Treasure hunts

Spring brings not just greenery but also treasures to this mountainside village.

Those that linger in my memory are mountain flowers and wild fruits. During my childhood, nobody dreamed of sweets or candy, other than the sugar crystals we occasionally stole from my grandmother. But we made fabulous discoveries on the mountains of tasty chapao, azaleas, bamboo shoots, wisterias, raspberries, wild persimmons, wild kiwifruits, Thorny Elaeagnus fruits, and Chinese hawthorns.

The chapao is a variant of the Camellia oleifera fruit. Mostly light green or gray, it is like a hollow peach with a translucent orange-style peel. Although of a strange shape, it has a sweet taste and a fresh smell. The Camellia oleifera is an odd tree, not only because of its variant fruits, but because of its thick leaves whose color changes from green to gray. We called them tea ears, and they have a flavor similar to chapao but less juicy.

Raspberries are my favorite wild fruit. They are like small strawberries, and grow on thorny vines. Villagers call these small fruit globules “bubbles.” Since the raspberries ripen at the same time as wheat, people also call them “wheat bubbles.”

Hanging from vines, people often pick and savor these sour-sweet fruits that smell like grass. Even though modern life has brought chocolate and yogurt to rural children, they still cannot resist the allure of wheat bubbles. My mother never forgot to pack them in a handkerchief and carry them home on cow horns. My father would also bring back ripe fruits after chopping firewood or tending the fields, in the same way as urban residents bring back gifts of food for children when they have been away on business.

Ripe wheat bubbles signify the passing of spring. Wild fruits still hide deep in the mountains ready to slake the thrist of any travelers that discover them.