In the sultry summer, even if you sit quietly with the air conditioner blowing, you will sweat all over. At this time, a cup of coke or beer with ice can make people' come back from the dead' instantly. The first bite of a coke filled with ice sold at KFC or McDonald's in summer is worth 9.5 yuan.
In summer, which is full of human fireworks, we can never live without'' ice''. We add ice to all kinds of drinks and put all kinds of fruits in the ice to cool them. The temperature in summer is getting higher every year. In midsummer, we can't wait to bury ourselves in the ice, and the ice hangs our last breath like the soup made by thousands of ginseng. If we want ice, modern people just need to put pure water in the refrigerator. The summer of the ancients was as inseparable from the ice as the modern people, but it is conceivable that it was not easy to get the ice in the summer of the Song Dynasty without refrigeration equipment such as refrigerators. So how did the people of the Song Dynasty get the ice?
People in the Song Dynasty have already realized' ice freedom'.
People in the Tang Dynasty will not believe that the Song Dynasty, which was established not long after the demise of the Tang Dynasty, has realized' ice freedom'. The' ice freedom' in the Song Dynasty can not only be realized by dignitaries in the upper class, but also is not a great thing for ordinary people in the Song Dynasty. However, it should be known that the ice cubes in the summer of the Tang Dynasty were an elusive' scarce resource' for most ordinary people. As the ordinary people in the Tang Dynasty who had no power, no power and no money, they never expected to use' ice' in the hot summer. The Yunxian Miscellanies recorded how precious the ice cubes were in the Tang Dynasty as follows:
' Chang 'an Ice and Snow, the price is as golden as summer''
You asked me about the Tang Dynasty.
People in the Song Dynasty drink ice in summer
Ice cubes are' life-saving straws'
' Food is the most important thing for the people in the Song Dynasty'. This old saying in China is never false, and it is also applicable to the people in the Song Dynasty who have finally achieved' ice cube freedom' through unremitting efforts. One of the main reasons why ice cubes are so popular with people in various dynasties in summer is that frozen drinks in summer really make people want to stop. One of the reasons why people in various dynasties before the Song Dynasty spent a lot of effort to study the method of making ice in summer is precisely to taste ice-cold drinks in hot summer. In the eyes of the ancients, cold drinks are the best way to drive away the sweltering heat, and' ice freedom' brought' frozen food freedom' to the people in the Song Dynasty.
If modern people walk around in the midsummer of the Song Dynasty, then most modern people must have been'' transformed'' after just two steps. Although ancient summer was not as hot as modern summer, air conditioners that can be seen everywhere in modern times were unimaginable high-tech in ancient times. Walking on the streets of the Song Dynasty, you will feel that the purpose of every gust of wind blowing at you is not to bring you coolness, but to bring you sweat that you can't get rid of. At first, you wanted to walk home quickly. After all, it was cooler at home, but you suddenly remembered that there was no difference between the temperature at home and the temperature on the street, because there was no fan and no air conditioning at home. Just when you were disheartened, the small stalls with green umbrellas on the streets of the Song Dynasty attracted your attention. These small stalls were the mobile freezers of the Song Dynasty.
In the dog days, these' mobile freezers' can be found almost everywhere in the lanes and streets of Bianjing. There are only a few tables and chairs and touch of green cloth umbrellas, and these small stalls have become' life-saving straws' in the eyes of Song citizens, such as cold water litchi paste, smoothies, Weizhou white peaches and other frozen foods to relieve summer heat and quench thirst. There was a kind of frozen food called' Ice and Snow' in Song Dynasty, which was popular all over the city in the summer of Song Dynasty. Everyone from old people to children didn't like this delicious food.' Ice and Snow' was also called' Sugar Ice and Snow Pellets'. The modern method of' Ice and Snow' was probably to mix glutinous rice flour with sugar and soybean flour to make it similar.
when it comes to summer desserts, ice cream must be an excellent snack that can't be missed in modern times. The ice cream made of milk with rich chocolate sauce or strawberry sauce and crispy cone shells makes people drool just thinking about it. Amusement parks or idol dramas in summer are perfect matches with ice cream. In fact, ice cream is not a food enjoyed by modern people. As early as 1 years ago in the Song Dynasty, ice cream was already mouth watering. Unlike modern ice cream, the ice cream in Song Dynasty is not a small one. It is like a miniature version of' hill'. It takes only a few hours to make a unique' ice cream' in Song Dynasty by dropping melted milk on a plate to form a' rockery' shape and then freezing it in icehouse.
In summer, no one can escape the temptation of ice. The emperor of the Song Dynasty once suffered from diarrhea because he ate a lot of ice water in summer. He also said to his courtiers,' I drank too much ice water before, but I was lucky to get over it'', and his courtiers also persuaded him,' I did what I wanted, ignored it, and didn't regret it afterwards''.
Can ice cubes only be used as'' food'' in the Song Dynasty? In fact, ice cubes can also play a huge role in the political diplomacy of the Song Dynasty. In that era when there were no refrigerators and other high-tech products, ice cubes could be inexhaustible in summer, which was unimaginable for other countries. When diplomatic envoys from other countries came to the Song Dynasty in the midsummer, they thought that they could only eat various dishes that were also available in their own country at the banquet, but they saw a series of cool and delicious frozen foods being put on the table by maids. And all frozen foods are' free to choose', and you can eat whichever you like. This kind of' shock' is definitely a kind of' direct shock to the soul' for diplomatic envoys of other countries. Diplomatic envoys of other countries will definitely show their surprise to rulers of other countries when they return to their own countries after tasting such delicious food in the Song Dynasty, and rulers of other countries can also appreciate the strength of the Song Dynasty from the words of diplomatic envoys.
The emperor is so hospitable to the courtiers of other countries, especially to the courtiers of his own country. In the hot summer, the ministers of the Song Dynasty often sweat because of their work, and the emperor knows that the courtiers work hard. In order to show his sympathy for the courtiers, the emperor will also instruct eunuchs to prepare some cool tea and other good products to give to the ministers, who are the hardest in the palace in summer. They are not ministers who are exhausted for the emperor, nor are they conscientious eunuchs, but soldiers who stand motionless in the scorching sun. Ministers and eunuchs are indoors no matter how hard they work, but soldiers who stand in the sun directly receive the sun's' beating', so every summer, soldiers who stand guard in the palace can get a certain amount of ice.
Street cold drink stalls
Without refrigerators, ice cubes will also be stored from winter to summer
Even though the people in the Song Dynasty have realized' ice cube freedom', it does not mean that ice cubes can be wasted casually in the Song Dynasty, and ice cubes are still very precious and scarce resources in the Song Dynasty. Every year, the emperor will order the icehouse to be opened on a certain day, and a grand sacrifice ceremony will be held on the day when icehouse is opened. The sacrificial ceremony is also centered on' ice' to thank God for giving human beings' ice cubes'. There must be a special sacrificial object in the sacrificial ceremony, and the sacrificial object in the cellar opening ceremony is the water god' Si Han' in the traditional myth of China. In addition to worshipping the water god, people will also worship their ancestors to express their gratitude. The specific method of the sacrificial ceremony is to put all kinds of food made of ice cubes on the sacrificial platform for water.
The ancient people in the picture took ice
Such a huge amount of ice was almost whimsical in the Tang Dynasty when the price of ice was equal to that of gold, but in the Song Dynasty, the cost of taking and storing ice was greatly reduced, so that ordinary people in the Song Dynasty also had ice available.
The ice cubes in the summer of Song Dynasty generally came from two ways. One way was to artificially make a lot of ice cubes in summer.'' We produce ice cubes, and we are not just porters of nature'' was probably the endorsement of the ice makers in Song Dynasty. At the end of Tang Dynasty, when people were processing the manufactured rough gunpowder, they accidentally discovered that as long as saltpeter was put into the brazier, the water in the brazier could be turned into ice, and the characteristics that saltpeter could absorb heat and freeze were discovered. Clever Song Dynasty people finally worked out the most suitable ratio of saltpeter to water after many experiments according to this characteristic of saltpeter. Since then, Song Dynasty people have made a lot of ice cubes in summer by this technique.
The second way is to store the ice cubes in winter until summer, and then take them out for use. In the Song Dynasty, there were special ice pickers who were responsible for collecting ice from December to February every year. The amount of ice cubes needed to be mined each year exceeded 3, Jin, and the size of the ice cubes collected should be as large and thick as possible. Northerners with business acumen would also store a lot of ice cubes in winter and sell them to southerners in hot summer to make a big profit.
Conclusion:
Behind an ordinary piece of ice is the progress of ice-making technology and human civilization. Enjoying life and pursuing life have been deeply portrayed in the minds of the people in the Song Dynasty, and the prosperous economy and enlightened policies have promoted the material and spiritual construction of the people in the Song Dynasty.
Today, it is common for ice to appear in summer.
When the scorching sun is on the head, take a bite of ice cream and look up at the distant coastline. Do you think that maybe in the Song Dynasty 13 years ago in the parallel universe, there was one where you were burying your head in ice?