild vegetables could not be found, and all the edible leaves were stripped away. By the time our generation can remember, eating wild vegetables was no longer entirely due to poverty, but to some extent a taste of early adopters. Nowadays, many people still eat wild vegetables purely for the sake of trying them out and eating them for rare reasons. Another reason is that many wild vegetables have high medicinal value.

When spring returns to the earth and everything is green, many mothers-in-law go to the surrounding fields or the grass in the park to look for wild vegetables. They bring shovels and food bags and search carefully and dig carefully. Serious and focused, it's like looking for a treasure. I think what they are looking for and picking are not just wild vegetables, but a period of time and a memory.

The green fields, the clear wild vegetables, the bright clothes, and the smiles on the faces are memories and remembrances of the past, and they are also a praising and cherishing of the current life.

Big fish and meat are no longer rare, and wild vegetables have become a good thing. Any old mother who makes wild vegetable buns will always give a few to her children, or let relatives and friends taste them. Nowadays, there are more wild vegetable restaurants, including wild vegetable steamed buns, wild vegetable soup, and various ways of eating them, including steamed and cold. The ones related to wild vegetables seem to be high-end, because the prices of those related to wild vegetables are not low, and the business is quite good. . There was a popular saying in the past few years: "The poor eat meat, the rich eat grass." The grass here mostly refers to wild vegetables. You see, wild vegetables are no longer a symbol of poverty, but have suddenly become a symbol of status.

Where there is demand, there is supply, and where there is a market, there is a place of production. Wild vegetable planting bases and processing factories have also emerged as the times require, and the wild vegetable production chain has gradually improved. Many economically savvy people have made a fortune in the wild vegetable business.

In Chinese philosophy, there is simplicity and modesty, Taoism follows nature, and Chinese people focus on returning to nature. A ball of wild vegetables is a taste of something new, a memory, and a memory of hardship and sweetness. But who can not say that it is a return to nature? , is the remembrance of suffering and the cherishment of happiness.

Do it and cherish it

In times of material scarcity, wild fruits were snacks for children. In the poor years when hunger was unbearable, wild vegetables helped people survive the famine. Today, as living standards are getting higher and higher, wild fruits that were once treasures are gradually disappearing from sight, and wild vegetables have become rare items and are returning to the dining table. Facing familiar wild fruits and vegetables, I can always think of my childhood years and childhood fields.

Thanks for the years and the fields!