My initial understanding of Hami began with cantaloupe. I remember when I was in middle school, there was an article in the Chinese textbook called "Hometown of Hami Melon", which told a story about Hami Melon. This paper describes the origin of the name of cantaloupe, the dispute about its hometown, the cultivation techniques, the types of cantaloupe and its wonderful taste. This made me yearn for mysterious places and mysterious melons very early. Later, I resolutely went to Hami in northwest Xinjiang as a soldier, which was somewhat influenced by this article.
I remember that it was early spring when I first joined the army, which was still early from the day when cantaloupe went on the market. Whenever the veteran mentions eating cantaloupe, the happy expression will make our recruits miss cantaloupe more and drool. I wish summer would come earlier.
The first time I tasted cantaloupe was after dinner one day in summer. The company informed us to go to the canteen to get cantaloupes, and the recruits cheered and jumped into the canteen-haha, everyone took five or six cantaloupes. Look carefully, cantaloupe looks yellow and green, big in the middle and small at both ends, like a football. The skin of cantaloupe is covered with several stripes, wrinkled like a turtle shell. Veterans say this is a "cannonball melon", which is a kind of cantaloupe. The uglier the skin of this melon, the more delicious it is! Everyone scrambled to cut their own melons, and soon a big table was set, yellow, orange and green, crunchy to eat, My Sweetie's, and slightly licorice. It tastes cool and special. For a while, you ate mine and I tasted yours, just like eating a grand cantaloupe feast. Hehe, I ate cantaloupe in Hami for the first time and finally got what I wanted. I am ecstatic.
If you really want to experience the sweetness and beauty of cantaloupe, you have to try the cantaloupe called "extremely sweet" by the old Hami people. "Honey is extremely sweet" is not as big as "cannonball melon", with yellow and bluish skin, smooth and bright color. When you cut it with a knife, the sticky melon juice will flow down the blade. The flesh is green and tender, and it makes people drool before the entrance. Bite down, you will feel soft, honey-like melon juice filling your mouth instantly. That sweetness is beyond description. I have never eaten such a sweet melon in my life.
In those years when I worked in Hami, I ate enough cantaloupe every year, so that I was "afraid" of cantaloupe.
After leaving Hami, I haven't eaten cantaloupe in the south for a long time. In recent years, due to the development of market economy and convenient transportation, cantaloupe has become commonplace in fruit stalls and restaurants in southern China. It is no longer uncommon for people to eat a few cantaloupes after meals. Never find the sweetness of eating cantaloupe in Hami again. I look forward to the opportunity to relive those sweet old dreams!
A few summers ago, I finally got a job in Xinjiang. On the night I returned to Hami, I stayed in a hotel near the railway station. After settling down, I couldn't wait to rush into the street. At the intersection around the railway station, there are many Uighur vendors selling cantaloupes with donkey carts.
During the years when I worked in Hami, I learned a little Uighur dialect, such as "Yo Da Le Xi", which means "Comrade" or "fellow villager". Call the little boy "Balangzi"; If you mean "unhappy" or "angry", you say "your stomach is swollen"
I approached the motorcycle of an old Uighur man. The old man leaned against a teenage "Balangzi". The trolley is filled with cantaloupes from Huang Cancan, big and small.
"Hi, Yoledashi, Baranz, how are you!" I went to say hello to the old man and the little boy. "How much is this melon? How much is a catty? "
In Xinjiang, the unit of measurement is calculated in kilograms, which is different from that in the mainland. A catty in the mainland means a catty, and a catty in Xinjiang means a catty.
"Balangzi" stretched out an index finger.
"Well, it's not expensive." I thought to myself. Ten yuan a kilogram and five yuan a kilogram of cantaloupes seem to be the same in our southern market.
"Is there honey sweet?" I asked.
"yes." The old man is dragging a rattan basket. "Well, I planted it in my own field."
"How much is it?" I picked a small golden cantaloupe of about 5 kg and handed it to the old man for 30 yuan.
The old man didn't receive the money. "Balangzi" smiled at me, but still held out a finger.
"One yuan a kilo?" I'm a little confused.
The old man smiled and told me word by word: "one, one dollar."
I was a little surprised: "Is this honey sweet?" I muttered to myself.
"What a sigh of relief! Really ... really sweet! " The old man said seriously.
"We old Hami, if we are not sweet, our stomachs will rise!" I want to play a joke on the old man.
The old man habitually stretched his voice and said, "well, take it back and try it." Very sweet ... very sweet! " "
The price of this melon surprised me. In our southern coastal city, this melon costs at least twenty or thirty yuan today! Ha ha! Now it's only one yuan!
I happily returned to the hotel with a one-yuan "honey juice is extremely sweet", pulled the melon into a crescent shape along the lines at both ends of the melon with a knife, and then couldn't wait to chew it. Wow, a honey-like melon juice suddenly overflowed my mouth. The thick melon juice makes me feel sticky in my mouth, and my hands seem to be coated with a thin layer of glue. I haven't eaten such sweet cantaloupe for a long time, one after another. In a short time, I swallowed all five Jin of "extremely sweet". I feel very satisfied with the reunion of old dreams. Looking at the messy Hami melon skin on the table and recalling the indecent eating just now, I can't help but shake my head with a wry smile.
That night, my stomach really swelled, but I slept soundly and sweetly.
Editor Jia