Jia Pingwa once said, "The human stomach has a memory function." Similarly, there are several lingering "taste of hometown" in everyone's heart. It can be a specialty of hometown or a specialty snack of hometown. This inexplicably familiar taste seems to awaken people's stomach memories through the sense of smell. What I can’t forget is the aroma of “Tunxi Shaobing” from my hometown. After being away from my hometown for a long time, I always miss its unique taste. I often unconsciously buy a lot online from Tunxi Old Street brand stores to satisfy my taste, so that my stomach can remember it through "multiple reviews".
Tunxi Shaobing is also known as "Crab Shell Yellow Shaobing", "Jiujia Shaobing" and "Huangyin Shaobing". Born in Huizhou among the people, it has gradually become a traditional snack for local people and one of the most distinctive real estate customs in Huizhou. Ye's poems record the old-time Tunxi Old Street sesame cakes: "As thin as the autumn moon, shaped like a full moon, with beads scattered on the ground and broken jade, leaving an endless aftertaste in the mouth."
If you go for a stroll on Tunxi Old Street, the snack you will see the most is this small sesame cake. There are more than a dozen stalls on the entire old street selling this kind of sesame seed cakes, all of which are baked and sold freshly.
Tunxi Old Street sesame cakes have many but thin layers, thick appearance, fragrant taste, sweet, spicy, crispy and crispy. The main raw materials are fine flour, pig fat, prunes, sesame seeds, refined salt, vegetable oil, etc., which are hand-made for the skin and filling. It is made through more than 10 processes such as soaking noodles, kneading dough, kneading dough, picking dough, making skin, stuffing, closing, rolling out cakes, brushing dough, spreading sesame seeds, and baking. The freshly made raw cakes are made in a special oven, which burns charcoal. The cake base is attached to the inner wall of the oven, baked, simmered, and then baked after the fire is turned off. It takes several hours. Because after being baked over charcoal fire, it looks like the back shell of a crab and the color is like crab roe, so it is also called crab roe cake.
According to legend, in 1357, when Zhu Yuanzhang stationed his army in Shenan to capture Chuanshan, he recruited many local sesame-cake masters to make this kind of sesame-seed biscuits to serve as solid food for the soldiers marching and fighting. After Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty and proclaimed himself emperor, he did not dare to forget his roots - the meritorious food of this holy land, and issued an edict to canonize it as "Jiujia Shaobing".
When Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty arrived in Huizhou during his trip to the south of the Yangtze River, Huizhou officials held a grand "Jiangchun Grand Pick-up" ceremony. The first tea served at the grand reception was Tunxi Shaobing. The outer layer is crispy, but the inside of the cake is moist and fragrant. It is chewy and delicious, which made Qianlong feel physically and mentally comfortable and energetic after a long journey. He happily gave Tunxi Shaobing the "Emperor's Seal Shaobing", implying Qianlong's appreciation for the cake. The degree of love is comparable to the imperial seal he carries with him, expressing his highest praise for Tunxi Shaobing with practical actions.