The first salt. A long time ago, we modern people used salt to improve the taste of food. Many experts found that in ancient times, most people learned how to make table salt in boiling sea water. There has even been a practice of using salt for curing. During the Western Zhou Dynasty, many people produced salt on a large scale. Our country also has a long history of salt production, and it appeared earlier than any other country. In the early days, salt was known as the king of flavors, and today’s life is also inseparable from salt’s seasoning.
The second type is plum. In the archeology of tombs in the Shang Dynasty, a large number of dogs, sheep, pigs, chickens and other animals were discovered, as well as fish-shaped, bird-shaped, and beast-shaped artifacts. It can be seen here that human beings had very abundant food ingredients at that time, but the meat had a fishy smell. Although the ancients could use salt to season it, there was only one taste, which was not able to satisfy people's tastes at all, especially when eating some meat products. , there will always be a strong fishy smell. If you only season with salt, the fishy smell cannot be removed. At this time, someone thought of using plums as a condiment. Plums have high nutritional value and can strengthen the stomach and protect the liver.
At the same time, it can effectively remove the odor of meat. Green plums are generally used as condiments. For the third type of wine, the Shang Dynasty already had complete brewing technology. When making some meat products, adding a little wine can not only eliminate the astringency, but also enhance the flavor. Nowadays, when we cook many dishes in our daily life, we also use wine for seasoning. In addition to refreshing, it can also warm the cold and add fragrance. It can be seen that people at that time were very skilled in cooking technology.
The fourth type of spicy condiments, spicy condiments containing volatile ingredients are the most direct irritants to people's mouth and nose and can greatly induce appetite. The main materials used in this area include chili pepper, cinnamon, ginger, onion, polygonum, mustard, etc., which are all native Chinese condiments. Among them, Zanthoxylum bungeanum and ginger are the most distinctive and were loved and used by the ancients. The spicy condiment most inseparable from the people of the Pre-Qin Dynasty should be ginger. When people eat, they always need to add more or less ginger.