As soon as the Spring Festival comes, jujube cake is particularly popular in Jingxian County. Jujube cake is a large-flowered steamed bun made with a layer of big red dates sandwiched between two layers of slices. It is round in shape, with a large top piece and a small bottom piece. The top is decorated with chrysanthemum patterns or words such as auspiciousness, auspiciousness, good luck, and meaning. The diameter is about 20 centimeters. The most common one is about 20 centimeters in diameter. The larger ones are specially made. Jujube cake is beautiful in shape and sweet in taste. It is not only a unique folk snack, but also a highly skilled folk art.
Yuanjia Mantou Shop, Nanguan Street (Nanguannan), Jingxian County, is famous for its steamed jujube cake. Yuan Baohua and his third uncle Yuan Guohua are both experts at steamed jujube cake. When making, first knead the dough, add flour fertilizer (fermenter) to flour and mix well with water, leave to ferment, wait until the dough is well risen, use edible alkaline flour to neutralize the pH, dry the dough and knead it evenly, use three steamed buns for the bottom sheet and press it into a round cake; use four steamed buns for the upper sheet. Pressing the dough with your palms is a skill. You press it in circles to form a pancake with a high center and warped edges. Place a circle of large red dates soaked in advance on the bottom sheet, fill the middle with red dates, pile it up a little higher, and buckle the top sheet up. Another piece of noodles is rolled into a long strip as thick as a pencil, about two feet long. It is rolled into a nine-and-eighth bend. Clamp it with chopsticks in the middle, which is a beautiful chrysanthemum. The two ends of the thrown out noodles are flattened, and patterns are carved with a knife, like two leaves setting off a blooming flower. The dough flowers are placed on the jujube cake, and a small jujube is placed in the middle. It is really beautiful. Place it in a cage and steam it over high heat for more than 30 minutes before the jujube cake is ready.
Many steamed bun shops in Jingxian County also make jujube cakes, and their craftsmanship is unparalleled. The big jujube cakes are displayed outside the shop, which is particularly eye-catching. Many people in Jingxian County like to order their own jujubes in advance. Firstly, the big red dates are carefully selected and their quality is more trustworthy. Secondly, they can order their own favorite flower patterns, which makes them feel happier.
In Jing County, jujube cake has many uses. The first is to "send away the daughter". On the fourth day of the first lunar month, it is a local custom to entertain the new uncle. After the banquet, the daughter will go back to her husband's house with her son-in-law, so her parents will bring her daughter the jujube cake they have prepared. The number of jujube cakes is particular. In the first year, you take two with you when you return to your parents’ home; in the second year, you double it and take four; in the third year, you bring six. Sending jujube cakes represents the best wishes from the mother-in-law’s family to their daughter, which means that they hope that their daughter’s life will be better and better, and she will climb higher step by step. The second is to wish the elderly a happy birthday. In the first month of the first lunar month, when an elderly person turns sixty-six, seventy-seven, or eighty, his or her children, relatives, and friends make an appointment to celebrate their birthdays together on the sixth, seventh, and eighth day of the first lunar month. There is a folk custom of eating meat at the age of sixty-six and chicken at the age of seventy-seven. On the day of birthday celebrations, steamed longevity peaches are indispensable, and jujube cakes add to the joy of the festival. The flower-shaped patterns and the words "Fu", "Lu" and "Shou" on the jujube cakes make the old birthday star smile. The old man couldn't put it down when he gave him a jujube cake with the Chinese character "longevity" on it. The third is to give gifts to relatives and friends. During the Spring Festival, relatives and friends move around each other and visit each other, and give exquisite date cakes as gifts to relatives in the county, Hengshui urban area, and even further cities, which is called "giving rare things". Usually, when relatives from far away come to Jingxian County, most of them bring them back by themselves, so it is logical that they become "bringing rare things". The fourth is to use jujube cakes as offerings to worship ancestors and offer sacrifices to heaven and earth. ancestor worship is a traditional folk custom of remembering the ancestors and not forgetting the grace of upbringing; offering sacrifices to heaven and earth, hoping for good weather and good harvests in the coming year. The fifth is to keep it for yourself. During the Chinese New Year, elderly people will prepare more jujube cakes, which are used for various purposes and enjoyed by their families. The newly baked jujube cake is fragrant. The children have already circled the pot several times. When they opened the lid, they saw that the jujube cake was juicy with various patterns competing for beauty. It looked so good that it was already mouth-watering without going into details.
Jujube cake is only used during the Spring Festival and can only be steamed before and after the Spring Festival. Some people believe that this traditional noodle craft production should be applied for "World Heritage" and should be recognized and protected.
Although people's living standards have improved now, jujube cake made from white flour is not as expensive or fashionable as cream cake. But it is cheap and beautiful, especially the good blessings it contains are unmatched by all cream cakes - the handmade date cake represents the good wishes of the family and fellow villagers - this is the reason why the date cake can be rooted in the soil and water of this place, and it is also a simple folk custom worthy of praise and inheritance.
| Source: Sina Blog - Ding Yiran
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