In April, Fangfei's delicious food (Part 1)

Spring is the season of flowers, elegant people love to see flowers swaying in the wind, but gourmets wonder whether flowers can be eaten

Eating flowers has a history since ancient times

Since ancient times, there have been many ways to do and eat flowers

The ancients have long discovered the role of flowers in appetizing, intellectual, pleasing color, skin-healthy, and moisturizing

In addition to the sacrificial wine, green plum wine, chrysanthemum wine, lotus wine, and other fragrant wines and medicinal wines with flowers as the main materials have appeared at that time

In addition, records of nobles in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods using chrysanthemum, chrysanthemum, and polygonum to cook soup for guests or sacrifices have also appeared in literary works

According to historical records, orchid wine and peony sauce appeared in the Han Dynasty

During the Three Kingdoms period, Cao Zhi's "Immortal" has the phrase "Yu Zun Ying Gui wine"

In the Tang Dynasty, flower banquets were popular, and it was common to hold banquets to enjoy and eat flowers, and to pick flowers and make cakes in spring

During the Song Dynasty, flowers became more popular, and "Flower Cuisine", which described cooking flowers, appeared one after another, such as "Shanjia Qingyi" and "Yangyuyuequan"

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, there were various kinds of flower food and flower drinks, and the production methods were more elaborate, and more and more "flying into the homes of ordinary people": elm money cake in March, rose cake and wisteria cake in April, before the Duanyang Festival The Zhumen in the prefecture gave each other rice dumplings, accompanied by peaches, apricots, rose cakes and other things

There are records of eating flowers in the two great books of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Jin Ping Mei and A Dream of Red Mansions

In the Qing Dynasty cooking book "Tiao Ding Ji", only the "Fruit Department" included nearly 50 kinds of cooking methods of flowers and fruits; and "Yang Xiaolu" in the Qing Dynasty also dedicated a chapter of "Meal Fragrance Spectrum", which is divided into narration The preparation method of more than 20 kinds of fresh flower food was introduced, among which the introduction of "Yingchunhua" "as soon as the hot water has passed, the sauce and vinegar are mixed and served", the Yingchun flower meal is made

Today, many ancient edible flowers, recipes and records left behind, still continue and exist in major cuisines

Eating flowers is a matter of elegance

In the opinion of the ancients, the most elegant way to eat should be dishes and desserts made of fragrant flowers

During the Warring States Period, Qu Yuan once wrote in "Li Sao" that "drinking the dew of magnolia in the morning, and eating the fallen flowers of autumn chrysanthemum in the evening", he directly ate chrysanthemums, and "Bangjiangli and Zijuxi, the original spring thought it was embarrassing.

　　The poet Du Fu of the Tang Dynasty once ate locust blossoms and locust leaves - "green and high locust leaves, harvested and paid to the Chinese cook".

　　The Tang Dynasty poet Liu Yuxi once presented Bai Juyi with chrysanthemum and seedlings
.
Chrysanthemum seedlings are a dish made with young chrysanthemum seedlings.
It can be used by Liu Yuxi to entertain Bai Juyi.
It should be a delicacy
.

　　Su Shi, who is famous for both food and poetry, enjoys developing different foods.
His wine made from pine flowers, locust flowers and apricot flowers after steaming and sealing should taste good, and it is estimated that it has the power of health preservation and beauty
.
The world uses "cow chewing peony" to criticize people who don't know how to appreciate beautiful things, but scholars and scholars have never been soft-hearted when they eat peony
.
Su Shi, a great writer in the Northern Song Dynasty, once wrote two poems about the delicacy of fried peony.
In "Looking at Peony in the Rain", it said: "I can't bear the mud and sand, but the beef is fried and the core is fried
.
" : "Tomorrow's spring yin flowers are not old, so you should not endure the crisp frying
.
" It is also wonderful to appreciate the state of the forefinger moving and the mouth and tongue growing
.
Of course, the fragrant delicacy of fried stamens and petals has been around for a long time.
It is not the first of Su Shi’s creation.
There are also many kinds of flowers that can be used for frying.
Later generations, such as Wang Xiangjin of the Ming Dynasty, wrote about eating peony in Qunfangpu: “Spring Harvesting” The buds or petals are fried with noodles, and they are crispy and delicious and can last for a long time
.
”

　　Song Dynasty literati had a soft spot for plum blossoms, such as Yang Wanli
.
Yang Wanli is very particular about eating plums.
When chewing plums, he eats them with honey.
He also wrote a poem to record: "Southern cooking and northern fruit gather in Jun's house, and the food is good
.
Only the sugarcane frost can't be divided, the old man wants to chew plum blossoms
.
" He Another poem "Honey-stained Plum Blossoms" describes the flower dishes made with plum meat and plum blossoms: "Wengcheng snow water brews spring cold, and honey is served with plum blossoms with dew
.
Mausoleum altar
.
" White plum meat, snow water, plum blossoms, honey, just looking at the raw materials, it gives people a feeling of elegance and refinement.
If this dish is used as a side dish, its charm is "compared to Knocking Snow Sencha.
"
.
Yang Wanli also wrote a poem for plum blossom porridge: "I only saw the spring after the wax, but I was sad to see the snow drifting in front of the wind
.
The porridge will be eaten by the tuo shui, but the fallen plum blossoms are still good for the incense
.
" As a material for incense, there is a simple value of making the best use of everything
.

　　There is also a record of a kind of "Plum Blossom Soup Cake" in "Shan Jia Qing Su", which uses plum blossoms and incense sandalwood.
It is said that it was created by a virtuous hermit in the Song Dynasty
.
Mix the noodles with water soaked in plum blossoms and sandalwood powder, and then chisel them with a plum-shaped iron mold.
After the plum-shaped dough is cooked, put it in the chicken soup and eat it
.
It has both the Qingyuan gas of plum blossom, the fragrance and sweetness of sandalwood, and the deliciousness of chicken juice
.
The face and leaves have the shape and charm of plum blossoms, and the "plum blossoms" that are clean and clear are pleasing to the eye, leaving an endless aftertaste and space for imagination
.

　　Yuan Mei, a gourmet in the Qing Dynasty, was a "flower eater" who knew flowers, and was busy with "eating poetry" and "eating flowers" all day long
.
He makes rattan flower cakes and corn cakes in spring, burns lotus scoops and eats lotus flowers in summer, steams chestnut cakes in autumn, surrounds the stove in winter, adds fragrance to his red sleeves, and starts to make wax plum and mustard greens soup, which is really elegant
.

　　Flower dew is an important cosmetic and beauty product, but in ancient China, it was also a highly prized beverage and condiment
.
"Yang Xiaolu" lists more than 30 kinds of flowers and leaves that can distill flower dew, and points out that flower dew is very refreshing and pleasant whether it is used as a flavoring in wine, as a beverage for tea, or as a sweetener as a snack.

.

　　When the genius Li Yu of the Qing Dynasty entertained guests, he always prepared a kind of flower dew bibimbap.
Then mix well, the effect is that the ordinary rice has a strange floral aroma, and it becomes like a rare food, and it has a unique taste
.

　　(Comprehensive arrangement by Peng Zonglu and Wang Ning)

　　"China Food News" (06 edition on April 22, 2022)

　　(Editor in charge: Wang Ning)