Bernard Shaw once said: "There is no love more sincere than the love for food, and no thing can comfort people's hearts more appropriately than food." Everyone's heart is deep Everywhere, there may be a special memory related to food. As the heat of summer approaches, it’s time to talk about unique and delicious summer snacks from all over the country, which fully demonstrate the healing power of summer food. Various ways to escape the summer heat, and you can eat them refreshingly and coolly. One bite will make you fall in love with summer!
Speaking of heat-relieving food, our country has had the custom of eating various refreshing foods to cool off in summer since ancient times. Refreshing and pleasant food can make people feel happy and spend a healthy and cool summer safely.
1. Drink honey and store ice
As early as the Zhou Dynasty more than 2,000 years ago, smart ancients began to use ice cellars to store ice cubes in winter for summer use.
In the late Spring and Autumn Period, dignitaries liked to drink iced rice wine at banquets. People in the Han Dynasty added honey to water to make it taste sweet and delicious. However, honey was an absolute luxury at that time, and this "honey water" was only the "exclusive sweetheart" of the nobles. Yuan Shu, who was once all-powerful in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, died of depression because he could not drink honey syrup. By the Tang Dynasty, people were already making "popsicles" for public sale. Put ice in a large wooden bucket, sprinkle with salt to lower the melting point of the ice, then arrange small iron boxes containing sucrose water in the bucket, insert small wooden sticks, and after a while, they will freeze into popsicles. In addition, many "yinzi" shops have appeared on the streets of Chang'an, selling the Tang Dynasty version of herbal tea made from fruits or herbs.
2. Cold teeth and cold hearts
In Bianjing, the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, when it comes to the sixth month of the lunar calendar, the streets are lined with cold drink stalls. The popular "Bingxue Leng Yuanzi" is sold in ice cream shops. "Bingxue Leng Yuanzi" is made from soybeans and sugar. Fry the soybeans, remove the shells, mix well with sugar or honey, and add water to form small dumplings. , and finally dipped in ice water, it becomes a sweet and delicious cold dessert. In the Southern Song Dynasty, the variety of cold drinks became more abundant, and there were dozens of them on the market: agarwood water, lychee ointment water, bitter water, white water, Jiangcha water, bayberry thirsty water, sugar thirsty water, papaya thirsty water, five-flavor thirsty water Water, snow soaked skin drink, etc.
In the Yuan Dynasty, a frozen milk food called "ice cheese" appeared. Kublai Khan liked ice cheese very much and listed it as a summer food in the palace. The emperor once decreed that the method of making ice cheese could not be spread to outsiders, so it became a patent of the palace. It is said that when Marco Polo left China, Kublai Khan revealed the method of making ice cheese to him. Soon after, Europe had ice cream.
At the end of the classical era - the Ming and Qing Dynasties, in "A Dream of Red Mansions", there are already records of cold drinks such as sour plum soup, rose dew, osmanthus dew, herbal tea and rose brine soup. Among them, the sour plum soup that combines Manchu and Chinese flavors is particularly popular.
Summer is scorching hot, where can we go to eat well? All over the country, there are unique and delicious summer artifacts. Let's go and have a look.
1. Beijing: Sour Plum Soup
After the Song Dynasty, plum juice drinks began to become a popular drink. In the book "Old Wulin Stories" written by the Song Dynasty, a cold drink called "Plum Juice" was mentioned. Plum water" can be regarded as the origin of sour plum soup. In the Qing Dynasty, sour plum soup entered the court and became a summer health-preserving cold drink that dignitaries were crazy about. The Qing Palace used mineral water from Yuquan Mountain to cook sour plum soup, which made it taste clearer and more pleasant, and also had the effect of removing moisture and nourishing the skin.
The most famous time-honored brands that make sour plum soup are Xinyuanzhai in Liulichang, Beijing, and Zhengfuzhai in Shanghai. Xinyuanzhai's sour plum soup is made in the middle of the night, then placed in a large porcelain vat with blue and white ground, and placed in a large old-fashioned green-painted ice bucket. When it is sold the next morning, the sour plum soup is ready with a piece of ice. Let you all feel "teeth cold". Liang Shiqiu praised Xinyuanzhai's sour plum soup in "Ya She Talks about Eating": "There is more rock sugar, thick plum juice and less water, so the taste is strong and tangy. It is cold on the palate, with moderate sweetness and sourness, and it feels like pure mash when held in the mouth. , reluctant to swallow it. Very few people can stand there and drink that small bowl without drinking another bowl.”
2. Shaanxi: Honey Cold Rice Dumplings
Honey Cold Rice Dumplings. It is a unique traditional summer snack in Guanzhong and southern Shaanxi, Shaanxi. Its origin can be traced back to the Tang Dynasty, and it evolved from the "Fei Fei Han Xiang Zong" served at the "Shaowei Banquet" at that time.
Shaanxi is rich in honey, and parts of southern Shaanxi and Guanzhong are rich in glutinous rice. These two nutritious ingredients are both abundant in Qin. Who still doesn't believe that "love has God's will".
The method is to make glutinous rice into rice dumplings without filling, cook them and let them cool. After they are cool, sprinkle them with honey and osmanthus sauce and you can eat them. When eating, cut it into small pieces with silk thread or bamboo knife, put it on a plate, and pour honey or rose and osmanthus syrup on it. It tastes soft, cool and sweet, fragrant and delicious.
3. Hubei cold shrimp
Cold shrimp, also called "rice cold shrimp", is a special snack made of rice. It has a big head and a thin tail like a shrimp. Got its name. It is widely distributed in Yichang, Hubei, Chongqing, Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou and other places. When making cold shrimps, all materials must be prepared: rice, an iron pot, and a wooden scoop with small holes. Grind the rice soaked in cold water overnight with a stone mill to make rice slurry. After boiling the water in the iron pot, use a wooden scoop with holes. Scoop up the rice milk, drip it into the pot along the small eyes, and solidify instantly to form small shrimps with a tail and two pointed ends and a round middle. Then put it into cold boiling water to cool, and you can enjoy it.
4. Sichuan cold cake
Cold cake originated from Yibin, Sichuan. As early as the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty, the cold cake made by people in Shuanghe Town using grape well water was very famous. According to Du Dewei's brother Du Deyu's "Yu Di Ji Sheng" records that at that time, many people came here to escape the summer heat and enjoy the coolness, and they were all fascinated by the tender and cool cold cakes. There are many types of cold cakes, including crystal cold cake, red bean cold cake, rice and date cold cake, mung bean cold cake, etc. Unlike the crisp and smooth ice powder, the cold cake does not melt immediately in the mouth, but gradually softens and turns into dust. It is cool and gentle in its own way. Some people say that the cold cake "smells like water, eats like sugar, and tastes like rice." This is a wonderful way to describe it.
5. Hainan Qingbuliang
Qingbuliang can be found everywhere in the streets and alleys of Hainan. This special name contains two meanings, one is the refreshing taste, and the other is its "toning power" to relieve summer heat and remove dampness and heat.
Interestingly, Qingbuliang may be sugar water, or it may be changed into Laohuo soup at any time. When red beans (mung beans), barley, peanuts, and hollow noodles meet watermelon, pineapple, and longan, it becomes a bowl of sugar water full of island style. The combination of astragalus, Codonopsis pilosula, yam, lotus seeds, Ophiopogon japonicus, Yunling, blue dates, figs, and pork tendons will make it a bowl of old fire soup with high health value.
6. Guangdong jelly grass
Many places in Guangdong have the custom of "eating jelly grass" during the summer season. Grass jelly, also known as jelly grass, jelly grass, and grass jelly grass, is a herbaceous plant belonging to the Lamiaceae family and is an important medicinal and edible plant resource. Because of its miraculous heat-relieving effect, it is known as the "fairy grass".
After drying its stems and leaves, the juice can be mixed with rice milk and cooked. After cooling, it will become a black gelatinous substance, which is tough and soft. Mix it with sugar and it will become a hot summer thirst-quenching dish. Divine product. This bowl of "immortal grass" has many flower names. Guangzhou calls it "jelly", Guangdong Meizhou area calls it fairy cake, fairy ox cake, and grass cake. In Chaoshan area, it calls it cao cake.
7. Wenzhou Water Flower Fu
How to make "Water Flower Fu"? First, wrap the seeds of a fruit called "Xili" with dense mesh gauze, soak it in cold water, squeeze the gauze bag with your hands, and a viscous juice will flow into the water from your fingers. The water in the basin slowly turned yellow and sticky.
After finishing the squeezing process, squeeze in a little Chinese toothpaste (it is said that only this brand of toothpaste contains gypsum, and gypsum is an important substance for solidifying the jelly), and then let the basin stand. In an hour or two, it will be shaped into jelly. The prepared cool pink color is like ice jade, crystal clear and smooth, with ice flowers blooming in the bowl, like tofu made of water, in a semi-solidified state. When you sprinkle with powdered sugar, mint juice, and sesame seeds ground with white sugar, the bowl will be The jelly inside is very pleasing to the eye. Hold it to your mouth and slowly suck it in. The feeling of entering your throat is wonderful.
8. Southern Fujian Four Fruit Soup
Four Fruit Soup is an important drink for relieving the summer heat in southern Fujian. It also has many loyal fans in southern Zhejiang, Guangdong, Chaoshan and Southeast Asia. Xiamen's four-fruit soup is based on Shihua soup, and with the addition of ingredients, it becomes four-fruit soup. When eating, the shop owner uses a tool similar to a planer to quickly scrape the solid gypsum plaster block, scrape the gypsum plaster into even thin strips, put it in a bowl, add red bean paste or taro paste, etc., and scoop a spoonful of honey water. , is a refreshing snack in summer. You can choose from a variety of seasonal fruits, red beans, mung beans, barley, lotus seeds, white fungus, stone flowers, and grass jelly. Add honey water to taste and you will feel sweet.
9. Cool Family Banquet
In the summer when the physical and mental load is overloaded, fruits and vegetables will make the body light and lively, and they are also a must-have for home cooking. Let’s move our hands and immerse ourselves in the refreshing world of green vegetables with our families.
(1) Chicory
Eating some bitter food in summer is absolutely beneficial to the body. Bitter melon, lettuce and other foods are common ingredients on the family table. Similarly, Chicory is also good for the body. Good health helps. Chicory is bitter in taste and cold in nature. It has anti-inflammatory and detoxifying effects. It is rich in iron and can prevent anemia and promote the growth and development of children. The method of eating chicory is very simple. It is usually eaten raw, which best reflects the refreshing and slightly bitter taste.
Recommended dish: Chicory mixed with jellyfish
Choose to pair it with the jellyfish with the same crisp taste, plus the bright yellow shredded eggs, and you will feel the cool summer wind blowing against your face. .
(2) Toon
The history of eating toon has a long history. Legend has it that as early as the Han Dynasty, toon was a tribute to the court. "The toon wood is solid and the leaves are fragrant and can be eaten," said This is the ancient people's love for toon. The buds of Toona sinensis have a special aroma and have thick leaves. They are divided into red buds and green buds. The red buds are reddish-brown in the dark green leaves and have a strong fragrance. The texture of the green buds is a bit rougher and the fragrance is much inferior, so red buds are mostly eaten.
Recommended dishes: Chinese toon scrambled eggs, Chinese toon preserved egg and tofu
When cooking Chinese toon, it is usually cut into fine pieces to maximize its aroma. Scrambled eggs with Chinese toon is the most common way to eat it. It is also a dish that appears frequently on the dining table during this season. It is fragrant and fresh. Another classic pairing of Chinese toon is with preserved egg and tofu. This refreshing cold dish is perfect for midsummer appetite.
There is no winter that is insurmountable, and no spring that will not come. Those expectations directed towards the heart will be born in the trivial life, and those dreams facing the world will rise from ordinary days. Eating is also a grand event. In this world, food and love are the only things that cannot be lived up to.