Dried pickled vegetables already existed in the pre-Qin period
The “interpretation of the name” said: “so that the block between cold and warm, not rotten. “
After the winter, everything withered, vegetables are naturally no exception. In the face of the lack of vegetables in winter, the ancient people first thought of how to extend the shelf life of vegetables to prevent early decay, so there is a “pickled vegetables. Pickled vegetables were called “minced” in the early Qin Dynasty, pronounced zū. What is “mince”? Liu Xi of the Eastern Han Dynasty, “the name of the explanation of food and drink” said: “the ingredients, also blocked, raw stuffed, so that the block between cold and warm, not rotten. “Now the so-called “old pickles”, “Korean kimchi”, the “Korean kimchi”, are processed in this way.
Pickled vegetables is one of the main consumption of vegetables in the winter, the pre-Qin Dynasty Zhou royal family has a special responsibility for pickled food, that is, “minced meat. According to the “Zhou Li – Palace of Heaven” “minced meat” article, pickled vegetables set eunuch (Am) 1, female workers (female minced meat) 20, in addition to female slaves (Xi) 40 people, pickled vegetables consumption The consumption of pickled vegetables was very large, and in addition to food, it was mostly used for rituals. From the “Rites of Zhou”, what vegetables can be “minced”, including leeks, jing, mao, sunflower, celery, celery, bamboo shoots 7 kinds of vegetables, mainly known as “seven minced”.
Minced is the whole dish for pickling, there is a way to chop vegetables and pickled, called “salted”. The word “salted” is pronounced as “jī”, which is the ancient word for “finely chopped”, so that the processed vegetables have a better taste. Therefore, the explanation in the “Interpretation of the Name – Interpretation of Food and Drink” is: “虀, also Ji, with all the flavors into also. “
By the Qin and Han dynasties, the variety of pickled vegetables consumed by the ancients in winter was more abundant, and the pickling methods were also more sophisticated. The four people moon order – September” records: “September hidden ginger, gingerbread, for sunflower minced, dry sunflower. “Meaning that the lunar calendar in September began to collect fresh ginger, ginger lotus (herbs, can do Chinese medicine), pickled sunflower vegetables, sun-dried sunflower vegetables. Here again reveals another variety of vegetables eaten by the ancients in winter – dried vegetables. Dried vegetables and pickled vegetables production method is the opposite, must be vegetables and water dried, now common “dried plum vegetables” is so made.
North and South Dynasties, there are “cellar vegetables”
Whether it is pickled vegetables or dried vegetables, the loss of nutrients of vegetables are relatively large, the ancients and figured out the “cellar storage vegetables”, now the main winter vegetables in the north cabbage, is generally through the cellar to extend the shelf life.
The first written record of the ancients eating cellar food in winter is found in the Northern Wei agronomist Jia Siwei’s “Qi Min Yao Shu” in the North and South Dynasties, the book called the cellar for storing vegetables and fruits for “shade pit”.
In addition to cellar storage to extend the shelf life of fruits and vegetables, for winter consumption of storage means there are sand storage, refrigeration, mixed fruit, wax seal, sealing, etc.. Such as “mixed fruit method”, is the different varieties of fruits and vegetables put together in storage so that they do not deteriorate.
So, when did winter storage cabbage become the main consumption of vegetables in the winter of the ancients? Cabbage is a Chinese native vegetable, early named “woad”, the southern dynasty Liang Tao Hongjing “famous medical special record” has But cabbage became the main vegetable consumed in winter after the Song Dynasty, before that, the most important vegetable eaten by the ancients was Before that, the most important vegetable eaten by the ancient people was sunflower, which was known as the “master of all vegetables”.
The woad was renamed as “cabbage”, which was also called by the Song dynasty people first. The name “bai choy” is a generic term, also known as “white woad” and “white head”. In the Song Dynasty, there were many varieties of cabbage, such as large cabbage (large white head), small cabbage (small white head), and black and white cabbage.
Qin and Han dynasties appeared anti-seasonal vegetables
The Book of Han: “In the garden of the Imperial Court, winter onions and leeks were planted and covered with huts. “
Although the vegetables in the cellar basically maintain the original flavor of vegetables, but in the degree of freshness are more or less different. As a result, “anti-seasonal vegetables” emerged.
In the Qin and Han dynasties, there were already anti-seasonal fruits and vegetables, and the “Confucianism” planned by Qin Shi Huang was involved in this matter. According to Zhang Shoujie’s “Historical Records”, a scholar of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Wei Hong’s “Preface to the Imperial Decree on the Ancient Text of the Shang Shu”, “(Qin Shi Huang) was planting melons in a warm place in the valley of the Lishan tomb, and when the melons became real, he ordered the doctors and students to talk about them. People say different, is ordered to see. “The result is that these Confucian students do not know why, after seeing the winter melon rare, all were killed on the spot.
The “Book of Han – Zhaoxinchen” clearly records that the ancient people ate vegetables out of season. Zhaoxinchen was a famous law-abiding official at that time (the official), when the royal vegetable special base “Tai Guan Yuan” planted anti-seasonal vegetables, the annual expenditure is very large. Zhaoxinchen then suggested not to do so: “Tai Guan Yuan planted winter onions and leeks and vegetables, covered with hipped houses, day and night to burn contain fire, to be warm air is born. I think this are from time to time things, hurt people, should not be dedicated to feed, it is illegal food, all played off, save money years million. “”Yum fire” is a kind of burning without flame method, the purpose is to increase the temperature of the room, conducive to the growth of vegetables. Called the letter to the minister that anti-seasonal vegetables are “illegal food”, can not eat, obviously this is a big fool, its true purpose is to advise the royal not too extravagant. However, the production and supply of anti-seasonal vegetables for the royal family did not stop in the two Han dynasties.
According to the “Book of the Later Han Dynasty – and Xi Deng Queen biography”, in the first month of the seventh year of Yongchu (113 AD), the Empress Dowager Deng, after the completion of the Imperial Temple sacrifice, for the anti-seasonal offerings made an imperial edict: “Where the introduction of new flavors, more than its festival, or depressed to raise strong who (ripe), or wear digging budding teeth (buds), taste nothing to and abort the growth, is not so in line with the time to nurture things! “From the imperial edict of the Empress Dowager Deng, it can be seen that the production of anti-seasonal fruits and vegetables greenhouse is through the fire channel to increase the temperature (yu nurturing), there are also digging cellar pits to use the ground temperature to sprout seedlings. These methods were commonly used after the Tang and Song dynasties, especially in the Ming and Qing dynasties.
In ancient times, the early more is the use of natural heat sources to produce anti-seasonal fruits and vegetables, the Tang dynasty for the palace planting anti-seasonal fruits and vegetables of the “inner garden”, it is through the introduction of hot spring water, to create The temperature was suitable for the growth of vegetables. The Tang poet Wang Jian’s poem “early spring before the palace”: “the inner garden has been divided into warm soup water, the middle of February has been into the melon”, talking about this matter.
After the Tang and Song dynasties, “yellowing” vegetables became popular
The Book of Agriculture: “no wind day, the leaves are yellow and tender, called leek. “
After the Tang and Song dynasties, anti-seasonal vegetables have been commonly accepted, and “to non-time things for the treasure”, anti-seasonal vegetables are treated as a mountain of delicious! But because of its high cost, so Xie Zhaozhuang lamented that “the poor people can not do it. So, the poor only eat pickles, dried vegetables? Of course not, the ancients found a “yellowing” method of producing vegetables. This “yellowing” method has appeared in the Qin and Han dynasties, is to let the vegetables in the growth process can not form photosynthesis, no longer produce chlorophyll, vegetables yellowing. Through the yellowing means the output of vegetables more tender, fiber reduction, both to supplement the lack of winter vegetable varieties, but also to meet the taste needs.
The earliest varieties of yellowing vegetables are bean sprouts, called “yellow roll”, which is now commonly eaten “yellow bean sprouts”. In the Song dynasty, bean sprouts began to become the Chinese people’s table of home-cooked dishes. From the Song Dynasty, Meng Yuanlao’s “Tokyo Dreams and Records” records that in the streets of Tokyo in winter, anti-seasonal vegetables and fruits were already abundant: “The markets were selling saffron, leeks, lettuce, orchid sprouts, boho, pecans, and zezhou molasses. “
In the Song Dynasty, not only soybean sprouts were available, but other beans could also be yellowed. Song people Lin Hong “mountain family clear offerings” will record the folk production of black bean sprouts: “to dip the black beans in water, exposure and buds, to bran skin placed in the basin, laying sand planted beans, with the board pressure, and long is covered with a barrel, the dawn is the sun, want it Qi, and not for the wind and sun invasion also. “
Leek, onion, garlic, celery and other vegetables of yellowing in the Song and Yuan dynasties has been very common. Yuan Wangzhen “agricultural book – hundred grain spectrum set of five – vegetables and genera” recorded the situation of people planting leeks at that time: “to winter, move the root hidden in the shade of the ground house, cultivated with horse manure, warm and that is long, high can be feet, do not see the wind and sun, its leaves yellow and tender, called leeks. “The leek is more expensive,” than the regular leek easy profit several times “. Northerners in winter to leek as a precious vegetables.
The Qing dynasty appeared greenhouse vegetables “cave goods”
The five miscellaneous chopping block: “the Beijing division in the winter of yellow sprouts, leek. “
Due to the limited natural heat source, after the Tang and Song dynasties, the production of anti-seasonal vegetables, anti-seasonal flowers (tang flowers) are used artificial means. For example, in the Southern Song Dynasty, Hangzhou flower workers were building greenhouses to let the flowers inside open earlier. Zhou Mi’s “Qi Dong Ye Yan” records: “Where the early release of flowers is called tang (pond) flowers. The method, to paper decorated with a secret room, cut the ground for the Kan …… and then placed in boiling soup in the Kan, less wait, the soup gas fumes, then fan of the breeze, ounce Sheng spring melting Shu Qi. After the night, then the flowers are released. “
The Ming Dynasty basically used the fire room or fire kang to produce anti-seasonal vegetables. The so-called “fire room” is the modern greenhouse greenhouse, such as the past in the north to sleep in the same kang, in the room to build a kang burning fire to increase the temperature of the vegetable shed. According to Ming Xie Zhaogang’s “Five Miscellaneous Affairs Division – Three Things”, “In the winter of Beijing, there were yellow sprouts and leeks, which were made in the cellar and kang of the rich room”. At that time, the rich people in Beijing would build a fire bed in the cellar, and in the mid-winter, there were not only yellow sprouts and leeks, but also “other flowers and fruits, all the time,” as well as peony flowers and cucumbers. In the winter, not only yellow sprouts and leeks were in short supply, but also peony flowers and cucumbers.
During the Qing Dynasty, the greenhouse for planting anti-seasonal fruits and vegetables was developed from the cellar pit to the ground, commonly known as the “flower hole”, with a stove at one end and a large dung tank at the other. The flowers produced are called “Tang flowers” and the vegetables are called “The main varieties are cucumbers, lentils, eggplants, etc.
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