Yang Mei Season 杨梅 -- The Chinese Bayberry

[Alex_Hart]

1 hour ago, abcdefg said:

I kept some of last summer's batch for nearly one whole year without it going bad. (Just on a shelf; not in the refrigerator.) 

 

Do you need to keep the fruit weighed down? I'm worried that any fruit floating near the top might go bad. 

 

Yesterday, I saw a guy walk upstairs with a good 10 斤 of 杨梅, walk up to a lady who sells those large plastic fermenting jugs, grabbed a jug and poured the 杨梅 right in, then grabbed a giant jug of 白酒 and poured that in, too. Then he paid for the jug and the 白酒 and walked away. No washing or cleaning.?

[abcdefg]

On 6/10/2018 at 10:29 AM, Alex_Hart said:

Do you need to keep the fruit weighed down? I'm worried that any fruit floating near the top might go bad. 

 

Bear in mind that I'm a novice; 2018 is only my second year of making this. But I didn't weigh the fruit down and it didn't go bad. 

 

Washing the fruit is a good idea in my opinion because they sometimes have worms. When I soak them in salt water for 15 or 20 minutes, the worms come out and can be rinsed away. But I've been told that the worms are not dangerous or parasitic. Doubtless the strong alcohol kills them. So maybe the cruder method you saw your neighbor use is just fine. 

 

The old night watchman of my complex and his adult son  make a huge batch every year. They use very cheap booze and I doubt they are very fussy with the fine points. I'll ask if I can think of how to pose the question tactfully. I've drunk some of their finished product for about the last five years. It is miraculous stuff: can do anything short of raise the dead. Stimulate hair growth on a bald pate: check. Lift fallen arches: check. Regrow defective molar teeth: check. Correct myopia and presbyopia to just under 20-20: check. 

[Alex_Hart]

4 hours ago, abcdefg said:

Washing the fruit is a good idea in my opinion because they sometimes have worms. When I soak them in salt water for 15 or 20 minutes, the worms come out and can be rinsed away. But I've been told that the worms are not dangerous or parasitic. Doubtless the strong alcohol kills them. So maybe the cruder method you saw your neighbor use is just fine. 

 

Worms!?

 

I've been eating 杨梅 raw all week after soaking in salt water or in vinegar water for at least 10 minutes, but I've never seen any worms - is it normal for them to have these? I've seen little bugs in the stores, but...

 

Teacher offered some to me today and insisted they did not need to be cleaned; ate some after he insisted a few times, now I'm regretting it.

[abcdefg]

Here's a photo. Baidu calls these small white 虫子 “grubs.” Says they are fruit fly larvae. https://baike.baidu.com/item/杨梅虫/589477?fr=aladdin 

 

But

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But I seldom encounter them. When I do, I just wash them away. Friends tell me that some batches of fruit can be contaminated with them while others aren't. They are not something I worry about and I readily eat one or two unwashed raw fruits when out and about. To the best of my knowledge they don't present a danger to humans. 

 

I take the same approach to strawberries in the colder months. Any soft-flesh fruit can attract fruit flies, who lay their eggs in it as part of their reproductive cycle. 

 

[Alex_Hart]

35 minutes ago, abcdefg said:

But I seldom encounter them. When I do, I just wash them away. Friends tell me that some batches of fruit can be contaminated with them while others aren't. They are not something I worry about and I readily eat one or two unwashed raw fruits when out and about. To the best of my knowledge they don't present a danger to humans. 

 

I don't think I've ever seen these. Maybe just lucky. 

 

I do avoid eating the fruits in the market though. I've seen too many people patting, digging through and touching fruits, veg, meat and tofu when we all know nobody is washing their hands. ? The fruit lady thinks I'm hysterical because she always insists I try a fruit before I buy them, but I insist I can't until I wash it.