A mouthful of sour see Beijing rhyme, old Beijing bean juice, hidden in the ancient capital century of market fireworks

speaking of Beijing's special flavor, there is one food that is always full of controversy. Those who love it think about it all the time and never leave their mouths. Those who hate it frown and are hard to swallow. It is the old Beijing bean juice. Different from the sweet and smooth soybean milk, the bean juice has a unique sour and ferment fragrance, gray and green color and thick texture. At first taste, it only tastes strange, but fine products can taste the mellow and sweet after fermentation of mung bean. With coke rings and pickled vegetables, it is full of smoke and fire in the old Beijing hutong. This seemingly ordinary drink is not a trendy snack, but an exclusive taste of old Beijing that has been passed down for thousands of years. It is the nostalgia engraved in the bones of old Beijingers, and it is the most unique symbol in the food culture of the ancient capital.

I am Jin Xiaotang, 31 years old this year. I am a native of Xicheng, Beijing. I grew up in hutongs. I live with the aroma of bean juice in the morning and evening drums. I have shared the local food and hutong culture of old Beijing on the platform for four years. I am easy-going and well versed in the food of old Beijing. I have seen too many misunderstandings of bean juice from outsiders, and I also understand the obsession of old Beijingers with this taste. As far as I am concerned, bean juice has never been a curiosity food. It is the standard breakfast in the early morning of childhood. It is the homely taste that the elders have talked about all their lives. It is the Beijing accent and ancient capital style that cannot be forgotten anywhere.

Old Beijingers often say, "bean juice is better than living immortals". This seemingly inconspicuous bowl of bean juice has a long history. Its history can be traced back to the Liao and Song dynasties. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, it entered the palace and became a drink that the royal family loved to drink. Later, it slowly flowed into the people, took root in the alleys and alleys of Beijing, and became a civilian delicacy suitable for all. The raw material of bean juice is very common, that is, mung bean, which is made through many processes, such as soaking, grinding, fermentation, precipitation, boiling and so on. There is no additional addition in the whole process, relying on the original taste of natural fermentation, which is also the source of its unique flavor.

In the hutongs of old Beijing, the early morning stalls will never be short of bean juice. The enamel bowl is filled with hot bean juice, and next to it are crisp coke rings and salty pickles. It is the most classic breakfast combination of old Beijingers. In my childhood memory, every morning, grandpa would go to the time-honored shop at the mouth of the hutong to make a pot of hot bean juice and drink it slowly at home with coke rings and pickle shreds. at that time, I didn't know what was good about the sour taste. I watched grandpa drink it with relish and only felt curious. After growing up, I tried slowly with my elders. From the beginning, it was difficult to accept, and then I drank more and more. I gradually understood the doorway of this taste, and also understood the old Beijingers' preference for it.

Many outsiders tried bean juice for the first time, but they couldn't accept its sour and fermented fragrance and felt that it tasted strange. In fact, this is its uniqueness and the key to distinguishing whether it is authentic or not. Authentic old Beijing bean juice must be fermented naturally with mung bean. When cooking, it should be boiled slowly with a small fire and constantly stirred to avoid pasting the bottom. The boiled bean juice is warm and thick, with light green color and faint fermented fragrance. The mouth is slightly acidic, then sweet, mellow and smooth, without pungent peculiar smell, and not even deteriorated sour taste.

Drinking bean juice also has the attention of old Beijing. It has never been a big gulp of water, but a small gulp of water. Drinking it while it is hot has the best taste, and the flavor will be greatly reduced when it is cold. The matching food also has a fixed pattern. The standard is coke rings and spicy and salty vegetable shreds. The coke rings are crisp and chewy, neutralizing the sour and astringent of bean juice. The pickled vegetable shreds are salty, fresh and refreshing, and the taste is greasy. The three are matched. The taste level is instantly rich, sour, crisp and salty. The more you taste, the more delicious. This is the correct way to drink bean juice. In the past, teahouses and breakfast shops in old Beijing were full of people carrying bowls and drinking bean juice. Neighbors sat around and chatted with each other, drinking bean juice and full of warmth in the city. This is a unique sense of life ritual in old Beijing.

Bean juice is not only a flavor drink, but also hides the dietary wisdom and health care of old Beijing. Mung beans are cold in nature and mild in nature after fermentation. They are often drunk to relieve greasy food, clear heat and nourish the stomach. Especially after eating greasy food, drinking a bowl of hot bean juice makes you feel comfortable all over. In the past, when materials were not abundant, bean juice was cheap and nutritious, and it was a good product for ordinary people to keep in good health. Even now, old Beijingers still keep the habit of drinking bean juice. This is not only a preference for taste, but also a adherence to the old tradition and taste.

Nowadays, with the development of the city, the number of old bean juice stalls in many hutongs is gradually decreasing, but many time-honored stores still stick to the traditional craftsmanship and insist on making bean juice by hand to keep the original flavor of old Beijing. Many old Beijingers leave their hometown. What they miss most is not the delicacies of the mountains and seas, but this bowl of hot bean juice. It has long surpassed the food itself and has become the cultural symbol of old Beijing, the carrier of Hutong memory, and the fireworks of the ancient capital. Witness.

In fact, every kind of local cuisine has its own local customs and customs. Douzhi is like this. It may not meet everyone's taste, but it is the feelings of the old Beijingers. To judge a delicious food, one should not only rely on the taste preference for the first time, but also understand the history and culture behind it. If you come to Beijing, you might as well put down your prejudice, find a time-honored brand, order a bowl of bean juice, match it with coke rings and pickles, and taste it slowly. Perhaps you can understand the flavor of old Beijing and the 100-year-old fireworks hidden in this sour mouth.