Legend has it that mooncakes came from the western region of ? Hu cake? : When Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty, one year during the Mid-Autumn Festival, the Turpanese who came to the Tang Dynasty for business offered their hometown's specialty ? A kind of very delicious cake, to express congratulations. Tang Gaozu looked at the beautiful round cake and thought it was a bit similar to the bright moon, so he said: ? He said: "I should invite the toad to the cake". He rewarded his ministers with the cake and they all ate it together, saying that it was very delicious. From then on, the cake was spread in the capital. Every August 15, they ate Hu cake while enjoying the moon, and later, it was renamed moon cake.
On the moon cake, there is another legend. According to legend, the Yuan Dynasty, in order to strengthen its rule over the Han Chinese, stipulated that every ten households should have a ? housekeepers? , to be filled by Mongolians, who bullied the weak and caused a lot of public resentment. Later, when Zhu Yuanzhang conquered Jinhua, Zhizhou and Wenzhou, the local people begged Zhu Yuanzhang to get rid of the housekeeper.
Zhu Yuanzhang at first wanted to send troops to kill these people, but Liu Bo Wen, the military advisor, said, ? There are so many housekeepers in the three counties, even if we send troops, it is impossible to get rid of all of them at once, this matter is still left to me to do, within ten days, get rid of all the housekeepers? So, Liu Bo Wen ordered people to pretend to be Mr. Yin Yang, to the counties to spread the rhyme, ? And do not laugh, look at the heavy nine; heavy nine crosses the noon yet, the head to fall to the ground? Hundreds of people heard that there will be a big disaster wine is very panic, then Liu Bowen and let people spread the news around, said the gods give people a dream, the Mid-Autumn Festival at midnight on the night, everyone if you eat the moon cakes to the moon, can be spared a big disaster. The people scrambled to the pastry store to buy mooncakes, the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the people opened the mooncakes ready to taste, and found that there was a note inside, inscribed, ? At the midnight of the Mid-Autumn Festival, Qi killed the butler Gong?
These legends are folk explanations for the origin of mooncakes, and although they are not entirely plausible, parts of the stories are consistent with the conclusions reached by scholars through research and verification: first, mooncakes did evolve from hu cakes; second, mooncakes should have become the signature food of the Mid-Autumn Festival only during the Ming Dynasty.
From Hu Cakes to Moon Cakes
For most of ancient China, ? cake? was a collective term for all pasta. The Western Han Dynasty's "Rush to the Chapter" listed cakes and bait as the top foods, and the Tang Dynasty's Yan Shigu commentary said ? Urinating noodles and steaming them is called cake.
During the Eastern Han Dynasty, the number of types of cakes began to increase, and the name? The "Release Drinks Chapter" lists seven kinds of pasta, including hu cake, which is recorded in its original text, ? Hu cake, for the big diffuse窶冱 also, also said to hu ma on also? The word "hu biscuits" means "big", which means that they have no edges and are fuzzy. without corners, fuzzy? (the word was later changed to mean ? sloppy?) While hu biscuits are larger, rounded cakes made by baking hu ma, or sesame seeds, on a sheet of pastry, they are also called hu biscuits.
Hu biscuits and steamed biscuits were popular noodle dishes during the Sui and Tang dynasties. Hu cake in the Tang Dynasty is still called Hu cake, but there is more a kind of cake in the filling of the practice. Wealthy people make a large Hu cake, in which to add layers of mutton, each layer of mutton spaced with pepper, black beans, with ghee and moistened, put into the oven to bake, the meat is half-cooked when taken out to eat, called ? The old building sub?
The Song Dynasty cakes reached a relatively mature degree of food, types, colors unprecedented variety, the process also tends to be refined. At this time? Cake? or a general term for pasta. Southern Song Dynasty Zhou Mi, "Old Story of Wulin" recorded many of the pasta at that time, are steamed cake food, which has a moon cake. Wu Zimu's Mengliang Records of the Southern Song Dynasty is also a work describing the customs and products of Lin'an, in which it is mentioned that ? City food snacks, all four seasons, any easy to call, do not miss the patron. And such as steamed noodles line selling four-color steamed buns, fine filling big buns? Mooncake, plum cake that is, although not the Mid-Autumn Festival festival food, but as a daily edible noodles, mooncake in the Song Dynasty has appeared.
From the above ? Cake? s development, we can see how the mooncake was formed. Before the Song Dynasty, cakes laid the foundation for the emergence of mooncakes in terms of materials used, production methods and techniques. Round cakes mixed with ghee, honey and sugar in hu cakes or filled with nuts, bean paste, sugar and minced meat were similar to the later Mid-Autumn Mooncakes in appearance and practice.
Mooncakes became the signature food of the Mid-Autumn Festival in the Ming Dynasty
First of all, there has been conclusive evidence that the Mid-Autumn Festival officially arose in the Tang Dynasty, and it is recognized in the academic community that there are no exact records of the festival before the Tang Dynasty. In the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, the Mid-Autumn Festival was formed, so is there any custom of eating mooncakes at the Mid-Autumn Festival in the Tang Dynasty? Tang Dynasty Mid-Autumn Festival customs are mainly found in a large number of moon poems and some notes and novels, these written records rarely talk about the Mid-Autumn Festival food and drink, individual places just say prepare? In some places, it is only said to prepare wine and food. and did not specifically mention mooncakes. Mooncake? This food
As mentioned earlier, in the Song Dynasty, "Old Wulin Story" and "Dream Sorghum Records" are both mentioned in this work. mooncake? , but the problem is that, according to these two works, mooncakes were at that time only a noodle dish eaten on weekdays, not a festive food for the Mid-Autumn Festival. Zheng Wang's "Cuisinart" of the Song Dynasty lists foods for various festivals throughout the year, and among them, the signature food of the Mid-Autumn Festival is the "Play Moon Soup". Play Moon Soup? , not moon cakes.
It should be noted that the craft of making cakes and food in the Song Dynasty was already very developed, with many varieties and colors, and there should be many cakes and food similar to the mid-autumn mooncake, and the custom of the mid-autumn festival has been very prosperous, so it can be said that the appearance of the mid-autumn mooncake at this time is possible. However, so far, there is no reliable record of eating moon cakes in the mid-autumn of the Song Dynasty, so there is no basis to say that this time there has been a mid-autumn moon cake custom, at least, this time there is no formation of more obvious attention to the habit of eating moon cakes in the mid-autumn of the record of the Song Dynasty customs of the literature are not recorded.
The Ming dynasty literature appeared on the mid-autumn mooncake a large number of records. Shen Bang wrote "Miscellaneous Records of the Wan Department? The people's customs" recorded, ? Scholarly and common people's families are all to be the month of making cakes to leave each other, the size varies, called the moon cake. The marketplace to the fruit as a filling? There is a cake worth hundreds of dollars. It can be seen, this time the moon cake is in August for the Mid-Autumn Festival special production, become a gift to the family.