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, Guizhou and its neighboring areas first ate Chili. 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. During the Qianlong period (1736- 1795), people in Guizhou consumed a lot of peppers. During the Qianlong period, Zhenxiong, Yunnan, which is adjacent to Guizhou, and Chenzhou, Hunan, which is in the east of Guizhou, also began to eat peppers.
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 and Sichuan had begun to "grow vegetables".
During the Daoguang period (182 1 year-1850), everything in northern Guizhou was pepper. 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 Records of the Qing Dynasty, "people from Yunnan, Guizhou, Hunan and Sichuan like spicy food", "people from Hunan and Hubei like spicy food" and "no pepper mustard is put in the soup", which shows that people from Hunan and Hubei like 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. Neither Yongzheng's Sichuan Annals nor Jiaqing's Sichuan Annals recorded the cultivation and consumption of peppers, but the earliest record was probably in Jiaqing years. Judging from the areas where peppers were planted and eaten during Jiaqing period in Sichuan, they were mainly in the Chengdu Plain and Daba Mountain area in the south and southwest of Sichuan, bordering Sichuan, Hubei and Shaanxi. After Daoguang, Xianfeng and Tongzhi, Sichuan edible peppers began to spread widely, and even peppers were planted all over Shan Ye, Sichuan. After Guangxu, eating peppers became more common in Sichuan. In addition to being widely eaten by the people, there are also many records of eating peppers in classic recipes. Fu Chongju's Overview of Chengdu in the late Qing Dynasty recorded that there were 1 328 kinds of dishes in Chengdu at that time, and pepper had become one of the main ingredients in Sichuan cuisine, including hot oil pepper and pepper noodles, especially Sichuan cuisine, which was officially recorded in writing. In the late Qing Dynasty, eating Chili peppers has become an important feature of Sichuan people's diet. Xu Xinyu's Travel Notes of Sichuan records: "Only Sichuanese must choose extremely spicy peppers, and every meal and dish should be spicy."
When did Yunnan start to eat spicy food? In Zhenxiong, Yunnan, which is adjacent to Guizhou, chilies were eaten in Qianlong years, but it was not very common to eat chilies in Yunnan during Qianlong and Jiaqing years. There is no record of pepper in Yunnan Tongzhi during Guangxu period, but people began to eat a lot of pepper as early as Guangxu period. According to Xu Xinyu's Travels in the Middle of Shu in the late Qing Dynasty, his father found peppers that were transported into Yunnan every year through Ya 'an, Sichuan. "The value is nearly hundreds of thousands, just like the amount of peppers that Yunnan people eat, not weaker than Sichuan people." Therefore, in the Qing Dynasty, Tsui Hark's Notes on Clearing Stores said: "People in Yunnan, Guizhou, Hunan and Sichuan like spicy food."
According to Textual Research on Plant Names and Facts, edible peppers were planted in Jiangxi during Jiaqing period. During the Guangxu period, eating Chili was common in Jiangxi, and now Jiangxi Nankang Chili sauce is very famous.
Pepper was introduced to China for about 400 years, but this exotic spice quickly spread throughout China, grabbing the position of traditional pepper, ginger and dogwood. The consumption of Zanthoxylum bungeanum has been squeezed in Sichuan Basin, the hometown of Zanthoxylum bungeanum, while Cornus officinalis has almost completely withdrawn from the stage of spicy ingredients in China diet, and the status of ginger has also largely withdrawn from the diet. The introduction and entry of pepper into China's diet is undoubtedly a diet revolution, and its unparalleled power makes traditional spices unable to compete with it. Only this revolution, due to the constraints of traffic and information at that time, seemed a bit slow.