In the past, there were relatively few scholars involved in the field of aquatic products processing and preservation in China's historical period, except for the relevant sections in the general history of fisheries [1], most of the special discussants involved chilled Kun tribute, and those who devoted themselves to aquatic products processing and preservation in Ming and Qing Dynasties were rare. In fact, due to the prosperity of fishery production in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, fish and fresh fish are prone to corruption and deterioration, so the processing industry of aquatic products is quite developed, with various processing methods and huge processing quantities. This paper intends to discuss this issue. Although the ancient ice storage technology was applied very early, it was difficult to popularize it in fishery production. In autumn, when the fish are fat and in the peak fishing season, the catch is huge, and the fresh fish that have not entered the trade market and have not been consumed in time are prone to spoilage without processing. Our people have mastered simple fish processing techniques for a long time, such as curing fish with salt, or drying fresh fish into dried fish for storage. The "abalone shop" is the salted fish processing workshop. In the Ming Dynasty, due to the official emphasis on fisheries, fishery production was greatly developed, and the quantity and quality of aquatic products were greatly increased. The aquatic products processing technology tended to be diversified and refined, and the processing technology of drinking rice was more colorful, which can be seen from the names of fish courses collected by the government. In addition to the levy of money and silver for fish courses, there were dried fish, fish oil, fish gland glue, various kinds of fish, and so on. From the late Qing Dynasty to the late Qing Dynasty, the cold storage of catches gradually became popular, especially after the increasing number of ice factories, the original cold storage method, which was mostly used for tribute to the royal family, was gradually popularized. At the end of Qing dynasty, canning processing technology of aquatic products was introduced from overseas. In addition, people also process and utilize non-edible by-products to make the best use of them. A traditional processing 1. Pickling and waste-making pickled fish mainly include fish, which has a long history. The methods of making fish sticks and fish sauce were seen in Qi Min Yao Shu as early as the Song Dynasty. According to the records, there are more than ten kinds of fish, such as jade fish, sturgeon fish, purse fish, whitebait fish and crab fish. Southerners are extremely skilled at using fish as a bait, and there are "people who are not bad after ten years". The longer the fish is sealed, the better the quality and the more cherished it is. Different processing methods have different products, such as rice shrew, wrapped shrew, lotus leaf shrew and so on. According to the record in Volume 6 of Zhou Qufei's Answer to the Generation Outside the Ridge, we pay attention to the superior products and the raw materials, and the sealing method is very similar to that of pickled pickles now. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, fish and fish were popular in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, such as Huguang area, Anqing area of Anhui Province and Taihu Lake basin. According to historical records, there were also professional craftsmen in Huguang area in the Ming Dynasty who specialized in fish processing-Tuohu. Huguang pays tribute to the imperial court every year to several barrels of various fish processing specialties, such as sturgeon fish, herring fish, carp fish, and sauce fish, and evaluates the amount of silver, plus ***331 taels of articles in barrels and cabinets, bamboo bamboo in hoop barrels, money wrapped by officials and silver wrapped by farmers, and so on, and submits them to the Committee in the next year. It can be seen that there are not a few such fishermen in Huguang water town, and those who accompany Beijing as a police officer should be the most skilled people among them. The tribute to fish and catfish began in the years when Huguang region was self-established. Later, the levy of catfish tribute was not slightly wider in the Ming Dynasty, and the burden on fishermen became heavier and heavier. This is mentioned in Chapter 2 and Chapter 8, and the latter is particularly detailed. Needless to say. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the production technology of fish was more refined than before. For example, in the production of purse-string catfish in Taihu Lake area, according to the transcript of Cai Kuanfu's Talk in Volume 51 of Wu County Records of the Republic of China, it is said: "When Wuzhong is a catfish, he usually wraps lotus leaves in the stream pool, and eats in the next few days, which smells better than those in the bottle." The previous record also said, "Take a big fish from the countryside and cut it into pieces, and wrap it with rice crumbs and lotus leaves, which is called a purse". But this method is not made directly by the lotus pond. Occasionally, those who use lean meat as food will be wrapped with lotus leaves in the pond directly, "for several moments"; However, because "lotus leaves are disgusting, doing more can harm the lotus." In historical records, it is common to make fish with red yeast, such as fish in Wuchang area, and its preparation method is "fish, or mixed with radish or red yeast" [3]. Another example is the fish in Anqing area, which is brewed with red yeast and can be eaten raw [4]. In the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, sturgeon is mostly used as raw material to make fish. This is mainly because sturgeon is most suitable for making squid because of its crisp bones and tender meat, so it is often selected. Shen Chaochu, a native of Wuxian County, Kangxi, Qing Dynasty, had a word "Recalling Jiangnan": "Suzhou is good, and the thick wax drags the sturgeon bones." Another example is recorded in the 14th year of Kangxi's Annals of Anqing Prefecture, Volume 5, Property, "Gun fish is like a dragon, with a length of more than ten feet, and the largest one is more than a thousand kilograms. Jiangdong is called a mullet, also known as a king fish ... It can be a squid with crisp bones and fat skin "; Among the "goods" in this area are fish, sturgeon and herring for Huaining and Tongcheng. In addition to the above-mentioned fish with complex production process, there are also simple pickled fish directly preserved by salt storage. The salt storage method can be divided into two types. One is the salt waterlogging method, that is, the fish is immersed in salt water to prevent corrosion; The other method is salting, that is, salt is rubbed all over the fish, and then stacked in wooden barrels and other containers, and salt is also sprinkled on the bottom of the container. The latter method has a longer storage time. The fish stored by these two methods retain a considerable salty taste in their bodies. It can be said that salt storage method is one of the most widely used methods, because it is simple to make and convenient to use. However, the preservation time is not as long as that of fish, but the preservation of fish must be sealed, otherwise it is easy to spoil. 2. Drying fish into dried fish for long-term collection is a very common and widely used traditional processing method, and its production history has been very long. As early as the Shang and Zhou dynasties, there was such a fish processing method. The dried fish was called bream, or preserved fish and fish wax. This processing method is still widely used in villages in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. According to the heat source of drying, the dry method can be divided into two types: air drying and fumigation. "The dry method, either by sun exposure or fire roasting, must make the water in the fish completely evaporate"; According to whether it is salted first, it can be divided into two types: dried vegetable and dried salt. "If it is washed with fresh water and dried, it is called dried vegetable; if the fish is cooked with water, then it is boiled and dried; if it is once stained with salt water, it is washed with fresh water and dried with salt" [5]. Salt the fish and dry the water contained in it to prevent the invasion of bacteria and make the fish rotten and unpalatable. Air-drying method: Generally speaking, air-drying method is used to make dried fish in summer and autumn with high temperature and abundant sunshine. Therefore, all kinds of fish in summer and autumn are processed by this method. Dried fish is widely used in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. For example, dried fish is made in the two lakes plain of Huguang, Poyang Lake plain of Jiangxi, Yangtze River plain of Anhui and Taihu Lake basin of the Yangtze River Delta, but the scale and output are different. In the Ming Dynasty, Changde House in Huguang was full of dried fish. Salt is dried in Yu Ri, and the goods are everywhere, which is quite precious. All counties are out, and Yuanjiang is especially abundant "[6], so it can be seen that its processing technology is first coated with salt, and then exposed to the sun to dry. Another example is the processing of dried fish in Huarong County, Yuezhou Prefecture in the Ming Dynasty. "Merchants bake and expose, and trade all over the Jianghuai area" [7], which shows that the processing technology uses both smoking and sun exposure. From these two examples, we can know that there are many dried fish processed products in Huguang Yuezhou and Changde. Not only these two prefectures, but also other prefectures in Huguang, for example, there are a large number of small and medium-sized shallow lakes in Hubei, and the prefecture with rich fish profits has a larger scale of dried fish production than Yuezhou and Changde in Hunan. For example, in Wuchang county, "there are white fish, that is, sun rays, and white meat can be cakes" [8], that is, those who remove fishbones and then press and dry them into fish cakes. In Susong area of Anqing, "whitebait is a special product of Wuyi city. After catching it, it is dried in the sun and cleaned with a cloth bag device. ..... In addition, if there is a lot of dried shrimps, those who take fresh shrimps and cook them immediately and dry them to remove their nails are called dried shrimps. The dried whitebait and dried shrimps are dried in the sun. "Merchants who sell dried fish buy fresh fish first", and then "marinate them thoroughly with salt water and dry them in the sun" [9]. Merchants who sell dried fish also use air drying method to make dried fish for sale. Taihu Lake basin also uses sunlight to dry dried whitebait, dried silver carp and mantis seeds. Tongzhi's Suzhou Fuzhi, Volume 2, Property records: "The fish came out of Taihu Lake, and a swordfish, also known as the lake fish, was born in the river, especially in Changshu Sea Road. In April and May, he took his son and exposed it as a mantis; The little ones say that the yellow tail is awkward, and the squid can reach far; Whitebait, out of Taihu Lake, is white and scaleless, and the bream can reach far. " The so-called "bream" means pressing and drying. Fish eggs are also called caviar, and the so-called mantis seeds are dried by taking the sons of bonito. Another example is "Taihu Lake Preparation" Volume 6 "Property", which records: "The squid, a swordfish, is commonly called the swordfish, also known as the lake squid, which is not produced in the river; A small person is called plum fish, and a fisherman should take it as a treat "; "whitebait, bream can go far." The two records are generally similar, that is to say, this is basically the case in the whole Taihu Lake Basin. Japanese Yamamoto Tian Fang wrote in 1885 "Distinguishing Fresh Aquatic Products in Qing Dynasty" that "the annual output of bonito in the Yangtze River of Jiangsu Province is 5 million Jin, and the annual output of dried bonito is about 15, Jin." In the coastal Chuansha area, "dried fish is also dried with salt" and "can meet the needs of food" [1]. In addition to the above-mentioned salted dried fish coated with salt and then dried in the sun, some dried fish are directly dried without salt. According to Zhang Lei's Ming Dow Magazine, as early as the Song Dynasty, there was a kind of "light fish" in Wuchang, Hanyang, in which hundreds of fish were cut open, exposed to the sun on the riverbank without adding salt, and then sold to Jiangxi under pressure. Raozhou, Guangxin and other places are "especially important", "even though it is stinky and hateful, it is better", "If you enjoy food and drink, it is not a grand ceremony without light fish". A boat full of "light fish" is worth hundreds of thousands. Although this was the case in the Song Dynasty, it is estimated that this product will still be circulated in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Another example is in the Susong area of Anqing, "if the fish and the fish are dried and sold, they don't need to be salted; Xia Yue is the most popular place for bonito and dependent fish, so it dries in the evening when it comes out of the water, and those who are trafficked out every year are also called bulk [11]. By making dried silver carp and relying on dried fish, the water in the fish can be quickly evaporated by making full use of the intense sunlight in summer, which saves a process of salting first, and also makes the varieties of dried fish products more diverse. Fumigation method: In winter when the temperature is low and in spring when the air is wet and rainy, the caught fish has been dried unconditionally. In this case, people use fumigation to process dried fish, that is, smoke or fire roasting to evaporate the water contained in the fish. For example, the processing of dried fish in Huarong County, Yuezhou Prefecture in the Ming Dynasty was "baked by merchants", and its processing technology used both smoking and sun exposure. The flavor of smoked products and air-dried products is completely different, and the smoked products in different places have their own local characteristics. However, in comparison, due to the limitation of conditions, the scale of fumigation by artificial smoke or fire baking is much smaller than that by airing by natural sunlight, which can be collected everywhere and available at any time, and the output of the former is much lower than that of the latter. However, as the saying goes, "things are rare", but its output is less, it is more precious. 3. Processing and utilization of by-products In addition to the edible processing of aquatic products, people also process and utilize some by-products, such as refining fish oil, processing gelatin, and using crustacean fertilizer fields for shellfish. Refining fish oil thought that the use of burning lamps existed in ancient times, such as the poem that led the Ming people before, "An eight-foot long pole is a coffin, and the front ship calls the rear ship to respond." Get fish for rice and sell wine, and even take fish oil as a night light "[12]. Another example is "yellow herring and herring have fatty intestines, and the intestines can be used to boil oil for burning lamps, which is called fish oil" [13]. This is an example of fishermen making full use of their catches and processing by-products from local materials for daily use. People also used swim bladder to process swim bladder glue or fishing line glue very early in history. For example, the swim bladder in fish belly can be used as glue, which is called big glue. In the Tang Dynasty, Zhang Yanyuan said that Wu Zhong's glue was used to collect stamps, and the ancient painters took this "[14]. It can be seen that at the latest in the Tang Dynasty, it was known that the fish bladder was processed into glue to make "seals", which was similar to modern seals, and painters used this kind of glue to collect seals. In the previous chapters on fishery economy, it has been mentioned that most of the fish courses in various regions have the sign of fishing line glue. It can be seen that it is very common to process fish swim bladder into fishing line glue in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and the government regards it as a kind of levy tax, and most of them are levied in true colors. Wanli Ming Hui Dian clearly recorded that the official fishing line glue was collected for shipbuilding, that is, as an adhesive. As mentioned above, the production of dried shrimps is made by boiling raw shrimps and drying them in the sun, and the shelled shrimps are also recycled. "All the dried shrimps can be bought for manure fields, and the shrimps are also called shrimp bran" [15]. Shells of aquatic products such as shrimps and crabs are rich in phosphorus, so they can be crushed and used for fertilization in fields, which is a good phosphate fertilizer. Even the salt water left after pickled fish can be used as waste, for example, "the water of pickled fish is called dripping brine, which can help cooking and can be used for making bean food" [16]. What's more, in the Ming and Qing dynasties, salt was extremely precious, and the official tax on salt was extremely heavy, so people were even more reluctant to throw away the dripping water that could be further used. [1] History of Chinese Fisheries edited by Cong Ziming and Li Ting, published by China Science and Technology Press in 1993. [2] Wanli "Huguang Zongzhi" Volume 21 "Gongfuzhi I". [3] Guangxu "Wuchang County Records" Volume 3 "Property". [4] In the 14th year of Kangxi, "Anqing Prefecture Records" Volume 5 "Property". [5] The Republic of China's "Baoshan County Continued Records" Volume 6 "Industrial Records Fisheries". [6] Jiajing "Changde Fuzhi" Volume 8 "Shihuozhi Products". [7] Qin Long's "Yuezhou Prefecture Records" Volume 11 "Examination of Foodstuffs". [8] Guangxu "Wuchang County Records" Volume 3 "Property". [9] Susong County Records of the Republic of China Volume 18 Industrial Records Fisheries. [1] The Republic of China's "Chuansha County Records" Volume 5 "Industrial Records Fisheries and Forestry". [11] The Republic of China "Susong County Records" Volume 18 "Industrial Records Fisheries". [12] (Ming) Tang Zhichun's Collection of Tang Fools' Volume 1' Fishermen on Huai River'. Si Ku 1236-528 (book preface before, page preface after, the same below. ) [13] Susong County Records of the Republic of China Volume 18 Industrial Records Fisheries. [14] Tongzhi' Suzhou Prefecture' Volume 2' Property'. [15] The Republic of China "Susong County Records" Volume 18 "Industrial Records Fisheries". [16] The Republic of China "Susong County Records" Volume 18 "Industrial Records Fisheries". Cold storage and canning 1. Cold storage is ice storage, and the ice storage method is the simplest, that is, fresh fish are buried in natural ice or artificial ice to preserve the freshness of fish for a short time. The technology of keeping fish fresh by ice storage was applied very early, but because of the complexity of ice storage technology, its scale was greatly limited in a long period of time. Most of the chilled fish were limited to slave owners and nobles, or were tribute to the royal family, and were rarely used in large-scale fishery production. Large-scale professional ice factories have appeared in Ming and Qing Dynasties. There is a saying "selling cold ice in the city of Sanfu" in Zhengde Gusu Zhi edited by Wang Chang in Ming Dynasty, which shows that Suzhou had a professional ice factory in Ming Dynasty. The Records of Yuanhe County, compiled by Shen Deqian in Qing Dynasty, records: "There are 24 ice caves outside the Fenmen Gate ... Every time it is cold, the water is stored in the fields. The ice is hard and stored in the ditch. It is necessary to protect the fresh fish in midsummer and wash away the heat. " The poem "Ice Song" written by You Mourn states that "twenty-four places outside the entrance of the Fenxi River are specially set up for seafood every year", which further shows that the professional ice factory is mainly set up for the preservation of marine fisheries. In the twenty-third year of Kangxi, Jiangnan Tongzhi recorded that "at the beginning of every summer, the Jia family sailed a huge boat, and the crowd clamored for the yellow croaker", all of which were "waiting for the ice in Suzhou Ice Factory". In the Qing Dynasty, it became a habit and hobby to eat chilled yellow croaker along the coast. Shen Chaochu, a native of Wuxian, Kangxi, Qing Dynasty, described the grand occasion of eating chilled fresh food in the word "Recalling Jiangnan": "Suzhou is good, eating chilled fresh food in summer, the stone head is wrapped in yellow lotus leaves, and the shad wears like snow wicker, and fresh boats are received everywhere." The boat is planted with a triangular red flag, and the gong market is ringing, saying that it sells chilled fish. This fish is the most popular in Wu customs, and every time it is tasted, it will not hesitate to pay a heavy price. Therefore, there is a proverb to buy yellow croaker by the standard account. Tongzhi Suzhou Fuzhi Volume 2