China's food culture has a long history and is profound, among which "taking flowers as food" is unique in China's food culture.
In ancient times, when our ancestors came into contact with nature, they used taste buds to explore which foods were delicious and edible. At the same time, fragrant flowers inadvertently triggered their taste buds, thus feeding on flowers gradually entered the vision of our ancestors and became an indispensable choice in their diet.
Taking flowers as food means taking flowers from four seasons as ingredients and cooking them into dishes or snacks. As early as Shang Dynasty, Yi Yin, a minister proficient in cooking, was good at making delicious food with flowers. Eating flowers has a history of nearly three thousand years.
"Spring comes late, flowers flourish" in The Book of Songs, Wandering in July tells that people pick white wild chrysanthemums in the spring season; In the Book of Songs, "Joo Won? is in full bloom and violets are in full bloom" refers to the situation in which people pick hibiscus flowers as food in the Book of Songs. In The Book of Songs Xiaoya Picking Wei, "picking Wei, picking Wei and stopping Wei" refers to the scene where people eat wild pea flowers.
The poet Qu Yuan's "Nine Songs" includes "Drinking osmanthus wine and stirring pepper paddles", and "Drinking Mulan in the evening and drinking autumn chrysanthemum in the morning" in Li Sao. It can also be known that in the Warring States period when Qu Yuan lived, the main elements such as osmanthus wine, pepper wine, magnolia flower and autumn chrysanthemum were very common on people's dining tables.
During the Warring States Period when Qu Yuan lived, chrysanthemum entered the literary field from food, and then gradually formed an elegant tradition of loving, appreciating and eating chrysanthemum. Tao Yuanming's "Picking chrysanthemums under the east fence, leisurely seeing Nanshan" in Jin Dynasty and Meng Haoran's "Waiting for the holidays in the mountains, I will come back when I am in the chrysanthemum" in Tang Dynasty are the ideal pastoral life of the ancients. It is not difficult to see from their poems that chrysanthemum has always been a beautiful image in poetry, and chrysanthemum is also considered as the embodiment of romantic feelings.
In addition to the cultural connotation of "feeding on flowers" of chrysanthemum, osmanthus fragrans is also one of the flowers with both edible and profound cultural connotation.
The famous dim sum "Baihua cake" in Tang Dynasty is a delicious food that feeds on flowers, which was initiated by Wu Zetian. One year, during the Flower Festival, Wu Zetian was infected by blooming flowers. She asked the maids to pick all kinds of flowers, mash them with rice and steam them into cakes, which were named "Hundred Flowers Cake". This kind of flower cake has the fragrance of petals and grains and tastes excellent. From then on, during the Flower Festival, Wu Zetian will make a hundred flowers cake and give it to ministers to taste.
Later, Osmanthus Jelly was also inspired by Wu Zetian's pioneering work of eating flowers, and became a delicacy on people's table. Besides making Osmanthus Jelly, Osmanthus fragrans can also make more foods, such as Osmanthus fragrans Lantern Festival, Osmanthus Jelly and Osmanthus Jelly with lotus root starch. In addition, Osmanthus fragrans can also be used to make salted Osmanthus fragrans, Osmanthus fragrans wine, Osmanthus fragrans fish bones, Osmanthus fragrans tenderloin, Osmanthus fragrans porridge and other foods.
In the Song Dynasty, flower monographs came into being. In the Song Dynasty, Lin Hong's book "Shanjia Qing Palace" was widely collected, including food with vegetables and fruits produced in Shan Ye as the main raw materials, and its name, materials and cooking methods were described. There are anecdotes, poems, etc. Among them, there are as many as 15 kinds of records about eating flowers.
The book "Keeping the Moon" worn in the Ming Dynasty, in chronological order, is accompanied by various books such as silkworm, fish, bamboo, peony, peony, orchid and chrysanthemum. This book records 16 kinds of flower food. In addition, in the Ming Dynasty, Lu He said in "Edible Materia Medica" that "the aroma of rose food is sweet and refreshing"; In the Qing Dynasty, Gu Zhong also wrote a flower cookbook, Fanfang Spectrum, which clearly described the edible parts and conditioning methods of flowers.
From Qu Yuan's "drinking the dew of Mulan and eating the beauty of autumn chrysanthemum" to Wu Zetian's picking flowers for cakes and giving them to his ministers; From Lin Hong's Sacrifice to the Mountain Family, Gao Lian's Edible Materia Medica in the Ming Dynasty to Gu Zhong's Fanfangpu in the Qing Dynasty, the pace of time has never stopped, people's love for flowers is increasing day by day, and eating flowers has become the embodiment of romantic feelings.
Nowadays, eating flowers has become an art of diet. Introducing flowers into cooking can not only make dishes colorful, but also use the aroma and appearance of flowers to increase the taste of food and satisfy people's taste and visual enjoyment.
Many places in our country still retain the tradition of eating flowers. Day lily is also called day lily. Fresh yellow flowers can be eaten, and it is also an indispensable good companion in some foods after drying. Pumpkin flowers flour fried cakes, fragrant Huang Liang, unique delicacy and tender Sophora japonica, have become the best raw food for people and children because of their slightly sweet fragrance.
Plum blossoms can be made into plum porridge or plum soup cakes. Chinese rose can be used to make Chinese rose sauce, Chinese rose cake, Chinese rose jam, Chinese rose sugar douban and so on. Jasmine is an excellent raw material for smoked tea. Jasmine tea smoked with fresh jasmine has a strong and refreshing tea taste and pleasant floral fragrance. White orchid has a strong fragrance and is a good raw material for perfume industry and smoked tea. At the same time, white orchids can also be eaten in porridge. Others, such as lotus, cherry blossom, epiphyllum, carnation and Luoshen flower, can be eaten.
In China, taking flowers as food has been sublimated into a food culture integrating health care and nutrition. Among our common flowers, the fragrant and pleasant rose can clear away heat and quench thirst and benefit people's appearance; Chinese rose can promote blood circulation to reduce swelling and treat carbuncle pain; Chrysanthemum is known as the "longevity guest", which can improve eyesight, nourish liver and prolong life; Orchids can clear away lung heat, osmanthus has the effect of warming stomach and dispelling cold, jasmine can promote hair growth and strengthen muscles, and peach blossom beauty beauty and so on.
Modern medical research also shows that flowers contain a variety of trace elements and nutrients beneficial to human body. Taking flowers as food is not only delicious, but also has high edible value, and also has the medical and health care functions of promoting metabolism, improving human immunity, treating diseases and prolonging life.
Taking flowers as food is a simple life interest and health philosophy in China's food culture, an organic part of China's food culture and a reflection of romantic feelings in China's food culture.