Bashan Flour Paste

Bashan Flour Paste

　　Bashan Flour Paste is a specialty of Ahhu Town, Xinyi City, Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province. In Xinyi, Bashan Flour Paste can be served as an appetizer, eaten with scallions or other dipping ingredients, or used as a cooking ingredient — for example, when making twice-cooked pork, adding the paste while stir-frying the meat greatly enhances the flavor.

　　The Bashan Flour Paste of Xinyi is a traditional skill of the Li family, with a history of over a hundred years. It was originally created using a secret recipe by Li Qixi, a Qing Dynasty official known as Qing Deng Shilang, and has been passed down through six generations to the present day.

　　Paste held an important place in ancient Chinese cooking. As early as 158 BC, Shi You of the Western Han Dynasty wrote in “Jiju Pian”: “Wu Yi, salt, fermented black beans, vinegar, and paste,” listing “paste” alongside other seasonings, which shows its significance. Yan Shigu commented: “Paste is made by combining soybeans with flour.” During the Northern Wei Dynasty, Jia Sixie’s “Qimin Yaoshu” recorded: “The ‘Food Canon’ method for making wheat paste: take one dan of wheat, soak it overnight, steam it, then let it rest until a yellow mold forms. Boil one dan and six dou of water with three sheng of salt to make a brine, strain out eight dou, place it in a jar, add the steamed wheat, stir well, cover, and place it in the sun. After ten days, it is ready to eat.”

　　The Bashan Flour Paste of Xinyi is made from wheat flour, water, and salt, with no added flavor enhancers, fragrances, or spices. It is naturally fermented and is a purely natural food product.

　　The production process of Bashan Flour Paste is complex and time-consuming, involving steps such as mixing the flour, forming flour bricks, steaming in a basket, cooling, making koji, natural fermentation in jars, stirring, and fine grinding. It takes a full year to complete the paste. The finished product has a purplish-red color, delicious taste, and high nutritional value. It contains the sweetness of sucrose and the aroma of sesame oil, is rich in essential amino acids and other nutrients needed by the human body, and is easy to digest and absorb. It can be served as a side dish or used as a seasoning.

　　The production process of Bashan Flour Paste is elaborate and has traditionally been passed down orally and through hands-on teaching. The process is highly dependent on climate conditions, limited by seasons, and has a long production cycle — typically taking a year to produce the paste. It is not suitable for mass production, and there are now few young people willing to learn the traditional craft of making sweet soy sauce. There are very few people who are proficient in this traditional technique today, most of whom are over 50 years old, so it urgently needs to be protected and preserved.

　　■ Homemade Method for Flour Paste

　　Prepare flour and salt, steam the kneaded dough after mixing — you can make it into steamed buns, then crumble them and ferment them with heat before drying them in the sun. Mix with saltwater and stir evenly, then sun-dry. If it’s summer with clear weather, 1-2 months of sun exposure will make it ready to eat.

　　On the family dining table, flour paste can be served as an appetizer, eaten with scallions or other dipping ingredients, or used as a cooking ingredient — for example, when making twice-cooked pork, adding the paste while stir-frying the meat greatly enhances the flavor.

　　■ Several Home-style Ways to Eat Flour Paste

　　Method 1: Wrap in a pancake. Just like in Jiawang, people in Xinyi also love eating pancakes. Spread a layer of flour paste on the pancake, add a small cucumber or local scallion, and it tastes uniquely delicious.

　　Method 2: Stir-frying. Normally, when stir-frying, you need both salt and soy sauce, but flour paste can serve both purposes and also helps create a glaze-like coating.

　　Method 3: Make twice-cooked pork. People in Xuzhou enjoy spicy dishes, and twice-cooked pork is one of them. Pour oil into a pan, add a spoonful of flour paste when the oil is slightly warm, fry until aromatic, then add scallions, ginger, meat, and other ingredients. Stir-fry until done. The taste and color of the twice-cooked pork become even more delicious and vibrant.