There is a proverb in old Beijing: "Cherrys and mulberries are on sale at that time." What does this sentence mean?

Although the cherries common in Beijing in the old days were not as big as today, they were still as bright and delicate as gems. This kind of fruit was very valuable when it first came on the market. Those who could afford it would buy it as an offering to the Buddha, but they would buy it casually and eat very little.

There is a passage in Mr. Lao She's unfinished autobiographical novel "Under the Red Flag" about the protagonist's eldest sister's mother-in-law: At the turn of spring and summer, she will buy some of the first batch of mature ones wrapped in small cattail bags. Large Ming Tombs cherries are displayed on the altar table. These are just to show her style and pomp. When she really wants to eat, she will buy some "shan beans" pretending to be cherries and stuff them into her mouth in large quantities. It is cheap and enjoyable. "

"Shan Douzi" is also a kind of berry, but compared with the first batch of ripe cherries, it is much cheaper, of course, much smaller and more sour. The eldest sister's mother-in-law is a bannerman The aristocrat has the old habit of caring about face and enjoying himself, but he has become increasingly moneyless, so she spent a lot of time trying to achieve a balance between them.

Although it was around the Dragon Boat Festival, Cherry. Large quantities of cherries have been put on the market, but large cherries are still a regular customer of fruit bureaus. Most of the time, street vendors still sell this kind of "shandouzi" and smaller cherries.

The fruits can be used as fruits. Edible, the appearance is bright and crystal clear, as red as agate, and as yellow as gelatin. The fruit is rich in sugar, protein, vitamins, calcium, iron, phosphorus, potassium and other elements.

Cherry is mainly distributed in the world. In the United States, Canada, Chile, Australia, Europe and other places, the main producing areas in China are Shandong, Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Hubei, Henan, Gansu, Shaanxi, Guizhou, etc.

As for mulberries, which are accompanied by cherries. They are more like elves in the mountains. The traditional varieties of mulberries are very small and light, and there are not many of them after picking them for a long time. It is frustrating to just pick one up and eat it. It has a unique taste of sweet and sour mixed with the smell of grass, so it is worth the trouble.

I remember eating a kind of candy when I was a child, probably called "Devil". The characteristic of this candy is that it is eaten. After eating, the tongue turned black and purple, just to scare the classmates. Thinking back, mulberry is the origin of this kind of "devil candy" - the child who ate the mulberry not only had the tongue, but also the lips, chin, and fingers... They are all purple.