Hiking Travel Notes | Yangmei Tasting Tour in Yuyao Shili Plum Township

"The red branches are embellished with green branches, and the front dock shines brilliantly." In mid-June, entered 's annual bayberry harvest and market season. The fruit period lasts only about ten days, which is a must for foodies. You have to hurry up. Because in the eyes of southerners, summer is incomplete without eating bayberry.

The shelf life of bayberries is very short. After several picks and moves by hand, even the most expensive varieties of bayberries sold in fruit shops look watery, and are not suitable for foodies like me. If you want bayberries to be hygienic and delicious, you still have to pick them by yourself.

In order to realize the wish of hugging a tree and eating bayberry, I roped in Director Wei to participate in the Shilimei Township hiking activity organized by the crazy leader last Saturday.

Considering that there will be more people picking bayberry on weekends, we set off before 7:30 on Saturday morning. It takes about an hour's drive from Ningbo city to the entrance of Shilimei Township Trail in Meixi Village, Zhangting Town, Yuyao.

After parking the car, get ready and start hiking. The sky is blue and white, the breeze is gentle, and the weather is warm and refreshing at around 8 o'clock in the morning. It is quite suitable for hiking.

The trail is very gentle. After passing Lanshenong Reservoir, you will reach Yangmei Mountain not far away. The bayberries at low altitudes have basically been picked for a round, but it doesn’t matter to passers-by that we picked a few to try. There are still some to pick out the leaves.

The first bayberry this summer, it tastes pretty good, with a moderate amount of sweetness and sourness.

Bayberry is an ancient fruit unique to China. During the archeology of the Neolithic Hemudu site in Yuyao City, Zhejiang Province, it was discovered that the original species of bayberry existed here as early as 7,000 years ago.

According to historical records, artificial cultivation has a history of more than 2,000 years, and there are records of bayberry from the Han Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty.

Wang Xiangjin, a scholar of the Ming Dynasty, recorded in "Qunfang Pu": "The producers of bayberry in Kuaiji are the best in the world." This sentence shows that Yuyao occupies the top spot in the bayberry industry.

Zhangting Town in Yuyao has always been the core production area of high-quality bayberry. There are many mountains such as Yangmei Mountain, Pingfeng Mountain, Huangni Mountain, Muhaijian, Meihua Mountain, and Taishan. There is a stream between the mountains. The banks are covered with red bayberries, hence the name Meixi.

The bayberry here is famous for its sweetness. It is said that the current planting area is as much as 5,000 acres, so it is known as Shili Plum Township.

In addition to Meixi, there is also a reservoir and bayberry trees all over the mountains. Every mountain here can be called bayberry mountain, because in addition to bayberry trees, there are also bayberry trees on the mountains.

The bayberry varieties grown here are mainly the famous "Water chestnut species" and "Zhaoda species", accounting for more than 55% of the total cultivated area.

There are many varieties of bayberries here, with large kernels and fine purple color. The three varieties we tasted are the water chestnuts, carbon black, and Dongkui. The ones we picked are all so red that they turn purple. We picked one right now and put it on the table. In the mouth, the sweet and sour juice goes down the throat, refreshing the heart and mind. The sleepiness of climbing the mountain suddenly disappears, and the whole person feels refreshed.

Today I finally realized my little wish of hugging a tree and eating bayberries! Pick a tree, pick the best bayberry, sit on the tree, pick and eat until your teeth are soft and your stomach is full.

After hugging the tree until it is full, it wants to be broken. So, at noon, under the bayberry tree, with a gurgling stream and a clear sky, we set up a square tea banquet, put on fresh summer fruits, brewed a pot of Dahongpao, simmered the time, and felt the midsummer flavor in the mountain breeze. Cool and elegant.

From Wang Xizhi to Pushkin, from The Hateful Eight to Dragon Inn, from Gatsby to The Pianist, from Interstellar to Wandering Earth, from the National Football Team to Curry, from Quanyou to Turkey, from the Teutonic Knights to the Winged Knights, from Sun Simiao To the new crown, from the Shimao ruins to Sanxingdui, from Nepal EBC to Ningbo salty crabs, the final topic ended with lying flat and rotten...

It’s so wonderful to sit quietly and listen to the taste of time with a cup of tea in the middle of the mountain. It's a pity that we have only completed one-third of today's journey, we have to keep getting up and walking.

At one o'clock in the afternoon, the surface temperature reached the extreme value, and the crazy leader raised his little whip to urge us on our way.

Fortunately, the road was in good condition. The trail was lined with pine trees and bamboos, and there were many resting spots along the way. However, Director Wei was still stunned. On the way back, she pointed to a picture in which she had witnessed the whole process and asked me: "They What are you doing?”

After I came back, I found out that the highest outdoor temperature on Saturday actually reached 34 degrees! It’s really impossible to live without being crazy.

Why do you have to go out in such hot and humid weather? Because of love. For us, walking is a kind of medicine. Basking in the sun, blowing the mountain breeze, smelling the fragrance of flowers, listening to the chirping of birds, and seeing the fruits of spring flowers and autumn fruits can cure the current difficulties and unhappiness.

You see, the grass is bearing its seeds, the wind is shaking its leaves, the fruits are growing hard, the hydrangea on the farmhouse balcony is blooming, the dog is sleeping soundly in the courtyard, and the cute baby in the mountains is immersed in watching In the play... we are walking on the road without talking, and it is very beautiful.