The apricots in my hometown mature more than twenty days later than those in the local market. When the apricots in the local market stop stubble, the apricots in our hometown slowly show a slight yellow-green color, and then, one day at a time, they turn to light yellow, dark yellow, and orange. Gradually, from slightly sour to crispy, sweet, and sweet, it will give people a sweet taste for more than half a month.
A few days ago, my brother just posted a video of "Apricots are edible" on WeChat, and today he received a box of apricots from his classmates. The apricots were carefully wrapped with ice packs underneath. I plucked them from the tree early in the morning, and the SF Express Express went all the way. In the evening, I ate the crispy and sweet apricots from my hometown.
When I eat apricots from my hometown, I feel homesick even more than before.
I miss the thick shade of the big locust tree at the door of my house, I miss the swing hanging low on the old walnut tree, I miss the cold and arrogant expression of the puppy, I miss the wild flowers under the pepper tree, I miss the big yard and the old house at home I miss the crops and vegetable gardens behind the house, and the lush green grass on my parents’ graves... When my parents were there, they had no other plans for all holidays and always rushed home in a hurry. Now, when it comes to holidays, I still miss them. Home.
My mother has loved growing fruit trees all her life. I have almost all the fruit trees that are common in northern rural areas in my yard, including apricot trees, apple trees, pear trees, walnut trees, and jujube trees. Every year, flowers bloom from spring, and various fruits come in sequence. Mature, the yard is immersed in the fragrance of flowers and fruits throughout spring and summer. There is always endless fruit to eat all year round.
When we were children, we began to miss the apricot blossoms as soon as they fell. We looked up eagerly every day to see apricots as big as soybeans, as big as fingernails, and as big as egg yolks. We simply couldn’t wait, so we secretly picked a few with our friends, and each of us One, took a crispy bite, and shivered with sourness. They laughed at each other, but finished the apricots in small bites. The apricot kernel is still tender, so I don’t know who’s idea it was, but I put it in my ear to “cuddle the chicken baby”. Of course, the chick won’t hatch, but after the trouble, I will be happy for many days, and then I will no longer spoil the green apricot seeds for no reason. , wait patiently until maturity.
When the apricots are ripe, you can't eat much if you let go of your belly. But the apricots ripen very quickly. When you get up every morning, there is a golden color under the tree. There is no technology to keep the apricots fresh, not to mention that every household has them, so they can’t give them away, so they can only dry the apricots. Taking advantage of the good weather, pick a basket of apricots, patiently break them open one by one, take out the apricot core, and place the two figure-eight-shaped apricot flesh on the wooden board or iron sheet. When drying apricots, the weather likes to play tricks on people. Sometimes, when a few dark clouds gather, it will start raining heavily. I have to rush to move the drying apricots indoors one by one. If it rains continuously, the apricots will soon become useless and grow white hair, so they have to be thrown away.
Several large baskets of apricots were picked, but the dried apricots did not fill a small basin. The mother carefully collected them and mailed some to relatives far away. The others were kept in the long winter and distributed in small handfuls to the children for toothpaste. In a dull winter day, a dull mouth, the soothing warmth of a small dried apricot is profound, sour and sweet, with a long aftertaste. People look forward to the blooming of apricot flowers and the ripening of apricots.
Bitter almonds can be used as medicine, and people buy them on the streets in autumn; sweet almonds can be eaten directly. Smashing apricot kernels is a rainy day pastime. When it rained, my mother took the saved apricot kernels out of a basket, found two bricks, made a small circle with a rope, grabbed a handful of apricot kernels and put them in the rope loop on the bricks, and lifted the other brick with enough strength. I smashed it down with all my strength. When the almonds broke out of their shells one by one, they pushed them in front of me. Mother smashed and I picked, and we cooperated tacitly. The almonds were sorted on the plate, and the apricot kernel shells are a good ingredient for cooking and making fire. Nothing is superfluous. While picking the almonds, I checked and compared them. I picked seven apricot kernels of good quality and the same size for myself. I washed them cleanly and kept them for sharing with my friends.
My mother would also soak the bitter almonds in cold water overnight to remove the bitterness, peel off the skin and roast them over a slow fire in a pot, then grind them into pieces and use them to roll the flower rolls. They taste oily and delicious.
"The concubine laughed when she was riding in the mortal world. No one knew it was a lychee." Thousands of years ago, countless horses were exhausted so that Concubine Yang could eat the lychees three to five days after they were separated from the branches. Today, we seem to be extremely lucky. However, when our apricots arrive in thousands of households due to express delivery and live broadcast, I feel deeply sad. I will never be able to taste many of the flavors I had back then, and I will never be able to eat apricots dried by my mother's own hands. Done.