Dali Stewed Plums

Dali Stewed Plums

　　Also known as "black plums" or "boiled plums." Its production technique uses bitter plums as the raw material, which are soaked in a clay jar and placed in the "mother-and-child fire" (a low fire made from burning rice husks) ashes of the hearth, kept warm for one to two months until the plums turn pitch black, at which point the heating stops and they are ready to eat. Stewed plums can be stored for years without losing flavor. The Bai people often give them as gifts to family and friends

　　Stewed plums are used by the Bai people as a seasoning for cold dishes and spicy sour fish soup, even more sour than vinegar essence. Stewed plums are not only a seasoning but also a traditional Chinese medicine. A Bai proverb says: “Eating apricots brings illness, eating plums restores life.” Taken internally, they are used to treat chronic diarrhea and dysentery, and also have antipyretic and cough-suppressing effects. Applied externally, mashed and spread on wounds or sores, they help detoxify and promote tissue regeneration. They also serve as a refreshing summer drink; when sweetened and dissolved, they taste mellow and quench thirst. It is a unique, long-standing local specialty of the Bai people in Dali. (Dali)