Amber Zhang

    SUMMER is the most thirst-inducing time of year. That is why I have come up with some recipes to help overcome this problem.

    My hometown is Meizhou City, Guangdong Province. Most of the population is part of the Hakka culture. Hakkas have experienced many migrations while relying on salt to preserve or prepare food. Salt is considered precious by Hakkas because it both preserves food and enhances the taste.

    Boiling is Hakkas’ most common cooking method because it is easy and convenient to a migrating population.

    As Meizhou is surrounded by mountains, fruit is abundant and fruit juice is easy to make. Plum juice is particularly popular during the long hot summer.

    Keep five or six fresh plums with a small spoon of salt in a glass caddy for three weeks. Then boil the dark plum with hawthorn for about 20 minutes and cool the juice, the sweet-sour plum juice will have a strong taste and will quench your thirst.

    Wampee juice is also simple and refreshing. After wampees ripen in July, pick some big ones and mix them with salt in a jar. Then seal the jar and store it for one month. After the salt has totally permeated through the wampees, you can put the wampees into water to make a cup of salted wampee juice. Drinking the juice is an efficient way of supplying salt to the body, especially when you break into a sweat in summer.

    In my hometown, it is popular to mix honey with tea. In summer, we mix honey with tea leaves in a dark glass pot. After the tastes of honey and tea have completely mixed, we scoop the tea into a cup and pour hot or cold water onto it to make a tea that can release heat from the body.

    Grass jelly cube is another traditional Hakka drink that is popular in summer. According to the custom of my hometown, having grass jelly cube on fu days (the hottest days on the Chinese lunar calendar) can help the body deal with heat. After boiling dry grass jelly for half an hour, take the grass jelly out and put some starch into the juice. Stir and heat the grass jelly juice until it becomes mush, cool it and serve it with ice and honey.

    Wheat jam is a recommended seasoning for its strong fragrance and good taste. Boil wheat in water for nearly one hour and spread the cooked wheat on a sieve and cover with bamboo leaves. Store the half-made wheat in a well-ventilated room for one week to ferment. While there is green mildew on the wheat, rub mould out manually and soak the clean wheat in cold salted water. Cover the jug with salted water and wheat with paper and dry it with direct sunshine.

    One month later you will get wheat jam, which goes well with lots of dishes. The best time to produce wheat jam is in May on the Chinese lunar calendar.

    Fish gravy — a fresh tasty seasoning — is a dinnertime staple in summer. Fish gravy is easy to make at home. Prepare a wooden barrel and put in fish with salt. One layer of fish is covered with one layer of salt and a medium-sized barrel can be filled with six layers of fish. Store the barrel under sunlight, tighten the lid and place a brick on top to prevent pests from scavenging. Two months later, the fish will be residuary and you will have enriched fish gravy.

    Summer is also the harvest season for litchi and longan. As well as eating them straight, you can boil them for 10 minutes, pull them out then dry by direct sunlight. Candied fruit makes a good snack.

    Knowing these recipes almost makes you look forward to the prickly heat of summer.