Fengjie is famous for its varied, delicious foods, such as navel oranges, Guzi chicken, Dada noodles, and Kuiyou Pomelo. But have you heard of Du Fu sun-cured dates?

Its name reveals that the delicacy honors Du Fu, a legendary poet of the Tang dynasty.

The portrait of Du Fu, a well-known poet of the Tang dynasty.

Du Fu once lived in Fengjie, called Kuizhou, back then, in a thatched cottage. One night, he found an old woman who was collecting the dates from the tree in his yard. It turned out that her husband and sons went to the front because of the years of war, and she had nothing to eat. Du Fu gave some clothes and porridge to the old woman and invited her to collect dates from then on. He even left the cottage and date tree to her after moving away from Kuizhou. Out of gratitude, the old woman would make sun-dried dates with the ones looking great every year.

The drawing portrait of Du Fu, a well-known poet of the Tang dynasty.

This is the story about Du Fu sun-cured dates.

Date trees cover mountains in Fengjie. Because of the fertile soil, dates are big in size, sweet in taste, smooth in appearance, and rich in the pulp. Fengjie people will collect ripe dates in early September. They prefer to turn them into sun-cured dates rather than eat directly or add them to the soup. Stored in the sealed earthen jars, these dates are incredibly fresh and give out potent fragrance when being taken out in the autumn.