In the early years, in the temple fair of the Spring Festival in Beijing, in the factory, I often saw a long string of candied haws, with a Caiqi Yang on the top, and a string of bamboo sticks bent by red fruits, which trembled in my hand, adding to the lively atmosphere of the festival. Mention the origin of Sugar-Coated Berry, but also talk about the Southern Song Dynasty Emperor Song Guangzong.
Song Guangzong, Zhao Ting (A.D.1147-1200), was the third son of Zhao Shen in Song Xiaozong. 1 1 In the same year, Xiaozong made him the Crown Prince and served as the prefect of Lin 'an. 1 187 10 succeeded to the throne by Xiao zong's inner Zen, and the year was changed to "Shaoxi" in the second year.
Zhao Shen lived in the deep palace for a long time and failed to reach the world affairs. When he ascended the throne, he was 43 years old, but he was already full of white hair. I offered Polygonum multiflorum Thunb. After persuasion, my hair turned black, but he refused to take it. He said, "My hair is white, so everyone can know that I am old." After he acceded to the throne, he was influenced by Queen Li, and dismissed Zhou Bida, Xin Qiji and other ministers of the main war school, and took up the post of prime minister, ruling the country mainly and being manipulated by the faction.
The relationship between Zhao Bei and Xiao Zong, the Grand Emperor, has been feuding for a long time. After Xiao Zong's death, he didn't go to mourning, which made it impossible for the funeral to be held, and the Manchu Dynasty was greatly disturbed. Zhao Ruyu, who knows the Privy Council, and Han Huayou, who knows the cabinet door, played on it, suggesting that the Empress Dowager should order Zhao to stop abdicating and pass it on to his son Zhao Kuang, who will preside over Xiaozong's funeral. Empress Dowager Tai agreed with Zhao to stop meditation, saying that he was a great emperor and lived in Shoukang Palace. Every time he recalls his reign, he always curses to himself and sometimes cries bitterly.
In the spring of A.D. 1200, Emperor Zhao Kuo came back from a sacrifice ceremony in the suburbs, and the sound of drum music was introduced into the deep palace. Zhao stopped to ask what it was, and left and right replied that the people in the street were playing music games. Zhao mourned and fumed, "You slaves have deceived me like this!" When I went to boxing, I fell to the ground because I couldn't stop it. I couldn't get up from it. I died of illness on Xinmao Day in August. Yang 'an Shoukang Palace. Buried in Yong chongling (now Baoshan, 35 miles southeast of Shaoxing County, Zhejiang Province). It was during the reign of Shaoxi that Huang Guifei, Zhao Ting's favorite, was ill. She is sallow and emaciated, and she doesn't think about eating or drinking. The physician used a lot of expensive drugs, but nothing worked. When the emperor saw his beloved princess, he was sad all day. Finally, I had no choice but to post a list for medical treatment. A quack doctor revealed the list and entered the palace. After feeling the pulse of Huang Guifei, he said, "As long as you use rock sugar and red fruit (that is, hawthorn), you should eat five to ten tablets before each meal, and you will get well within half a month." At first, everyone was skeptical, but fortunately, this way of eating was also to the taste of the imperial concubine. After taking it in this way, the imperial concubine recovered as scheduled. The emperor was naturally overjoyed and began to frown.
Later, this practice spread to the people, and the people strung it together and sold it, which became Sugar-Coated Berry. It turns out that hawthorn has many medicinal effects. It can help digestion, disperse blood stasis, expel tapeworms, stop dysentery, and especially help digestion. It has been an important medicine for digestion since ancient times, especially for meat accumulation. Perhaps it was the delicacies that Huang Guifei had eaten that made her sick, and the little hawthorn relieved her pain. Li Shizhen, an outstanding medical scientist in the Ming Dynasty, once said, "If you cook old chicken hard meat and plant a few pieces in the mountains, it will rot easily, and then the product will be eliminated, and the cover can be pushed." The common people strung the mountain mandrels together, and after years of production, they gradually accumulated experience and formed the following traditional practice. Making Sugar-Coated Berry is both simple and not simple, and the key technology is boiling sugar. Rock candy is actually granulated sugar, which is boiled in a big spoon of copper or brass. When you cook, you should pay attention to the heat. If the heat is not enough, it will be sticky and stick your teeth when you eat. The heat is too strong, which is not only heavy in color but also bitter to eat. Second, we must grasp the consistency. If it is thick, it will not dip, and if it is thin, it will hang. In addition, the hawthorn should be pitted. The pitted hawthorn can't be cut in half. You should turn it in the middle with a knife. Take out the core and put it on with a bamboo stick, then roll it in the boiled hot sugar. After the hot sugar is cooled, it becomes a crystal clear sugar gourd. Because the quality of sugar, cooking technology and the quality of hawthorn are different, the quality of sugar gourd is naturally different. In the past, the common people thought that Sugar-Coated Berry did best in two places, one in Dong 'an Market and the other in Xinyuanzhai of Liulichang. As soon as October of the lunar calendar, the Sugar-Coated Berry of these two companies began to go public. People who visited Dong 'an Market will feel a little sorry if they didn't eat Sugar-Coated Berry there. Sugar-Coated Berry in Xinyuanzhai can be called the best of candied haws at that time. Mr. Liang Shiqiu recorded in the article "Elegant Houses Talk about Eating": Sugar-Coated Berry "uses Xinyuanzhai as the most refined product, and does not need bamboo sticks. Every hawthorn or begonia is independent, and the fruits used are enormous and clean, and they are put in a paper box lined with oil paper and carried away by guests." In winter, the cries of "Sugar-Coated Berry, Sugar-Coated Berry ..." will be heard in the streets and alleys of old Beijing. The Spring Festival is a big sale time in Sugar-Coated Berry. From the first day of the first month to the fifteenth day of the first month, there was a sea of people at the factory temple fair of Liulichang outside Heping Gate in Beijing, and Sugar-Coated Berry was shuttling around among the crowds. The candied haws at the temple fair in Changdian are very big. It is made of long Vitex negundo as the core, and the hawthorn is coated with maltose, which is white all over. Small ones are three feet long, big ones are five or six feet long, and small pennants made of red paper and green paper are inserted on the top. The Changdian Temple Fair originated in Jiajing period of Ming Dynasty, and it has been going on for more than 400 years except for a few years. It, together with Nanjing Confucius Temple, Shanghai Chenghuang Temple and Chengdu Qingyang Palace, is called the four major temple fairs in China. The book "The Record of Spring Dreams in Jinghua" records: "A trip to the old dynasty, to the factory." "If you are forced to travel in the blue, you must buy paper flowers that are opposite to each other. They are large strings of candied haws that are inserted by the car and gallop through the city. When passers-by see them, they know that they are returning to the factory." Sugar-coated haws became the symbol of visiting factories and shops when Beijing entered the new year, and also became the symbol of Beijingers celebrating the Spring Festival.