Since the Zhou dynasty, people have realized the close relationship between spices and health in diet, so they have the habit of changing spices in time to cook and eat according to different seasons. It can be roughly divided into six categories.
First, cooking oil. There are peanut oil, animal oil, rapeseed oil, soybean oil, sesame oil, corn cob oil, rice bran oil, cottonseed oil, sunflower seed oil, tea oil, coconut oil, olive oil, cinnamon oil, sea pine oil, pepper oil and safflower oil.
Second, fresh spices. There are: green onions, shallots, garlic, ginger and parsley.
3. Spicy condiments: star anise, fennel, dill, edible dogwood, pepper, clove, cinnamon, pepper, bamboo leaves pepper, Amomum villosum, dried tangerine peel, licorice, angelica and Ligusticum chuanxiong.
Fourthly, granular powder seasoning. There are: sugar, sesame powder, pepper powder, chili powder, salt and pepper powder, sesame spicy powder, spiced powder, sand tea powder, shrimp, lobster sauce and Redmi.
Five, seasoning sauce. There are: soy sauce, soy sauce, shrimp oil, gutter oil, fish sauce, vinegar, wine, fermented milk, sweet noodle sauce, Chili sauce, spicy petal sauce, sand tea sauce, garlic sauce, honey osmanthus, sesame sauce, peanut butter, mushroom oil and bamboo shoot oil.
Sixth, flower seasoning. There are: osmanthus, chrysanthemum, jasmine, rose and cordate telosma. Wait a minute. Zhou Li Tianguan Shiyi Doctor: "There is a harmonious place, which is sour in spring, bitter in summer, spicy in autumn, salty in winter, smooth and sweet."
Salt, plum and wine are the first three cooking condiments.
It is said that there are three lost articles in Shangshu written by Wu Ding in Shang Dynasty. The next article is "If you make wine, you will be ashamed; Make a soup, it will only be salted plum. "Note Wei:" The wine cellar must be vinegar and salted plum, and the soup must be vinegar. "Pre-Qin Literature" has a cloud: "Harmony is like thick soup, and fire and water acyl salt plum cooks fish. "As we all know, people have long understood the mystery of the relationship between cooking and cooking. We know that sodium chloride in salt comes from salty taste, and its main function is to regulate the osmotic balance between cells and the normal metabolism of water and salt. It is an indispensable component in human blood and sweat, and it can also increase the taste of food.
Salt was first used long ago. "World Book" called Yan Di "Su Sha of Edible Salt". There is a saying in Oracle Bone Inscriptions: "Take ■" (Collection 7022), and the last word is suspected to be halogen. Shuowen said that brine is "like salt". "Jade Piece" says: "Bitter and salty." "The Sound and Meaning of the Classics" says: "Life is bittern, life is salt." Halogen seems to refer to natural salt blocks in nature, not artificially boiled salt. There is also a "halogen junior minister" in Oracle Bone Inscriptions (collection 5596), which seems to be a salt official established in the late Shang Dynasty. This flavor describes Yi Yin's cooking theory, which is said to be "salty but not diminished". Shang Shu Hong Fan recorded Ji Zi's words at the end of Shang Dynasty, saying that "moistening the bottom makes it salty", and salty is one of the "five flavors" of salty, bitter, sour, pungent and sweet.
Plum mainly uses its fruit acid as seasoning, and plum acid has the functions of convergence, spleen and stomach strengthening and liver function enhancing. Plum acid was known to be used in the early Neolithic period, and plum pits were found in Peiligang site in Xinzheng, Henan Province. Shang bronze ding unearthed in Anyang was once found to be covered with carbonized plum pits. There is a bronze tripod and a plum pit in M284 tomb in the west of Yin Ruins.
With regard to the appearance of wine, it seems that before the middle Neolithic Age, high-handled pottery wine glasses and huge wine filter cans were unearthed in the tombs of Dawenkou cultural site; Small mouth round shoulder urn, pointed bottom bottle, narrow neck pot, etc. Found in Yangshao cultural site, or considered to be used for brewing, holding wine or drinking. "Huai Nan Zi Shuo Shan Xun" said that "the beauty of green pits began in Reggie", which shows that the appearance of wine is closely related to agricultural development. "Shiben" said, "Yi Di wakes up from alcohol and becomes five flavors." "The Warring States Policy Wei Ce II" says: "The emperor's daughter ordered Yidi to make wine beautiful, enter it, drink it and be willing to drink it." It seems that wine, as a beverage and condiment, is quite popular in Xiaxia.
The earliest wine belongs to grain natural wine. Grain germinates and becomes moldy due to moisture, which causes saccharification and alcoholization through micro-growth. Probably people in Shang Dynasty have realized the new brewing technology of making yeast. The clay pot unearthed in Zhengzhou Mall was once found to be covered with a layer of white rust-like sediment. In a clay pot unearthed from the site of a brewing workshop in Taixi, Gaocheng, 8.5 kilograms of this sediment was found and identified as yeast. There are peaches, plums and dates in the four big pots, which shows that the Shang Dynasty not only mastered the brewing of glutinous rice, but also brewed fruit wine. A well-sealed bronze coffin containing ancient wine was unearthed from the graveyard of Tianhu in Luoshan, Henan Province in the late Shang Dynasty. After chromatographic detection, every 100 ml contains 8.239 mg of ethyl formate, which is fruity and is a strong aromatic wine. The bronze plaque unearthed from a Yin tomb in Guojiazhuang, Anyang also contains white transparent liquid and fibrous impurities of plants. I think it's wine. In a word, the three ancient condiments mentioned in the literature, salt, plum and wine, have been used in cooking at least in Xia and Shang Dynasties.
In ancient times, there was also a common spice, pepper. "Poetry is constant": "Pepper is fragrant." "Xunzi Book of Rites": "Rice is inferior to rice, and it tastes fragrant, so it can be praised; Pepper is fragrant, so raise your nose. " Tian Lun: "A gentleman sips water." Zanthoxylum bungeanum can stimulate the taste, reduce the fishy smell and increase the delicacy of meat in dishes. Pepper is spicy and fragrant, and you can also soak in wine. In ancient times, it was called pepper wine and pepper paste, and it can also be used as medicine and pepper seasoning. Now it can be traced back to Shang Dynasty. Recently, dozens of peppers were found beside the tomb owner in the No.6 tomb of the late Shang Dynasty excavated at Geteng Mountain in Gushi, Henan Province. It is worth noting that the No.1 tomb of Hougudui in Gushi, which was excavated in the same area before, once made a beautifully made copper box with a lid, which contained half a box of pepper. It seems that the ancestors in this area have been addicted to pepper seasoning.
Sugar may be too early for seasoning. There is sweetness in Hong Fan's "five flavors". The Book of Poems records that in the late Shang Dynasty, Gu Gong and his father moved to Joo Won?, saying that "Joo Won? is a lush place." In the Book of Rites, there is a saying that "jujube is sweet and chestnut is sweet". Coconut is maltose and honey is honey. The sweetness of the five flavors may refer to this sugar. Proper consumption can replenish qi and blood, nourish yin and balance, and relieve fatigue.
Sauce; I see
Before the Han Dynasty, "sauce" was a general term for "sugar" and "acyl". Sugar refers to the sauce made of fish and meat. Acyl refers to sour sauce or sauce, which is used for seasoning. Therefore, it is also called "syrup sauce" and "acyl sauce".
Sugar originated in Shang Dynasty, much earlier than soybean paste. The preparation method comprises taking dry meat as raw material, adding cold koji, salt and good wine, soaking, and sealing in a container 100 day. According to ancient records, there was vinegar sauce in the Zhou Dynasty, including rabbit vinegar, fish vinegar and acenaphthene (ant egg) vinegar. There are citric acid sauce (a kind of jam) and mustard sauce (a kind of vegetable sauce).
In the Han dynasty, because "acyl" has a sour taste, it refers to vinegar; "Sauce" includes tofu.
"Zhou Li Tianguan Ren Zhen" and "Green beans in Ren Zhen's palm" Zheng Xuan notes: "You must first dry the meat, then marinate it, mix it with Liang Qu, salt, dip it in wine, and put it in a bottle for a hundred days."
"Book of Rites. "Internal Rules": "I will repair cockroaches, preserve rabbit acyl and make elk skin fish."
"Zhou Li Tianguan Chongren": "Eating beans is actually sunflower flies and midges."
Shuowen: "Pork, meat sauce also."
Han Liuxi's Interpretation of Name and Diet: "Acyl, juicy people say acyl. Yi, Shen Ye. Song and Lu people are called juice Shen. "
Han Mao Cui's Four-person Moon Order: "In the first month, all kinds of sauces can be made ... At the turn of June and July, Tibetan melons can be divided into fish sauce, meat sauce and clear sauce."
vinegar
An acidic seasoning. China has a long history of brewing vinegar, which began in the Han Dynasty. There is no record of vinegar in Oracle Bone Inscriptions, Zhong Dingwen and other discovered cultural relics. Vinegar originally meant the taste of acid. During the Shang Dynasty, salt and plums were used for seasoning. In the Zhou Dynasty, a large number of organic acids, such as various amino acids, lactic acid, acetic acid, etc., were produced in the process of making meat sauce and spiritual practice, so the taste of the sauce was sour and called "acyl". In the Han dynasty, acyl and vinegar were mixed together, both referring to vinegar. From the Southern and Northern Dynasties to the Tang Dynasty, the word "vinegar" was gradually used.
In the Book of Qi Yaomin written by Jia Sixie in the Northern Wei Dynasty, many methods of making koji and fermented vinegar were recorded. At that time, aged vinegar with unique flavor was brewed. The newly revised Materia Medica in Tang Dynasty includes rice vinegar, wheat vinegar and miscellaneous fruit vinegar. Pharmacologists also specialize in making medicinal vinegar with drugs for treating diseases. Later generations passed on their skills, making vinegar an indispensable raw material in China's seasoning cooking.
Famous at home and abroad are old vinegar from Taiyuan, Shanxi, fragrant vinegar from Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, and Baoning vinegar made from various Chinese medicines from Langzhong, Sichuan. In ancient times, women were also called "jealous" and "jealous women eat bayberry", which was considered ridiculous.
Shangshu: "The wine cellar must be made of twisted tillers and pickled with plum vinegar. It must be made into vinegar to make it harmonious." Vinegar means sour taste.
Han You's "Urgent Articles": "radish salt soy sauce." Wang Yinglin said again, "[Qiang], vinegar is also."
Han Mao Cui's Four-person Moon Order: "May 5 can be a gift."
Eight notes in the book of Qi Yao Min: "If you are jealous, you will be jealous of the present."
Song Dynasty official proverb: "Mr. Wang said,' You can only be a prime minister if you eat three barrels of vinegar', which covered up what you endured." oil
Edible oils and fats in ancient China came from plants and animals. Vegetable oil plays an important role in cooking food. Its use and production predate animal oil. It was not until the Qin and Han Dynasties that people knew how to use perilla seed to extract oil, but the output was very low. Since then, China people have mainly eaten sesame oil, rapeseed oil, linseed oil, peanut oil, sunflower oil and soybean oil.
Sesame, also known as fat hemp and tiger skin, is native to China. In ancient books, it was called hemp, taro, oil hemp and so on. Its oil, also known as sesame oil, began to be produced around the Tang Dynasty.
Rape, also known as Hu Cai and Chinese cabbage, came from the Western Regions and was originally used as a vegetable. See Qi Shu. Oil exploitation began in the Tang Dynasty.
Flax originated in China, that is, flax was grown in the north. It was regarded as a food crop in the Book of Songs, and it was recorded in the Ming Dynasty. By the end of the Qing dynasty, it had been cultivated in the burning area and became one of the main oil crops in China.
Peanut, also known as groundnut, was not recorded in Tiangong Ointment in Ming and Song Dynasties, but only appeared in Xuepu Miscellaneous Shu by Wang Shimao, and it was claimed that it could extract oil in Compendium of Materia Medica in Qing Dynasty.
Sunflower, introduced from abroad in the17th century, originated in Mexico and Peru in America. At that time, it was fried with its seeds, and its aliases were sunflower, sunflower, sunflower, passion fruit, passion fruit, fankui, Fan Ju, chrysanthemum and sunflower seeds. Only in modern times did it extract oil.
Soybean originated in China, which is one of the "five grains" of ancient food crops. It is called glutinous rice and eaten with its oil, about the Sui, Tang and Song Dynasties.
Sesame oil, rapeseed oil and soybean oil are the most important, which are closely related to diet and cooking.
From the Six Dynasties to the Tang Dynasty, they ate more meat oil, and until the Song Dynasty, they were generally vegetarian, with sesame oil as the top grade. Tang Han's Four Seasons Outline: "[Sesame oil] cures head wind, white scurf, head itching, head rotation and chest tightness."
Song Shen Kuo's Notes on Meng Qian: "Nowadays, northerners love to fry things with sesame oil and don't ask questions."
Zhuang Chuo's Braised Chicken Ribs: "Oil can be eaten everywhere ... flax is the best and sesame is popular."
Han Mingyi's Yi Ya Yi: "The fat goose is cut into long strips ... and poured with sesame oil for supply."
Song Dynasty's Heavenly Creations: "Whoever uses oil as food, flax, rapeseed, soybean and leek are better;" Ma Su and Brassica campestris were the second. Hemp is next. "
sucrose
Sugar made from sugarcane juice. China has been planting sugarcane and drinking sugarcane juice since ancient times.
BC, that is, extended to the Central Plains, sugarcane juice was processed into solid candy. By the fifth century, the origin of sugarcane had expanded from Guangdong, Guangxi and Hunan to the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and Guangzhou could already extract "sand sugar" from sugarcane juice.
At the beginning of the seventh century, on the basis of learning Indian sugar-making technology, the production technology was greatly improved, so that the quality of white sugar and rock sugar produced far exceeded that of foreign countries.
Sucrose, because of different raw materials and processes, presents different colors, tastes and forms. In ancient books, it is also called "stone honey, sugar frost, cane frost, cane ice, sugar sand, etc." . In ancient times, in addition to eating, it was also commonly used in medicine.
In the 12th year of Tang Tianbao (AD 753), a Jian Zhen monk traveled to Japan and presented two Jin 123 cents of sugar to Dongda Temple. At the same time, he also taught the Japanese people the method of making sugar.
Fu's Strange Records of Sugarcane: "Sugarcane produced by crossing toes is very mellow, with no thickness at the end and even taste ... It is sweet when cut open, and its juice is like syrup, so it is called sugar, which is beneficial and precious. When it is fried and exposed, it condenses into ice and breaks like a brick, and its food entrance is released. At that time, people called it stone honey. "
"New Tang book. "Biography of the Western Regions": "In the twenty-first year of Zhenguan ...... Emperor Taizong sent envoys to cook sugar, that is, ordered the sugar cane in Yangzhou to be squeezed into its agent, which was far from the color and taste of the western regions."
Yuan Hongxi's poem "Frosting": "When you bring it, you can see that the ice is getting stronger and stronger. Who chewed it and passed it on to you? "
Song Ming Ying Xing's "Heavenly Creations, Ganxi Sugarcane Products": "Where sugarcane is made into sugar, there are three products: frozen ice, frost and red sand. Sugar products are divided into old cane pith and tender cane pith.
"Making Animal Sugar": "Every lion is like a sugar mold, and both are like tiles. When sugar is poured in, it turns over and falls down. When the mold is cold and the sugar is burned, the sugar is condensed by the mold and the sugar is enjoyed for the feast. " See Yuan Hanqing's Essays on China's Chemical History.
honey
The province is called "honey". That is, a viscous liquid with natural sweetness brewed by bee flower juice without artificial or slightly artificial. Maltose was the only dessert before it was invented. The composition, aroma and color of honey vary with different bee species and nectar source flowers. Contains a lot of fructose and glucose, in addition to sucrose, maltose, organic acids, volatile oil, vitamins and other trace components. China began to use honey in the late Zhou Dynasty. People ate honey, and feudal nobles took honey as a gift. At that time, there was already honey fruit. The honey eaten is produced by wild bees in rocks, trees and caves, so it is called rock honey, cliff honey, rock honey, wood honey and earth honey. At the latest in the Eastern Han Dynasty, artificial beekeeping had produced honey. From Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties to Sui Dynasty, there were candied fruits, honey crabs and other foods. Honey is mostly contributed by the south to the Central Plains. After the Song Dynasty, it was widely used in dishes, cakes and medicine.
Huangfu Mi's Biography of Gao Shi, Zhang Hua's Natural History, and Jin Dynasty's Yongjia Di Ji all recorded beekeeping and honey production.
"Book of Rites. Neize: "Children are parents, and dates and chestnuts are sweet."
Zhao Hanye's Wu Yue Chun Qiu: "At the end, I will be given a fragrant pill and a gift from Wu Zengfeng." Shu is an aromatic fruit of Cornus officinalis.
Xu Shen's Shuo Wen: "Honey, bees are sweet."
Guo Pu in the Jin Dynasty wrote "Honey Fu": "The golden rooms are numerous and the jade rooms are stacked. Chew the taste and brew the honey. Scattered like dew, condensed like cutting fat. Fresh, smooth and fragrant. Beauty with poor taste is extremely sweet. All fruits must be harmonious and the spirit must be gorgeous. "
Jin's Miscellaneous Notes on Xijing: "The king of South Vietnam presented five kinds of honey to the emperor, and the emperor was overjoyed, so he sent envoys to reward him handsomely."
Tao Hongjing in the Southern Dynasties wrote in Notes on Materia Medica: "Stone honey, that is, rock honey, is intercropped among high mountains and rocks. The color is blue, the taste is slightly (slightly) sour, and it is upset when eaten, and its bees are as black as flies. Its nectar hangs on the branches, and the color is blue and white. Earth honey is made in the earth, which is blue in color and alkaline in taste. People and tree empty authors are also white, but delicious. "
The Five Dynasties "Kaiyuan Tianbao Legacy": "Yang family, with charcoal crumbs and honey, molded into a double phoenix." Shen Songkuo's "Meng Qian Bi Tan": "Sui Dynasty's great cause, Wuxian tribute crab 2000."
Zhang Songbangji's "Mo Zhuang Man Lu": "Dongpo loves to drink, but he doesn't drink much in Beijing. In Huangzhou, honey is tasted as wine, also called "honey koji". Few people pass on the method ..... Taste it, as sweet as alcohol. "