Wang Han / Text
[Qing Dynasty] Nie Huang " Haicuo Tu "
jellyfish , jellyfish also, the oldest jellyfish has lived on the earth for 650 million years. I loved eating cold jellyfish since I was a child. When I was a child, I didn’t associate the brown, shriveled jellyfish with the beautiful and colorful jellyfish. In my hometown, jellyfish were always called “hidden fish” and no one called them jellyfish. One year, I went to a stone pond by the sea to collect wind and found out that jellyfish are a type of jellyfish.
Jellyfish are mostly green and blue, swaying in the sea. Its umbrella is like a mushroom, up to half a meter in diameter, and there are several filaments on the eight mouth and wrists below. When swimming, it is like a silk umbrella in the south of the Yangtze River, a canopy for an emperor's journey, an exquisite lamp, a lion's golden hair, a comet sweeping its tail, with fluttering tassels and magnificent colors. In terms of various styles, who are the creatures in the ocean? Comparable to it?
Jellyfish are crystal clear, with thin and transparent bodies. The ancients believed that they were formed by the condensation of water foam. Nie Huang, a painter and biology enthusiast in the Qing Dynasty, recorded a kind of jellyfish called "Jinzhan Yintai" in "Hai Cuo Tu", saying Every year on the eighth day of April at the turn of spring and summer, it rains. The blisters created by the heavy rain turn into small jellyfish. In a few months, the small jellyfish will grow up. After drying in the sun, they will become crispy, beautiful and edible.
The ancients were really romantic. In their eyes, birds in the cold dew would turn into clams, big fish in the North Sea would turn into rocs that could fly thousands of miles, bats could turn into clams, fish could turn into dragons, and bubbles would turn into water bubbles. Also turns into a jellyfish. The distance between the ocean and the sky is not far.
1.
In ancient times, jellyfish were commonly known as bream, and some were also called Shijing and Puyu. Bream is not a fish, it is a marine invertebrate, also known as a jellyfish. In the sea, jellyfish and shrimp form strategic partners. There is an old saying in our hometown, "Hide the fish and watch the prawn as an eye", which is used to describe a person who has no independent opinion and relies on others for everything.
There is a record in Zhang Hua's "Natural History" of the Jin Dynasty: "There is something in the East China Sea, which looks like coagulated blood. It is several feet wide, with no head, no eyes, and no internal organs. The shrimps add a comment, and then In ancient times, people cooked and ate them. In the Ming Dynasty, Tu Benji, a man from eastern Zhejiang who called himself "Mr. Han" and "Good-looking Dragon Father-in-law", was used to seeing jellyfish. He wrote more vividly: jellyfish "don't know how to avoid people and just follow them." "With the shrimp as its head, it will float and sink without the shrimp. If the shrimp relies on it, it will fly in the water. When the shrimp sees people, the bream will also disappear. When the tide recedes, the shrimp will be abandoned on the land, so it is caught by people." .
In their description, this aquatic animal in the East China Sea has no head, no eyes and no internal organs. It is formed from the condensation of foam on the water. Because it has no eyes, it does not know how to avoid people. It can only rely on shrimps to direct its actions. Without shrimps, , and had no choice but to float aimlessly; the shrimp was frightened when it encountered people, and the jellyfish knew that there was an enemy and quickly sank to the bottom of the water. I have to admire Mr. Han's subtle insight into marine life . In the sea, jellyfish and shrimp are indeed symbiotic with jellyfish. Usually, the shrimps move freely on the jellyfish's body, begging for food. When they see something wrong, they crawl into it. Inside the mouth and wrist of the jellyfish. The jellyfish feels the stimulation of the shrimp and knows that the danger is approaching. It quickly contracts its umbrella, sinks quickly, and dives into deep water.
In fact, the jellyfish does not completely rely on the shrimp for communication. It has "listening stones" on its body. When the sea is about to have waves, the waves rub against the air and make a roaring sound. The jellyfish's sensitive nerve sensors can detect the sea in the distance. strange. Before the huge wave is about to hit, retract the umbrella cover, sink and escape. It's just that its body is so light that sometimes it can't resist the stormy waves of fate and can only drift with the tide, regardless of east or west.
On a calm dawn or dusk, jellyfish float on the vast sea, like a flower umbrella, opening and closing, contracting and shrinking, the lace along the edge of the umbrella and the 环环环 under the umbrella, hanging down in a long way, like the sea. The demon's long hair is floating in the sea, which is full of charm. When night falls, it sinks silently under the sea.
Every year from around the Qingming Festival to the Summer Solstice, newborn jellyfish float on the sea, densely packed like stars in the sky, drifting all the way from Fujian to the coast of southern Zhejiang , and in July, they enter the coast of Taizhou in eastern Zhejiang. In a few months, it grew from a small child into a beautiful jellyfish with an umbrella diameter of two feet and a weight of more than ten kilograms.
In the past, during the rainy season, jellyfish could be seen everywhere on the ocean in my hometown, so people on the beach said, "On the eighth day of April, the river is full of red." From the summer solstice to the autumnal equinox, jellyfish flourish. From Pishan and Dachen to Sanmen Bay , beautiful flower umbrellas are floating on the sea and all over the river. A poem from the Qing Dynasty said, "Jellyfish boats are parked all over the Qiujiang River", which means that jellyfish flourish during the autumnal equinox, traders gather, and the sea in my hometown is full of jellyfish-catching boats. Fishermen use straw nets to catch the jellyfish, and they also use javelin-shaped bamboo poles to poke them. After being poked, the jellyfish cannot sink and they are caught without any help.
If it happens to be the typhoon season and a gust of wind blows from the sea, many jellyfish will blow on the beach. They are as big as a basin and densely packed all over the beach. It's a pity that this kind of grand occasion is no longer like the yellow croaker flood.
2.
It is said that women are flesh and blood made of water. In fact, jellyfish are the real flesh and blood made of water. There is a proverb in my hometown: "There are many jellyfish in the water, and there are many ghosts in the world." I have never seen the king of hell and ghosts, but I know that there are many jellyfish in the water. 95% of the body of the jellyfish is water, so the name jellyfish is worthy of its name. If the jellyfish on the beach are not picked up in time, they will turn into a pool of fishy water when the sun is shining, with only a little solid left in the water. Two or three days later, dark brown sheets were stuck to the ground, like wrinkled paper . When stepped on, they would make a popping sound, like the sound of a balloon being crushed.
When fishermen catch jellyfish, they must quickly pickle them with alum and salt. The third one is three alum, and the toxins are drained out with the alum salt water, shrinking like a sheep's stomach. As the old saying goes: "Jellyfish cannot be coated with alum, so they have to be washed on the beach." Jellyfish are very fat and heavy. If they are not soaked and pickled in alum and sea salt in time, they will become dehydrated. After dehydration, the protein will solidify. The dried jellyfish will be like cowhide, which cannot be chewed or bitten. Rotten and inedible.
The body of jellyfish is divided into sting head, sting flower and sting skin. The sting head is like the mouth of a bowl, the sting flowers are the eight arms and legs under the umbrella, and the sting skin is the round and thick umbrella cover. There is an old saying in my hometown: "Hide the head and neck of a fish without shriveling it with alum." It is difficult to pickle the head and neck of a jellyfish with alum, and it will still remain lumpy after pickling, which means that a person will not change despite repeated admonitions. In the hometown dialect, "alum" also means reprimand. There is another saying: "If you sting in June, alum will not deflate it." Jellyfish caught in June of the lunar calendar will not deflate even if they are pickled with alum. It is used to describe a person's stubbornness and disobedience.
After the sting skin is salted, it turns into a translucent "skin" and becomes a gelatinous substance. It is light yellow in color, crispy and refreshing, and rattles when you bite it. The seasoning of ginger, garlic and vinegar can bring out its freshness. . Wenzhou Ginger-flavored jellyfish blood is a famous local dish and must be included in any high-end banquet. Jellyfish blood is not the blood of the jellyfish, but the dark purple and red mucous membrane of the jellyfish. At first glance, it looks like tofu skin . In the mouth, it looks more like fish skin, with a gritty texture, soft and refreshing, with ginger wine and some shredded radish. Or fine celery, full of refreshing taste, the taste is much better than sea cucumber .
In summer, the cold dishes of people on the east coast must include cold jellyfish. Jellyfish is like wine, the older it gets, the better it gets, with a crispy texture. The best jellyfish is the three-alum jellyfish. The bright and shiny ones are mostly new jellyfish, which are moist and tender, but the taste is far different.
Another reason why I like to eat jellyfish is that, like mud snail, it is excellent for reducing internal heat. It can also cure strain, food accumulation, and erysipelas. For a fierce woman like me, who is very angry and has oral ulcers gum swelling and pain from time to time, she cannot help but eat some jellyfish and mud snails. A few days ago, my throat was sore and swollen due to internal heat. My fellow villager Lian Danbo invited me to a family dinner, and I happily went there. His wife was a good cook and cooked by herself. She made a table of East China Sea seafood. Every turn of the turntable made her eyes dazzle. Gotta be full of nostalgia.A plate of mud snails, the grains were plump, and a plate of jellyfish, transparent and shining with light. The mud snails and jellyfish are both good for removing fire. I ate half of the plate by myself. The next day, my throat no longer hurt.
In "Old Martial Arts", the Southern Song Dynasty Qinghe County Prince Zhang Junjin served Song Gaozong as a side dish, there was jellyfish clam, which is actually cold jellyfish. The delicacies presented to the emperor were just ordinary cold dishes served by people at the seaside in my hometown.
Jellyfish is easy-going and can be mixed with shredded lettuce, radish, ginger, and bitter gourd, all of which are refreshing and flavorful. Cold jellyfish is best dipped in shrimp sauce. It tastes extremely delicious, fresh, crisp, tender, sour, salty and refreshing. There is a "crunching" sound when chewing, which is like the sound of sea waves between the lips and teeth. It is best used with wine. "Taste this taste while drinking, and the autumn wind will ring in your teeth and cheeks." The ancients said it very poetically. Another poem says: "The jellyfish sings its teeth crisply." It refers to the crispiness of jellyfish, and the crisp sound when chewed is pleasant.
There is a saying in eastern Zhejiang: "The old woman eats jellyfish - without making a sound." The old man is old and has bad teeth, so he cannot chew jellyfish shreds happily. He can only grind them slowly with his gums, so he can't hear the bite. The crisp sound of jellyfish. Several years ago, my eldest aunt once lamented to me: As I get older, I can no longer bite crab claws, chew jellyfish skin, or chew walnuts. Take advantage of your teeth now and eat what you want before it gets too late. Seven old and eighty old, there is delicious food in front of you, but you can't eat it.
When making cold jellyfish, wash it repeatedly. When I was a girl, I kept my fingers dry and never cooked. After getting married, I cooked for the first time and made jellyfish salad. Rinse the pickled jellyfish bought at the market several times under the tap, thinking that the salt has been washed away. Cut the jellyfish into shreds, add vinegar, minced ginger, and minced garlic, mix well, and once you eat it, it is so salty that you can't even eat it. ! It turns out that jellyfish need to be soaked and washed repeatedly until they no longer taste salty, and then they can be served cold with seasonings.
3.
Jellyfish are the relics of this planet, older than horseshoe crabs, with more than 600 million years of existence. Although jellyfish are beautiful, their venom can sting people, and they have the cruelty of "if someone offends me, I will offend them". Among jellyfish, the sea wasp jellyfish secretes toxins similar to cobra venom and is highly toxic. There was once a woman who was moved by the amazing beauty of jellyfish. She saw the jellyfish blown to the beach by the wind, hugged it, and died of poisoning.
The jellyfish in my hometown are very famous, and they used to be tributes. Before a typhoon comes, when jellyfish are at their most tender, fresh jellyfish stir-fried with leeks is called jellyfish cloud ear. I heard from the old man that there used to be many jellyfish on the beach. During the typhoon season, a few jellyfish would float on the sea from time to time. They were the size of pot lids. They were dragged ashore with hooks, poked a hole in their bodies, put on a rope, and found a wooden stick to carry them home.
In the past, there were so many jellyfish on the sea surface in my hometown that there was no time to catch them. Sometimes, strong winds would blow the jellyfish onto the beach, covering the entire beach. A jellyfish stranded on the beach can never return to its hometown. Several times, there were too many jellyfish blown ashore, and there was no time to pickle and dry them. They quickly turned into puddles of water under the sun. The whole beach smelled fishy, and the fish and shrimps fled, and people passed by with their noses covered.
In the Qing Dynasty, jellyfish flourished in the Yellow and Bohai Seas, and the jellyfish covered fishing nets, causing the water to change color and then stink. The fishermen in Liaodong Bay gathered on their knees and handed a complaint to the Poseidon to "sue the jellyfish." How innocent are jellyfish? Just like all living beings in that era, they were swept up and annihilated by the tide, but they were unable to struggle.
(Wang Han: Member of the Chinese Writers Association, Member of the Chinese Prose Society) (Source of this article: Procuratorial Daily)
(Pictures from the Internet)
