Jade dew dumplings are carved pastries. The carved pastry products that appeared in the Tang Dynasty are called "yulu dumplings". In the list of dishes recorded in "Qing Yi Lu", there are four types that directly involve "sufficiency".
Among them, there is a kind of "Jade Dew Group" with the side note: "Diaosu".
Obviously, it is a kind of craft butter pastry like Sushan, which needs to be carved and processed.
There is also a kind of "Guifei Red" with a side note: "flavored red crisp".
Literally, it is speculated that flavoring and coloring are added to the pastry, giving it a special taste and crimson color.
The Shaowei Banquet is a special banquet presented to the emperor by the ministers of the Tang Dynasty. "New Book of Tang? Su ■ Biography" mentions: "When the ministers first paid their respects to the officials, they offered food to the emperor, and it was called 'Shaowei'."
” In the sumptuous banquet presented to the emperor by the ministers of the Tang Dynasty in the early 8th century, soufflé pastries were included, which shows that the court and the people of that era were no strangers to this type of food.
From this point of view, the Chinese were eating frozen cream snacks centuries before Marco Polo came to China.
By the time Marco Polo arrived, this kind of snack was no stranger to the people of the Yuan Dynasty.
For example, Gong Shitai of the Yuan Dynasty wrote a poem titled "Sheep Cake", which goes: "It is still cold in May in the three mountains, and the freshly dropped sheep cakes are frozen in jade pails. What can be called romantic? Rabbit hairs are like flowers."
"Xiaolong Tuan." The sentence "Xindi Sheep Crispy Jade Plate (Plate)" is exactly the same as the "Sushan" method mentioned in "Su Heshan Fu".
Gong Shitai has a gourmet eye on how to enjoy such delicacies. According to him, only using the best "Xiaolong Tuan Tea" to order good tea in a rabbit cup can be worthy of eating Sushan.
Picture this: In the 14th century, a Chinese leisure class sipped new tea and ate sweet frozen cream pastries.
If you want to see an English gentleman enjoy life like this, you have to wait for centuries.
Perhaps, after Marco Polo came to China, he saw frozen cream pastries such as "Sushan", so he brought this delicious practice back to Europe, and later developed into what we eat today
ice cream.
However, this is purely conjecture and has no basis.
In fact, it is entirely possible for Europeans to invent ice cream by relying on their own wisdom and strength. It does not matter whether Marco Polo brought ice cream back from China (it is said that there is still controversy about whether Marco Polo ever visited China or not).
), it doesn’t matter whether ice cream was invented by the Chinese.
What is important is that we should understand what the life of ancient Chinese people might have been like, what a rich civilization it reflected, and how all of this is being forgotten by future generations.
(Cream pastries similar to Sushan were not uncommon in the Tang Dynasty. Tao Gu of the Song Dynasty recorded in "Qing Yi Lu" that after the death of Wu Zetian, when Prince Zhang Huai's brother and Emperor Zhongzong of the Tang Dynasty was restored to power (707-710),
Wei Juyuan worshiped Shangshu Ling and once served "Shaowei Banquet" to Zhongzong and Wei Hou. The recipe of this "Shaowei Banquet" has been passed down to the Song Dynasty).