Millet, soybean, hemp, wheat and rice

Five ancient cereals. There are many different opinions about "five grains" in ancient times, and the most important ones are two: one refers to rice, millet, millet, wheat and glutinous rice; The other refers to hemp, millet, millet, wheat and glutinous rice. The difference between the two is that the former has rice without hemp, while the latter has hemp without rice. The ancient economic and cultural center was in the Yellow River valley, and the main rice producing area was in the south, while the rice planting in the north was limited, so there was no rice in the original "five grains".

Historical story of Gu Wu

Wanguoding

1. What are whole grains?

"Gu" is a simplified Chinese character for "Gu", which originally refers to grain with shells; Like rice, millet (millet, that is, millet) and millet (also known as yellow rice), there are shells outside, so they are called valleys. The pronunciation of the word ancient comes from the sound of shells.

The word "five grains" was first recorded in The Analects of Confucius. According to The Analects of Confucius, more than 2,400 years ago, Confucius took his students on a long journey, and Luz fell behind. He met an old farmer with a bamboo basket and a stick and asked him, "Have you seen the master?" The old farmer said, "Who is the master if you don't work on all fours?"

Dear reader, can you distinguish between grains?

Grains refer to five kinds of grains. Books older than The Analects of Confucius, such as The Book of Songs and The Classic, have only "100 grains" but no "five grains". From 100 to 5 grains, did the variety of food crops decrease? That's not true. At the beginning, people often gave several different varieties of a crop an appropriate name one by one, so many lists appeared. Moreover, the word "hundred" here is only used to refer to many meanings, and there is no real one hundred. The appearance of the word "five grains" shows that people have a clear concept of classification, and it also reflects that there were five main food crops at that time.

When the word "five grains" was first coined, its meaning was not recorded. The earliest explanation we can see now was written by Han people. There are two main explanations of Han people and their descendants: one is rice, millet, millet, wheat and glutinous rice (that is, soybeans); Another way of saying it is marijuana, millet, millet, wheat and glutinous rice. The difference between these two statements is that one has rice without hemp and the other has hemp without rice. Although the seeds of hemp seeds are edible, they are mainly used for weaving. Grain refers to grain, and the former statement does not include hemp in grain, which is more reasonable. On the other hand, the economic and cultural center at that time was in the north, rice was a southern crop, and cultivation in the north was limited, so there might be hemp in the grain without rice. The crops mentioned in the "Good and Bad Year after Year" (predicting a good year) in Historical Records of the Tianguan Book are wheat, millet, millet, glutinous rice and hemp, which belongs to the latter statement. Probably for these reasons, Han people and people after Han people have two different interpretations of grain.

Combining these two statements, there are six main crops: rice, millet, millet, wheat, glutinous rice and hemp. There are four articles devoted to agriculture in the famous Lu Chunqiu during the Warring States Period, among which the article Shenshi talks about the advantages and disadvantages of planting crops, including millet, rice, hemp, rice and wheat. A grain is a millet. These six crops are exactly the same as the six mentioned above. These six crops are also mentioned in Lv Chunqiu.

Obviously, the main crops at that time were rice, millet, millet, wheat, rice and hemp. The so-called five grains refer to these crops, or five of these six crops. However, with the development of social economy and agricultural production, the concept of five grains is constantly evolving. Now the so-called grain is actually just a general term for food crops, or refers to food crops in general.

Whole grains are the food we depend on for survival from birth; For thousands of years, China has been regarded by ordinary people as a sacred product of "five grains for nourishment", "five grains for thickness" and "five grains for abundance". It is the fashion return on the dining table of modern people.

Foods derived from whole grains become foods with real alcohol quality. For example, eight-treasure porridge boiled with various miscellaneous grains, bibimbap with miscellaneous grains, brewing vinegar in seasonings, soy sauce and Wuliangye, a famous wine in drinks, all use miscellaneous grains as brewing raw materials, which is a diet that meets food requirements.

Brewing vinegar: It is best to use vinegar and soy sauce marked "Brewing".

Vinegar and sauce can be divided into brewing and preparation. Brewed products take soybeans, wheat, sorghum, broken rice, corn, sweet potatoes, dried sweet potatoes, potatoes and other foods as raw materials, which have real mellow flavor quality and are the top seasonings on the table. Preparation vinegar refers to the flavoring vinegar made from fermented vinegar as the main raw material, adding glacial acetic acid and food additives. Acid hydrolyzed vegetable protein seasoning liquid, commonly known as "chemical soy sauce", refers to a liquid umami seasoning made from defatted soybean, peanut meal, wheat protein or corn protein and other raw materials containing edible vegetable protein through hydrochloric acid hydrolysis and alkali neutralization.

Food category—

Grains rice: Choose five kinds of grains to make rice. Such as: 200 grams of rice, millet, sorghum rice, barley and red beans each, forming a whole grain rice.

Eight-treasure porridge: it is made of different coarse cereals, and can be matched with seasonal coarse cereals, nuts and fruits according to different seasons and personal tastes. Different formulas of eight-treasure porridge have different nutritional components.

Corn: Corn contains more linoleic acid, vitamins, cellulose and various minerals, especially magnesium and selenium, which has comprehensive health care functions. In recent years, it has been found that corn contains a longevity factor-glutathione. With the participation of selenium, glutathione oxidase can be produced, which has anti-aging and anti-aging effects.

In addition to being eaten directly, corn can also be mixed with other miscellaneous grains and processed into tortillas, corn cakes, corn steamed bread and corn porridge.

Buckwheat: Different from others, buckwheat contains rutin, which can lower cholesterol in human blood and protect blood vessels. Nepalese at the southern foot of the Himalayas. Not only eat a lot of buckwheat noodles, but also eat the tender stems and leaves of buckwheat, while local residents rarely suffer from hypertension.

Oats: In recent years, linoleic acid has been found in oats, and the linoleic acid in 50 grams of oats is equivalent to 10 "Maitong", so oats can inhibit the increase of cholesterol. It is reported that a related study in the United States confirmed that eating 60 grams of oats every day can reduce cholesterol by an average of 3%. British research shows that drinking a bowl of oatmeal every morning can reduce the death rate of heart disease by 6%, and many enzymes contained in oatmeal have strong vitality and can help delay cell aging.

Xiaomi: Also known as "Xiaomi". Li Shizhen's Compendium of Materia Medica in the Ming Dynasty recorded: "Millet is salty, slightly cold and nontoxic, which nourishes kidney qi and eliminates the heat of spleen and stomach. Supplementing qi, treating stomach heat, quenching thirst and diuresis ",has high nutritional value. The content of unit calorie, protein and fat is higher than that of wheat flour and rice, and it also contains calcium, iron, phosphorus and carotene. The cellulose content is only 8.6% lower than that of oats and close to that of brown rice.

Beans—

Soybean: Soybean is rich in protein, fat, lecithin, choline and vitamins. Compared with other foods, there is only one kind of soybean in protein, which is 1 times more than lean meat, 2 times more than eggs and 1 times more than milk.

Soybean is sweet in taste and flat in nature, which can "promote diuresis to reduce swelling, remove stomach heat and stranguria." Blood stasis and internal cold accumulate in five internal organs. , is a good diet.

According to research, saponins in soybean can delay human aging; Lecithin in soybean can remove cholesterol from blood vessel wall; Maintain vascular softening; Inhibition of insulin in soybean has a certain effect on diabetes; The phosphorus content in soybean is considerable, which is very beneficial to the brain and nerves. People with neurasthenia and physical weakness are conducive to eating regularly. Soybean is rich in iron, which is beneficial to patients with iron deficiency anemia.

mung bean

Mung bean is rich in vitamins A, B and C, which has the functions of relieving dryness and heat and lowering blood pressure, and has a good effect on fatigue, swelling and dysuria.

Mung beans have high nutritional value, which can be said to be a treasure all over. Like mung bean powder can treat sores, swelling and burns; Mung bean skin can improve eyesight; Mung bean sprouts can also relieve alcohol. Drinking mung bean soup often in summer can not only increase nutrition, but also have certain curative effect on nephritis, diabetes, hypertension, arteriosclerosis, gastroenteritis, pharyngolaryngitis and decreased vision.

Because mung beans are cold, people with weak spleen and stomach should not eat more; It is best not to eat between low blood pressure and female physiology.

In addition, mung beans should not be overcooked, so as not to destroy organic acids and vitamins, and reduce the efficacy of clearing heat and detoxifying.

Red bean shrub

Red beans have high medicinal and health functions. Red beans can clear away heat and toxic materials, strengthen the spleen and regulate the stomach, induce diuresis to reduce swelling, ventilate and relieve annoyance, and can treat dysuria, spleen edema and beriberi. People have paid attention to them since ancient times. Li Shizhen called red beans "the valley of the heart".

If red beans and carp are eaten in soup, it can play a dietetic role in edema, beriberi and dysuria. It can also treat liver cirrhosis, hepatic ascites and complement deficiency; The soup cooked with red beans and wax gourd is a good therapeutic prescription for treating systemic edema; Boiling red beans with lentils and coix seed can treat diarrhea. In addition, red beans can also be used with traditional Chinese medicine, such as red beans with forsythia and angelica soup, which can treat liver abscess; Red beans with dandelion and licorice decoction can treat intestinal pain.

broad bean

Broad beans contain calcium, zinc and manganese, which are important components for regulating brain and nerve tissue, and are rich in choline, which has the function of strengthening memory and strengthening brain. Vitamin C in broad bean can delay arteriosclerosis, and crude fiber in broad bean skin can reduce cholesterol and promote intestinal peristalsis.

However, broad beans are stagnant and greasy, and the weak with stomach qi deficiency are prone to flatulence and should not eat more.

In addition, broad beans contain allergens, and allergic people will have different degrees of allergies, silver screen hemolysis and other poisoning symptoms, which is also commonly known as "silkworm disease." This is due to the lack of certain enzymes in the body, which is a genetic defect. People who are allergic to broad beans can't eat any more.

pea

Pea contains protein, fat, sugar, phosphorus, iron, carotene, vitamin B 1, vitamin B2, vitamin C, nicotinic acid and other ingredients.

Pea has the effects of invigorating spleen and regulating stomach, promoting fluid production to quench thirst, and relieving stranguria and diarrhea.

black soya bean

Black beans are rich in nutrition and are known as the king of beans and the flower of nutrition. Ancient health care experts regarded it as the secret recipe of avoiding the valley: "Swallow 14 black beans every morning, which is called the five zang-organs valley and will last forever."

Black beans have the effects of invigorating spleen and kidney, nourishing yin and promoting blood circulation, calming the nerves and improving eyesight, inducing diuresis and treating stranguria, and clearing away heat and toxic materials. Taking black beans for a long time can prevent the skin from producing dark spots and make the skin tender and shiny.

Rootstock—

Sweet potato: The combination of multivitamins and unsaturated fatty acids helps to prevent the formation of cholesterol in the blood and prevent the occurrence of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Starch and cellulose in sweet potato can absorb a lot of water in the intestine, increase the volume of feces, prevent constipation and reduce the occurrence of intestinal cancer. Sweet potato is an alkaline food, which can neutralize excessive acidic substances produced by acidic foods and prevent acidification of blood and body fluids. Sweet potato can also reduce subcutaneous fat, avoid obesity and prevent collagen diseases.

Onion: In the nutrient composition table of food, the nutrient composition of onion is not high. It has health care function because it contains some physiologically active substances. Like garlic, the main physiological active substances of onion are sulfur-containing compounds such as allicin (so onion smells like garlic) and antioxidant substances such as selenium, so it is also considered to have bactericidal effect, and is beneficial to enhancing immunity, anticancer, reducing blood lipid and promoting gastrointestinal peristalsis.

Carrot: It is rich in vitamins and calcium, which is very helpful for beauty and health. Carrots are rich in carotene, vitamin b 1, b2, C, D, E, K, folic acid, calcium and dietary fiber, which are almost comparable to American comprehensive vitamin pills.

Potato: Chinese protein is better than soybean, and it is closest to animal protein. Potatoes are also rich in lysine and tryptophan, which are incomparable to ordinary grains. Potatoes are also foods rich in potassium, zinc and iron. The potassium contained in it can prevent cerebral vascular rupture. The content of protein and vitamin C in it is 10 times that of apple, and the content of vitamin B 1, B2, iron and phosphorus is much higher than that of apple. From a nutritional point of view, its nutritional value is equivalent to 3.5 times that of apples. Compared with rice, potatoes produce less calories and only contain 0. 1% fat. If you take it as a staple food and insist on eating only potatoes every day, it will be very effective to lose excess fat. Eating an average of five to six potatoes a week can reduce the risk of stroke by 40% without any side effects. Potatoes have the functions of regulating stomach, invigorating spleen and benefiting qi, and also have therapeutic effects on gastric ulcer, habitual constipation, hot cough and skin eczema. The fiber contained in potatoes is tender, which has no stimulating effect on gastrointestinal mucosa and can relieve pain or reduce gastric acid secretion. Eating potatoes regularly has become an adjuvant therapy for preventing and treating gastric cancer.

Pumpkin: Rich in sugar and starch, but low in protein and fat. The nutritional value of pumpkin mainly lies in its rich vitamins, among which the higher contents are carotene 2.4 mg, vitamin b 1.05 mg, vitamin B2 0.06 mg% and vitamin C5 mg%. In addition, it contains a certain amount of iron and phosphorus. These substances play an important role in maintaining the physiological function of the body. Recently, it has also been found that there is a kind of "cobalt" component in pumpkin, which has the function of enriching blood after eating. Pumpkin is rich in vitamins A, B, C and minerals, 8 essential amino acids and histidine, soluble fiber, lutein and trace elements such as phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, zinc and silicon. Modern nutrition and medicine show that eating more pumpkins can effectively prevent and treat hypertension, diabetes and liver diseases and improve human immunity. Make the stool unobstructed and the skin rich, especially for women, with cosmetic effect.