There were many spicy spices in ancient China, including pepper, ginger, dogwood, rattan, cinnamon, pepper, mustard, pepper and so on. Before pepper was introduced to China in the late Ming Dynasty, Zanthoxylum bungeanum, ginger and Cornus officinalis were the three most used spicy spices in China.

Zanthoxylum bungeanum plays an important role in China ancient spicy condiment. Also known as Sichuan pepper, Han pepper, Ba pepper, Qin pepper and Shu pepper in history, it was widely planted and used in China. As early as the Book of Songs, there were many references to pepper. It is particularly worth mentioning that in ancient China, there was a tradition of adding ginger, pepper and cinnamon to tea. Among the "five flavors" commonly used in history, pepper ranks second. The so-called "three spices" are pepper, ginger and dogwood, among which pepper is the first. The "five spices" used in the past are also composed of fennel, clove, cinnamon and pepper.

The research shows that before the Qing Dynasty, Zanthoxylum bungeanum was widely planted in the upper, middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River basin and the middle and lower reaches of the middle river basin in China, as well as in the eastern, middle and western regions of China. The distribution of this pepper production can be proved by the fact that Sichuan pepper was used more in the diet varieties from Han Dynasty to Ming Dynasty. This kind of Sichuan pepper, which is widely used in folk cuisines, obviously does not exist now, because almost all modern China people are saying "hemp" except Sichuanese.

Of course, Sichuan is the most important producing area of pepper in history, and it is also the most commonly eaten. Research shows that in ancient China, pepper was added to an average of one quarter of the food, which is very large compared with the proportion of pepper in China's diet today. From the Northern Wei Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty, the proportion of Zanthoxylum bungeanum increased gradually, reaching two-fifths in the highest Tang Dynasty and one-third in the Ming Dynasty. But since the Qing dynasty, the total proportion of pepper in the menu has been greatly reduced to one fifth. This may be related to the introduction of pepper and the invasion of spicy spices. At the same time, the extensive use of pepper in the Qing Dynasty may also take away the share of pepper in the diet. As a result, the hemp flavor of pepper, which was very popular in the whole country before the Qing Dynasty, was gradually squeezed into a corner of Sichuan, making Sichuan food spicy and fragrant. Only Shandong and other places in the Central Plains still have a certain tradition of eating hemp.

In the history of China, Cornus officinalis also played a very important role as a spice, but after the Qing Dynasty, with the introduction of pepper, Cornus officinalis gradually withdrew from the historical stage of spices. Only this kind of thing, ginger, has been fragrant for more than two thousand years and lasts for a long time.

In this way, in modern times, the traditional three spices of pepper, ginger and dogwood have evolved into the pattern of pepper, ginger and pepper.

Pepper is native to Central and South America. It was originally the most important condiment for Indians. It was introduced to Europe by the Spanish at the end of15th century. English chili (Chili) is taken from the language of Aztecs (a branch of North American Indians) in ancient Mexico. They use Chili oil to flavor, or almost all food.

Pepper was introduced to China from America in the late Ming Dynasty, but it was only used as an ornamental crop and medicinal material at first, and soon entered the menu of China. After pepper entered China, it was given the names of sweet pepper, ground pepper, spotted pepper, dog pepper, money pepper, spicy slice, sea pepper, pepper pepper, eggplant pepper, spicy horn, pepper and Qin pepper.

Who eats Chili first?

Now the latest research shows that pepper may first be introduced to Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hunan and other places, and then spread to the southwest and other regions.

In the early Qing Dynasty, it was Guizhou and its surrounding areas that first began to use peppers. In Guizhou, where salt was scarce, during the Kangxi period (1662- 1722), "soil seedlings replaced salt", and pepper played a role in replacing salt, which shows that it is closely related to life. Pepper is also used in Zhenxiong, Yunnan, which is adjacent to Guizhou, and Chenzhou, Hunan, which is in the east of Guizhou.

After Jiaqing (1796- 1820), pepper cultivation began to spread in Guizhou, Hunan, Sichuan, Jiangxi and other provinces. During the Jiaqing period, it was recorded that Jiangxi, Hunan, Guizhou, Sichuan and other places had begun to "grow vegetables".

During the Daoguang period (182 1- 1850), everything in northern Guizhou was pepper, while during the Tongzhi period (1862- 1874), people in Guizhou "ate pepper all the time". At the end of the Qing Dynasty, rice with corn was popular in Guizhou, and its dishes were mostly tofu pudding, that is, soaked salt blocks and sea peppers were dipped in water, a bit like today's Sichuan Fushun tofu pudding dipped in sea peppers.

It was not very common to eat spicy food in some areas of Hunan during Jiaqing period, but it was more common in Hunan during Daoguang, Xianfeng, Tongzhi and Guangxu periods. According to the Qing Dynasty's History of Qing Dynasty, "Yunnan, Guizhou, Hunan and Shu people love spicy food", "Hunan and Hubei people like spicy food" and "no pepper mustard is put in soup", which shows that Hunan and Hubei people have been addicted to spicy food in the late Qing Dynasty, and even the soup should be put with pepper.

The record of edible pepper in Sichuan is a little late. It was first in the Jiaqing period. After Daoguang, Xianfeng and Tongzhi, the edible peppers in Sichuan began to be common.

Zhenxiong, which is adjacent to Guizhou in Yunnan, ate peppers during Qianlong period, but it was not very common to eat peppers in Yunnan during Qianlong and Jiaqing years. During the Guangxu period, peppers were eaten in large quantities.

Jiangxi had planted edible peppers during Jiaqing years, and eating peppers was very common in Jiangxi during Guangxu years.

Who is most afraid of spicy food?

As the saying goes: "Hunan people are not afraid of spicy food, Guizhou people are not afraid of spicy food, Sichuan people are not afraid of spicy food, and Hubei people are not afraid of spicy food." Who can eat spicy food best?

The latest econometric research shows that there are three spicy levels in China: the spicy areas in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River, including Sichuan, Hunan, Hubei, Guizhou and southwestern Shaanxi, with a spicy index of about151-25; The slightly spicy area in the north, including Beijing and Shandong in the east, Shanxi in the west, northern Guanzhong in Shaanxi, most of Gansu, and Qinghai to Xinjiang, is another relatively spicy area with a spicy index of 26- 15. The mild flavor areas along the southeast coast, which are in the south of Shandong, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong, are the mild flavor areas that avoid spicy, and the spicy index is between 17-8, and the trend is that the spicy index is lower as you go south. Sichuan people eat spicy food the most (index is 129), followed by Hunan people (index is 52) and Hubei people (index is 16). Guizhou lacks statistical data, but it is estimated to be comparable to Sichuan and Hunan.