People in ancient China knew about oil very early and ate it. According to legend, our ancestor Huangdi got a book called River Map, which he read day and night. In order to solve the problem of lighting at night, he asked a subordinate named Li Mu to collect fruits from trees to make oil, use silk floss as oil core, and light a lamp to read books at night. But this is just a legend. In fact, the production of vegetable oil is later. People first knew and ate animal oil. After people know how to use fire, they produce fat deposits in the process of barbecue and cook the meat with utensils. After long-term practice, they gradually understand how to obtain oil and its use.

The purchase of vegetable oil began in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Liu Xi's explanation of the name and diet: "It is oily, mashed and coated, and it is dry. It looks like oil. Apricot oil is the same "(today's cloud apples, Wang Xianqian thought ignorance can be oil, but it was a mistake of dates. "... see" name explanation and evidence supplement "). Zheng Xuan was quoted as saying in Volume 4 of Yao Min's Book "Jujube Oil Method": "Jujube oil, jujube paste, painted, dry as oil, is made. "This shows that people knew that there was oil in plant fruits at that time, but the extraction methods and finished products were relatively simple and primitive. Mao Cui's "Four-person Monthly Order" said that in May, "you can hang oil clothes with a pole, but don't hide them" (fold). Oil coat is a coat coated with oil to prevent rain, and vegetable oil can be used. In the Han Dynasty, sesame (then called flax) was introduced into the Central Plains from the Western Regions. Because of its rich oil content, it is gradually loved and eaten by the broad masses of people. The planting and trading of flax were mentioned many times in the Four People's Month Order, which shows that people attached importance to flax at that time and also reflected the important position of flax in people's daily life at that time.

At first, vegetable oil was mostly used for lighting or as a combustion product in war, which was also reflected in the legendary animal husbandry and oil production. Sesame oil may be the earliest vegetable oil that appeared in large quantities and was used for food. During the Three Kingdoms period, sesame oil was widely used. According to the biography of the reflection of Wei Zhi and Man Chong, Sun Quan of Soochow attacked Hefei New Town, and Wei Man Chong "took dozens of strong men, folded them into torches, poured sesame oil, set fire from above, and burned thieves to attack tools". Wang Yin's "Jin Shu Jin Yun" said: "In October of the fifth year of Yuankang, the armory caught fire and all the treasures of the past dynasties were burned. It was the craftsman who stole the things in the warehouse and was afraid of sin. He threw candles into sesame paste and started a fire. " It also contains "Wang Qi (Sima) Uprising, and Sun Xiuduo collected reed torches in Yunnan Province to store sesame oil as arson tools". Zhang Hua's Natural History contains Emperor Wu of Jin Dynasty's Taishi Gonghua, the armory caught fire and was caused by oil accumulation. Sesame oil in these records may refer to sesame oil, which is used as a burnt product in a large amount. Wang Yin's Book of Jin says sesame paste and sesame oil are used together. It can also be seen that the word oil gradually replaces oil as a common name.

Edible vegetable oil may be more common in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. According to Qi Yaomin's Book written by the Northern Wei Dynasty, sesame oil, coriander seed oil and hemp seed oil were used for cooking food at that time. Thirty-six Plans of Polygonum cuspidatum (Volume III) said: "Coriander seeds are grown in late autumn ... you can make cakes by squeezing seeds to extract oil. The stubble oil is green and lovely, and it smells delicious. Sesame oil biscuits are better than sesame oil, and sesame oil is awkward. " In the cooking methods, recipes and materials described in the book, there are many records of using sesame oil, coriander oil, pig, sheep, cattle and other animal oils. Sesame oil was the best vegetable oil to eat at that time. There is also red and blue flower seed oil in vegetable oil, which is "both car fat and candle" (Volume 5 of Qi Yao Min Shu and Volume 52 of Planting Red and Blue Gardeners). In addition to cooking food, these animal and vegetable oils are also used to make candles, tarpaulins, hair cream, facial fat and so on. Rapeseed oil (now rapeseed oil) in vegetable oil may also be eaten. There is a saying in Two Poems by Xiao Yi, Emperor of Liang Yuan in the Southern Dynasties that "the peach blossoms in March contain flour fat, and the new oil in May is easy to fry". The new oil in May is the vegetable oil harvested around May and freshly squeezed. "Qi Yao Min Shu" Volume III "Those who plant mustard seeds, Sichuan mustard seeds and Brassica napus seeds, plant them in rainy February and March, water them in drought, and harvest them in May. Cui Yi said: Mustard seeds can be harvested after mid-summer in June. Rapeseed was harvested in May, and its oil immediately explained the new oil in May in Xiao Yi's poems.

In the Song Dynasty, vegetable oil became more common and varied. Shen Kuo's "Meng Qian Bi Tan" said: "Today's northerners like to fry things with sesame oil, no matter what it is, it is fried with oil." Zhuang's "Braised Chicken Ribs" said: "Oil is everywhere, and it is natural to eat (burn). However, flax is the top, and customs are fat and hemp. Its nature is eight points, which means that it is thin when it rains, ripe when it is dry, flowers are downward, seeds are upward, and oil is generated by frying, and the ointment is slippery and the needle is astringent. Hedong eats sesame oil, which stinks and can be used as a raincoat with coriander. In Shaanxi, almonds, red and blue flower seeds and wild rapeseed oil are also eaten as lamps, but porridge is blinded by smoke, and today it is not a problem. Shandong also uses Xanthium sibiricum as oil, which is good for treating wind. There is little hemp in the rivers and lakes, and most of the lamps are made of tung oil, but the thick smoke, portraits and the like are particularly frightening, and clothes can't be washed. Wax gourd can be washed away, green and sweet, while eating it by mistake will make people vomit dysentery, drinking or tea can be washed away, and southern wine will be gray. Some women mistakenly use cream to make their hair, which will stick to the spine, but it will not be solved. There is also paraffin oil. The root of paraffin oil is mountain pepper, which is used as ointment fire by villagers. Its smoke is particularly smelly, so it is rare in the city. Ubuntu seed oil, such as fat, can be filled with candles, which can be used in Guangnan and various prefectures. " Eleven kinds of vegetable oils are listed in this paper, and as many as five or six kinds are used in diet. According to historical records, there were four kinds of gifts in Song Dynasty, including "five fruits, medicine, oil, paper, salary, charcoal, lacquer and wax" (Song History Volume 65438+ Food Volume 074). In addition, in the volume 178, Yakumo "taxes on Jingji meat, oil, charcoal, noodles, cloth, catkins, etc. are all exempted after winning money". As can be seen from the above two materials, the oil production in Song Dynasty is considerable, which is not only a gift for the aged, but also a tax.

By the Ming Dynasty, there were more kinds of vegetable oils, and there were also systematic records of oil-making methods, which gave a deeper understanding of the properties, food intake and different functions of various vegetable oils. "Ointment oil" in Tiangong Wu Kai: "The edible places of oil are flax (a kind of fat hemp), radish seeds, soybeans and white rapeseed, followed by Ma Su (like perilla, the grain is bigger than flax) and rapeseed (south of the Yangtze River). When burning the lamp, the water and oil in Platycladus orientalis seeds are the best, followed by cabbage rape and flax seeds (ticks are commonly known as fat hemp in Shaanxi). When making candles, cypress bark oil is the best, castor seed is the second, cypress mixed oil is frozen with white wax per catty, white wax is the second, camphor tree seed oil is the second (its light is not reduced, but it avoids fragrance), and holly seed oil is the second (it is special for Shao Jun County, ranking because of low oil). If butter is widely used in the soil in the north, it will be next. " The oil yield and oil-making methods of various plant seeds are also described in detail, including squeezing method and two-pot cooking method, that is, changing water, grinding method and frying pot method, which basically have the types and oil-making methods of modern edible vegetable oil.

In Qing Dynasty, peanut oil also appeared as edible oil in our people's diet and daily life. Volume 10 of Yu Hai Zhen Cui Dian Zhi said: "Peanut is the first fruit in South China ... Cotton, pumpkin and sweet potato were planted in Song and Yuan Dynasties, and it is estimated that they came back from various countries in the sea ... If it is burned, it will be peanuts, so it will be rotten from the market to the night market. If it is cultivated by the sea, oil extraction is the most important. Therefore, people from Fujian and Guangdong all eat peanut oil and use it as a night light. Now it has spread all over Yu Haibin provinces, which is of great benefit. " According to Mr. xie guozhen, this groundnut refers to a small peanut, and the big peanut didn't breed until the end of Ming Dynasty and the beginning of Qing Dynasty (Selected Social and Economic Historical Materials of Ming Dynasty). In the middle and late Qing Dynasty, according to the "Industry Examination and Oil Industry" recorded in the Qing Dynasty's Continuing Literature General Examination, the main edible vegetable oils at that time were: soybean (including soybean, mung bean, black bean, brown bean and spotted bean), cottonseed, peanut, rapeseed, fat hemp, flax, camellia, perilla (namely coriander) and perilla.

In the history of our country, since the appearance of vegetable oil and its application in diet, animal oil has not been completely excluded, and the two go hand in hand. However, due to the variety, large output and wide use of vegetable oil, its consumption proportion is increasing, and it is still there.