Uncover the mystery of food's origins

Nowadays, people are becoming more and more diverse, but do you know where the food you eat comes from? As early as the pre-Qin period, the ancestors cultivated crops such as apricots, peaches, pears, plums, rice, millet, and anthracite
.
With the opening of the Silk Road, grapes, walnuts, pomegranates, watermelons, cantaloupe, etc.
came
from the Western Regions.
After the great geographical discovery of Europe, crops such as corn, potatoes, tomatoes, etc.
from the Americas came to China
across the sea.
The continuous discovery and cultivation of food, as well as global communication and exchange, paint our colorful gastronomic life
today.

Wakame

Wakame is a edible algae of the brown algae family Wakame in the family Phylum Napoptera, native to China, Japan and the Korean Peninsula
.
At present, the varieties cultivated in China are mainly introduced from Japan and South Korea
.
China's cultivation of wakame began as early as the 30s of the 20th century, initially only stone throwing culture, and in the 60s of the 20th century solved the problem
of artificial seedling breeding under natural conditions.
Due to the increase in exports to Japan, the Dalian area of Liaoning Province in China began large-scale wakame cultivation and production
in 1984.

scallions

Allium is a perennial herbaceous plant of the genus Allium of the Lily family, and the wild species originated in northwest China and its adjacent Central Asia
.
The ancient green ridge was named
after its high mountain and many green onions.
Green onions were introduced into the Central Plains around the pre-Qin period, and after long-term domestication and breeding, they were widely cultivated throughout China, so they are also known
internationally as "Chinese onions".
The green onions cultivated in China include green onions, shallots, and chives, and there are a large number of "same name and different species" and "same species and different names" phenomena
in the name.

Garlic

Garlic is the underground bulb of the allium family Liliaceae, which originated in central Asia (some people think of western Asia and southern Europe).

In 116 BC, when Zhang Qian went to the Western Regions, he introduced garlic into the Central Plains, and today, China's garlic production accounts for about 2/3
of the world.
The smell of garlic is derived from sulfur-containing organic compounds, which is also a characteristic
of the genus Allium.
The allinine (sulfur-containing non-protein amino acids) and allinase contained in garlic are isolated by organelles and various membranes, and react by external forces to produce allicin (diallyl thiosulfonate)
with a spicy taste.

onions

Onion is an herbaceous plant of the family Liliaceae, which is generally believed to have originated in the center of Central Asia and Afghanistan and Pakistan
.
It is widely cultivated
all over the world.
Some believe that it was in the early 20th century, some believe that it was brought back by the Mongol Empire in the 13th century after the opening of the Western Han Silk Road
, and some believe that it was brought back by the Mongol Empire in the 13th century.

leek

Chives are perennial root plants of the genus Allium of the Lily family, native to southeast Africa, and China is also considered one of
the origins.
The Book of Poetry in the Western Zhou Dynasty recorded "Offering Lambs and Offering Leeks", which shows that leeks were widely cultivated
as early as 3,000 years ago.
The pungent smell of leeks comes from the sulfur-containing compounds
in its volatile oils.

chili pepper

Capsicum is a yearly or limited perennial herb of the genus Solanaceae, native to the Americas, which is currently thought to have the original center of origin in Bolivia
.
Archaeologists have found peppers
in Peru dating back to 6200 BC.
When Columbus discovered America, he brought chili peppers back to Europe and introduced them to Spain
in 1493.
The earliest record of chili peppers in China is Gao Lian's "Eight Notes of Zunsheng" in the Ming Dynasty in 1591, which recorded that "peppers are thick and white flowers
.
" The fruit is like a bald pen, and the taste is spicy and red, which is very impressive.
"
Chili peppers
were first cultivated as ornamental plants.
The earliest record of chili pepper in Jiangxi is the "Huichang County Record" in the fifteenth year of Qianlong (1750), and there are also records
in Yuanzhou and Jianchang at the same time.

ginger

Ginger is the fresh rhizome
of ginger, a perennial herb of the ginger family Ginger family.
The spicy substances of ginger are collectively known as gingerol, and its main component is gingerol (gingerol).

At present, the internationally recognized origin of ginger is Southeast Asia, and some scholars believe that it originated in China and has a cultivation history
of 2500 years.
Ginger is one of the important spicy seasonings in the ancient diet, and the "Lü's Spring and Autumn Original Taste" records: "The beauty of peace, the ginger
of yang and simple.
" "This means that the seasoning and taste are good, and it is ginger
from Yangpu.
Scholars generally believe that Yangpu is in the Bashu region
.

coriander

Coriander is an annual or biennial herbaceous plant of the genus Coriander of the Apiaceae family, its stems and leaves have a special aromatic taste, and are commonly known as coriander
.
Coriander is native to the Mediterranean coast and later introduced to China through the Silk Road, and is one of the
oldest aromatic vegetables used to flavor food in human history.

pepper

Piperine is a woody climbing vine of the genus Piperinaceae, native to India and more than 4,000 years old
.
Pepper was introduced to China via the Silk Road and enjoyed as a precious seasoning for dignitaries
.
In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the introduction of pepper in China was successful, and the price gradually turned low, and finally became a condiment
for the masses.
Black pepper is picked when the pepper is about to ripen, and after drying and processing, it is named because the shell is
black and wrinkled after processing.
White pepper is a grain
that is harvested after the pepper is ripe and shelled for processing.

pepper

Zanthoxylum anthoxylum is a woody plant of the genus Zanthoxylum of the family Rutacea, native to China
.
Peppercorns are native to the Himalayas, and there are records
of people using peppercorns for cooking during the Zhou Dynasty from the 11th to the 10th century BC.
During the Two Jin Dynasties, peppercorns began to be widely cultivated
as an economic tree.

Star anise

Star anise is also known as star anise, is a woody plant of the octagonal family of the star anise family, native to Southeast Asia and the Americas, about the Ming Dynasty through the Maritime Silk Road introduced to China, so it is also known as fennel, imported fennel
.
Li Shizhen mentioned in the "Compendium of Materia Medica": "Those imported from Fan, as big as Bai Shi, split into eight petals, one petal and one core, as large as a bean, yellow-brown, with kernels, sweeter taste, commonly known as fennel, also known as star anise
.
" ”

sesame

Sesame, also known as fat and flax, is a seed of flax and is an annual erect herb.

Sesame seeds are one of the oldest oil crops in the world, and there have been many kinds of delicacies
made with sesame seeds or sesame oil in our country since ancient times.
Most people believe that sesame seeds originated in Africa and were introduced to China
during the Western Han Dynasty.
Most of the documents attribute its arrival time to Zhang
Qian's envoy to the Western Regions.

rapeseed

Canola is not a single species , but includes several species
in the genus Brassica and other genera of the cruciferous family.
All cultivated cruciferous brassica plants used to harvest seeds for oil are collectively referred to as rapeseeds
.
Canola is divided into three types: cabbage type, mustard type, and kale type
.
Cabbage rape includes northern rape native to northern and northwestern China (the center of origin is Shaanxi) and southern rapeseed
native to the Yangtze River Basin (Yunnan, Guizhou, Hubei, Sichuan and other places) transformed from cabbage.
Mustard rape, also known as high rape, spicy rape, is an oil variant of the cruciferous brassica mustard, and China is one of
its origins.
Evolved from a natural cross between cabbage and cabbage, cabbage-type rape originated on the west coast of Europe and was cultivated
as an oil crop in the 16th century.
Kale-type rapeseed was introduced to China in the 30s of the 20th century and called Japanese rape; It was introduced from the United Kingdom in 1941 and is commonly known as European rape.

In the 80s of the 20th century, cabbage rape became the main cultivars
promoted in China.

sunflower

Sunflower is a genus of sunflowers in the tubular flower subfamily Asteraceae, native to the Americas, a domesticated species brought to Europe from North America by the Spanish in 1510, originally for ornamental use
.
At the end of the 19th century, sunflowers were brought back from Russia to North America.

At the end of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th century, sunflowers were introduced to China
from Nanyang.

coffee

Coffee is a beverage
made from roasted and milled coffee beans.
The coffee tree is a perennial evergreen shrub or small tree of the Rubiaceae family, native to Ethiopia, Africa, introduced to Yemen in the 6th century, and cultivated
extensively in the Arab region in the 13th century.
At the beginning of the 20th century, coffee was introduced to Yunnan
by the French.

cacao

Cacao is a woody plant of the Sycamore family, originating in central and southern
America.
Wild cacao trees grow in the rainforests of the Amazon (Brazil) and Orinoco (Venezuela) basins in northern South America, and were first cultivated by the Indian Olmecs in Mexico in Central America for more than 2,000 years
.
In 1502, during Columbus' fourth expedition to the Americas, he saw and brought back cocoa beans
.
In the 20th century, cocoa was introduced into Taiwan and Hainan
.

Tea

Camellia sinensis is a shrub or small tree plant
in the genus Camellia sinensis of the camellia family.
Regarding the origin of tea plants, there has always been a lot of debate, with the development of research technology and new discoveries, a consensus has gradually been reached that China is the origin of tea plants, and confirmed that southwest China, including Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan, is the center of
tea plant origin.
Due to geological changes and artificial cultivation, tea plants began to be planted throughout the country and gradually spread to all parts of the world
.
China has a long history of tea cultivation, as early as more than 3,000 years ago in the Western Zhou Dynasty, artificial cultivation of tea gardens
has appeared.

College of Life Sciences, Nanchang Normal University Liang Lei Shen Chenghui

(Edited by Li Chuang)