Why do we eat Double Ninth Cake during the Double Ninth Festival_Historical Origin

When it comes to the food customs of the Double Ninth Festival, many people think of eating Double Ninth Cake, which is also called flower cake. So why do we eat Double Ninth Cake during the Double Ninth Festival? How to make delicious Double Ninth Cake? The editor of SmartView will answer it for you below.

The historical origin of eating Double Ninth Cake on the Double Ninth Festival. Eating Double Ninth Cake is derived from climbing. The Double Ninth Festival is also called "Climbing Festival". Legend has it that climbing high can avoid disaster. And those who can't climb or don't want to climb just eat the cake at home. Eating Double Ninth Cake comes from the "high" meaning of "climbing high". The word "cake" has the same pronunciation as "high", symbolizing the meaning of "rising higher step by step" and "doing everything well".

According to historical records, Double Ninth Cake, also known as "Flower Cake", "Fa Cake" or "Chrysanthemum Cake", is a pastry made of leavened dough. The auxiliary ingredients include dates, almonds, pine nuts and chestnuts. Desserts can also be made savory with meat added. The production is more casual and simple.

The more sophisticated ones are made into a pagoda shape with nine floors, and two lambs are made on top to comply with the custom of "Double Nine" and "Double Ninth Festival (sheep)". Some put small colorful flags on the Double Ninth Cake and light candles. The words "light up the lamp" and "eat the cake" replace the meaning of "climbing high", and the small colorful flag is a metaphor for dogwood.

On the Double Ninth Festival, Wu Zetian of the Tang Dynasty ordered the maids to pick flowers, pound them with rice, and steam flower cakes (such as chrysanthemum cake, osmanthus cake, etc.) to reward ministers and win over them. People's hearts. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the preparation method of Double Ninth Cake became more sophisticated, and there were many varieties, and it was divided into adult and children's food. According to records: The flower cakes on the Double Ninth Festival in the capital are extremely popular. There are people who make oil candy stoves, there are people who make dough by steaming it with fruits, and there are people who make it by pounding glutinous rice and yellow rice. The younger generation also makes cakes made from pounded jujubes, jujubes crisped by fire, dried fruits mixed with sugar, and hawthorn threaded through threads, and sold around the streets. ?

Why is it popular to eat "Double Ninth Cake" during the Double Ninth Festival? There are about 4 theories: one is to dispel evil and avoid disaster. Xie Zhaozhi of the Ming Dynasty recorded in "Wuzazu": "At dawn on September 9th, putting a piece of cake on the forehead of the children can welcome good fortune and good luck, eliminate disasters and avoid evil"; the second is the meaning of "climbing high". "Eating cakes" replaces "climbing high"; the third is an act of respecting the elderly. There is a popular saying in Jiangnan: "If you don't eat cakes on the Double Ninth Festival, you will tell others when you are old"; the fourth is a blessing, "Eat cakes on the Double Ninth Festival, everything will be high".

In the past, on the Double Ninth Festival, people had the custom of steaming Double Ninth Cake to honor the elderly. The Double Ninth Cake is not only eaten by oneself, but also given to relatives and friends, which is called "Song Gao"; and married daughters are invited to go home to eat the cake, which is called "Yingning".

Dried fruits such as dates, chestnuts, and hawthorns are often added to these cakes. They are beautiful in color, sweet and delicious, easy to digest, and can strengthen the spleen and replenish qi. Nowadays, there is no fixed variety of Double Ninth Cake. As long as it is a soft cake eaten during the Double Ninth Festival, it can be called "Double Ninth Cake".

There is a saying that the origin of Double Ninth Flower Cake is very early. Volume 9 of "Book of Southern Qi" says that before Liu Yu compiled the Jin Dynasty, he spent the Double Ninth Festival in Pengcheng one year. On a whim, he rode on horseback to Xiang Yu's horse stage. After he ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, he designated September 9th as the day for horseback riding, archery and military review. According to legend, the Double Ninth Cake that became popular later was the dry food distributed to soldiers back then.

Another legend spreads near Shaanxi. It is said that Kang Hai, the number one scholar of the Ming Dynasty, was a martial artist from Shaanxi. After he took the provincial examination in mid-August, he fell ill in Chang'an. After the results were released in August, the good news was delivered to Wugong, but Kang Hai had not yet arrived home. If there was no one at home to pay the reward, the reward would not go away until Kang Hai came back. By the time Kang Hai recovered from his illness and returned home, it was already the Double Ninth Festival. At this time, he sent a newspaper, rewarded him with money, and steamed a pot of cakes for him to use as dry food for his return journey. I steamed some more cakes and distributed them to the neighbors. Because this cake was used to celebrate Kang Haizhong's first prize, families with children who went to school would also steam the cake and distribute it during the Double Ninth Festival to bring good luck. The custom of eating cakes on the Double Ninth Festival spread like this.

Three ways to make Double Ninth Cake 1. Red Bean Chongyang Cake

Ingredients

Glutinous rice flour, japonica rice flour, red and green preserved fruits, red beans, white sugar, brown sugar , soybean oil

Method

1. Cut the red and green preserved fruits into shreds and set aside.

2. Make dry bean paste from adzuki beans, white sugar and soybean oil and set aside.

3. Mix glutinous rice flour and japonica rice flour, take 150 grams and mix in brown sugar, add about 50 grams of water, and mix into a paste.

4. Mix the remaining powder with sugar, add water, and mix well.

5. Take the cake tray, cover it with a clean wet cloth, put in half of the cake powder and scrape it evenly, sprinkle the bean paste evenly on it, then spread the remaining cake powder on the bean paste and smooth it out, and then use it Steam over high heat.

6. When the steam comes out of the flour, spread the paste evenly on top, sprinkle with shredded red and green preserved fruits, and continue steaming until the cake is cooked, then remove from the heat.

7. Take out the cake and cut it into diamond-shaped cakes with a knife.

2. Chestnut Double Ninth Festival Cake

Ingredients

Chestnut puree (ripe chestnuts are shelled and peeled and mashed), cake powder, smoked green beans, black sesame seeds, and red dates Puree, melon seed kernels, pine nut kernels, sugared green plum shreds, sugared wild rice shreds, brown sugar, lard, sugared osmanthus

Method

1. First mix the cake powder, chestnut puree and yellow Mix the sugar to make powdered sugar. Then take 1/3 of the powdered sugar, add lard and the remaining brown sugar, and mix into oily powdered sugar and set aside.

2. Mix smoked green beans, black sesame seeds, red date puree, melon seeds, candied green plum shreds, and candied wild rice shreds together and set aside.

3. Sift the mixed sugar powder and oily sugar powder, divide it into three layers, put powdered sugar on the top and bottom, and put oily sugar powder on the middle layer.

4. Spread the mixed fruit ingredients on the cake surface, then sprinkle with sweet-scented osmanthus, place it in a steamer, cut it into diagonal squares with a knife before steaming, and take it out after steaming.

3. Homemade Double Ninth Cake

Ingredients

Glutinous rice flour, japonica rice flour, sugar, sauce coloring, green and red candied shreds, and a little fried sesame.

Method

1. Mix glutinous rice flour and japonica rice flour into mixed powder, make a pit in the middle, add sugar and water, and knead repeatedly until soft and not sticky. Let it stand for 2 hours

2. When the cake powder is dry and fluffy, pour it into a fine sieve, rub it with your hands and sieve it into powder, remove the powder and set aside.

3. Take 5 steaming grids, apply a little cooking oil on the bottoms one after another to prevent sticking to the steaming grids, pour the steaming powder into the steaming grids, scrape them flat and steam them over high heat.

4. Add the pigment and water to make 4 different colors of juice, and color the cakes on the 4 steam grids respectively.

5. Sprinkle a thin layer of cake powder on the natural cake and steam it until cooked.

6. Brush the surface of the cake with coloring matter and filling sugar, sprinkle with fried sesame seeds and candied red and green shreds. After cooling, cut the 5-color cooked cake into triangles: red, green, yellow, black and white. , assemble one plate and serve.

Precautions for eating Double Ninth Cake. Because there are many taboos about eating Double Ninth Cake, many people are not suitable for eating it. Patients with hyperlipidemia and coronary heart disease can choose Double Ninth Cake that does not contain lard; people with poor gastrointestinal function can make some fermented Double Ninth Cake; patients with pancreatitis can choose Chongyang Cake that is light and has low fat content; Diabetic patients can make some unsweetened salt and pepper varieties of Double Ninth Festival cakes, etc.