Special dietary tradition of the 24 solar terms:

beginning of spring

Biting spring refers to the custom of eating spring plates, spring cakes, spring rolls and radish every day in beginning of spring, and the word "bite" reveals many seasonal food customs.

Rain

If you wait for the rex to sacrifice fish, you can eat fish ... There are also cans of meat to bring back to your mother's house ...

In ancient China, rain was divided into three stages: "Wait for the rex to sacrifice fish; Second, wait for Hongyan to come; Third, wait for the grass to sprout. " In this solar term, the otter began to fish, and put the fish on the shore like a sacrifice before eating; Five days later, the geese began to fly back to the north from the south; In another five days, in the "moist and silent" spring rain, the sun's spirit rises everywhere in the vegetation and begins to sprout.

Another major custom of the Rain Festival is the son-in-law, who goes to send festivals to his parents-in-law. Gifts for the festival are usually two rattan chairs wrapped with a red ribbon of one foot and two feet long. This is called "Shoushou", which means wishing parents-in-law a long life. Another typical gift to send the festival is "canned meat": stewed pig's feet, snow-capped soybeans and kelp in a casserole, and then sealed the jar with red paper and red rope to send it to my parents-in-law. This is to express gratitude and respect to the parents-in-law who have worked so hard to bring up their daughters. If it is a wedding day for the newly-married son-in-law, the father-in-law and mother-in-law will also give back an umbrella to let the son-in-law go out and run around, which can shelter him from the wind and rain, and also means wishing the son-in-law a smooth and safe life journey.

In this solar term, you should eat more fresh vegetables and fruits, and have a light diet to replenish human body's water. Spinach and leek are all good vegetables, and eat less greasy products. Dietotherapy is better with porridge, which can be made into lotus seed porridge, yam porridge, jujube porridge and so on. This season, you should eat less warm products such as mutton and dog meat.

Surprise

There is a folk custom of eating pears in surprise

In ethnic minority areas, Yao people in Jinxiu County of Guangxi want to eat "fried insects" on the day of surprise. After the "fried insects" are cooked, they will be placed in the hall, and the whole family will sit around and eat together, shouting "Eat fried insects, eat fried insects!" There will be a competition in the fun place. Whoever eats faster and chews louder will be congratulated for his contribution to the elimination of pests. In fact, "worm" is corn, which is symbolic.

in some areas of Shandong province, farmers burn pancakes in the courtyard on the day of fright, which means that the smoke kills the pests. In Shaanxi, some areas want to eat fried beans after being shocked. People soak soybeans in salt water and stir-fry them in the pot, making a crackling sound, symbolizing the jumping sound of insects when they are heated and tortured in the pot. In Yanbei, Shanxi, farmers want to eat pears on the day of fright, which means to leave pests.

-It seems that food customs are really closely combined with the meaning of solar terms.

Spring Equinox

You can eat eggs because you want to stand them upright!

in the past, there was a custom called "eating spring vegetables at the vernal equinox" in Kaiping Cangcheng, a city with four cities (with Heshan as five cities). "Spring vegetable" is a kind of wild amaranth, and the villagers call it "Spring Artemisia". On the vernal equinox, the whole village went to pick spring vegetables. When searching in the field, it is often green and thin, about the length of a palm. Picked spring vegetables are generally boiled with fish fillets at home, which is called "spring soup". There is a jingle saying: "Spring soup is dirty and washes the liver and intestines. The whole family is young and old, safe and healthy. " Since the spring of the year, people still pray for peace and health in their homes.

On the Spring Equinox, farmers have a holiday according to the custom, and every family must eat Tang Yuan. Moreover, more than a dozen or twenty or thirty Tang Yuan, which don't need to be wrapped, should be cooked, and they should be placed on the ground sill outside the field with a thin bamboo fork, which is called sticking the sparrow's mouth, so as not to damage the crops.

Qingming Festival

(As a festival for ancestor worship, there are many things designated for eating! )

There is a custom of eating green dumplings in the south of the Yangtze River. Green dumplings are made by mashing a wild plant called "Pulp Wheat Straw" and squeezing out juice, then mixing this juice with dried pure glutinous rice flour, and then making dumplings. The stuffing of dumplings is made of delicate sugar bean paste, and a small piece of sugar lard is added when filling. After the dumplings are made, put them into a cage and steam them. When they come out of the cage, brush the cooked vegetable oil evenly on the surface of the dumplings with a brush, and you're done. The green dumplings are as green as jade, sticky and soft, fragrant, sweet but not greasy, fat but not full.

Artemisia cake is similar to the green ball in the south of the Yangtze River. Its preparation method is as follows: "Take new Artemisia buds and glutinous rice, make Artemisia juice and rice flour blend into a whole, take meat, vegetables, red bean paste and jujube paste as stuffing, put them in various fancy wood molds, and steam them in cages with the bottom of new reed leaves." Artemisia cake is green in color and has a plant fragrance. It is one of the foods for ancestor worship in Qingming Festival, and it is also used to give gifts or entertain relatives and friends. In addition, there is a custom of eating tea eggs in Huaiyang, Qingming.

(In Qingming Festival, you should eat green food, which is sweet in Jiangnan and salty in Lingnan. But sweet is really delicious!

There is a custom of eating prickly heat in Tomb-Sweeping Day, north and south of China. "Zanzi" is a fried food, crispy and exquisite, and it was called "cold utensils" in ancient times. The custom of forbidding fire and cold food in the Cold Food Festival is not popular in most parts of China, but the prickly heat related to this festival is deeply loved by the world. There are differences between the south and the north in the prickly heat that is popular in the Han area: the prickly heat in the north is generous and free, with wheat flour as the main material; Southern prickly heat is exquisite and meticulous, and it is mainly made of rice and flour. In ethnic minority areas, there are many kinds of prickly heat with different flavors, especially in Uygur, Dongxiang, Naxi and Ningxia Hui ethnic groups.

The Qingming Festival is the best time to eat snails. Because snails are the most plump and plump at this time, there is a saying that "a snail in Qingming Festival is worth a goose". There are many ways to eat snails, which can be fried with onions, ginger, soy sauce, cooking wine and sugar. You can also cook and pick out snail meat, which can be mixed, drunk, bad, and simmered. If you eat properly, it can really be called "snails are so interesting that delicious wine is not as good as it is".

In addition, during the Qingming Festival, there are customs of eating eggs, cakes, sandwich cakes, Qingming Zongzi, steamed bread, Qingming Ba, dried porridge and other nutritious foods in all parts of China.

Grain Rain

The custom of picking tea in southern Grain Rain is said that drinking tea in Grain Rain on this day will clear fire, ward off evil spirits and improve eyesight. Therefore, no matter what the weather is in Grain Rain, people will go to Chashan to pick some new tea to drink.

Toona sinensis is eaten in northern Grain Rain. Toona sinensis is on the market around Grain Rain. At this time, Toona sinensis is mellow and refreshing with high nutritional value, and it is said that Toona sinensis is tender as silk before rain. Toona sinensis has the functions of improving immunity, invigorating stomach, regulating qi, relieving diarrhea, moistening skin, resisting bacteria, diminishing inflammation and killing insects.

April 21th every year is a fisherman's festival in Rongcheng City, Shandong Province. This festival originated from Grain Rain Festival. Fishermen in the northern coastal areas of China have celebrated Grain Rain Festival for more than 2,111 years, and it was renamed Fishermen's Day in Daoguang period of Qing Dynasty (1821). On the day of Grain Rain, the fishermen in Shandong coastal areas prayed for the blessing of the sea gods, safe sailing and a bumper harvest of fish and shrimp. Therefore, today's wealthy fishermen in Rongcheng held a grand "sea sacrifice" activity in Grain Rain, toasted the goddess Poseidon, and then set sail for fishing

Well, spring is over ~

Summer begins

The first solar term is full of food ~ Remember that egg ~

long summer

, people in Shengzhou eat eggs and lean on them in the summer.

In the old days, five-color beans such as red beans, soybeans, black beans, green beans and mung beans were mixed with white rice to cook "five-color rice". Later, it evolved into glutinous rice cooked with Japanese bean meat, and the dish consisted of amaranth and yellow croaker soup, which was called "long summer rice". Boiled eggs with black tea or walnut shells are called "long summer eggs" and fed to each other. Weave egg covers with colored threads and hang them on children's chests or on curtains. Children rely on long summer eggs for play, and the eggshell is firm but not broken to win.

It is the custom in Ningbo to eat "foot-bone bamboo shoots", which are cooked with black bamboo shoots, each of which is three or four inches long and not cut open. When eating, you should pick two bamboo shoots with the same thickness and eat them in one bite, saying that eating them will make your feet and bones healthy (healthy). Then eat soft vegetables (Junta vegetables), saying that after eating, there will be no prickly heat in summer, and the skin will be as smooth as soft vegetables.

People in Changsha, Hunan, eat soup balls made of glutinous rice flour mixed with rat's grass in summer, which are called "long summer Soup". As the folk saying goes, "Eat long summer Soup, and Ma Shi steps into a pit", and "long summer eats a ball (pronounced" Tuo ") and crosses the river with one foot", which means that he is extremely powerful and as light as a swallow. Long summer, a farmer in a suburb of Shanghai, uses wheat flour and sugar to make strips of food, which are called "wheat silkworms". When people eat them, they can avoid "summer". Long summer is regarded as an important festival by the people in Tongshan County, Hubei Province. long summer, a native of Tongshan, eats soaked strawberries, shrimps and bamboo shoots, which is called "eating soaked eyes, eating shrimps with great strength and eating bamboo shoots to strengthen feet and bones". Long summer in southern Fujian eats shrimp noodles, that is, it buys shrimp and cooks it in noodles. When the shrimp is cooked, it turns red, which is auspicious, and shrimp is homophonic with summer, which is a wish for summer.

long summer in eastern Fujian mainly eats "light cakes" (made by baking flour with a little salt). Zhouning, Fu 'an and other places in eastern Fujian soaked the light cake in water and made it into dishes, while Jiaocheng, Fuding and other places cut the light cake in half and ate the fried bean sprouts, leeks, meat and waste vegetables. Some villages in Chunchi Town, zhouning county eat "long summer paste", which can be divided into two types: rice paste and sweet potato powder paste. Boil the paste soup in a big pot. The soup is extremely rich in content, including meat, small bamboo shoots, wild vegetables, chickens and ducks in the water, tofu, and so on. Neighbors invite each other to drink paste soup. This is similar to the custom of eating "Qijia porridge" in long summer, a rural area in eastern Zhejiang. "Qijia porridge" and "Qijia tea" are another form of tasting new things in long summer. Qijia porridge is a large pot of porridge made up of rice from neighbors, beans and brown sugar, which is shared by everyone. Seven Chaze families brought Bai Jixin's baked tea, cooked it after mixing or soaked it into a big pot of tea, and then everyone gathered together to drink it. These porridge or tea are not necessarily delicious food, but these ceremonies can be said to be important social activities in rural society in the past. Long summer, a rural area in eastern Zhejiang, has the custom of eating "seven-family porridge", that is, farmers give beans and rice to each other, and cook a pot of porridge with yellow sugar, which is called "seven-family porridge". It is said that after eating this porridge, the neighborhood is harmonious and they are bent on going to summer sowing, Xia Geng.

In Shanghai's summer customs, eggs are always eaten in summer because it is the peak season, and children always hang an egg with a red net around their necks. In Shanghai, there is also a saying that "the festival is clearly remembered in long summer, and it is called" eating vegetables and trying to treasure ". The custom (see above) is to eat pancakes made of taro and cauliflower on the day of long summer, and all men, women and children should be weighed at noon.

Xiaoman

As a solar term that has officially entered the summer, at this time, the old Chinese medicine practitioners recommended bitter herbs for dietotherapy ...

Cherry red mulberry black, and this time is also the time when seasonal fruits began to appear on the market.

The encyclopedia also inexplicably appeared: Xiaoman solar term can catch black pomfret in the sea near Changhua, Taiwan Province, but in Suao and southern waters in the northeast. Bananas in Qishan, Meinong and other places in Kaohsiung County have entered a rich period. Taiwan Province is a famous banana producing area, and many bananas are exported to all parts of the world every year.

It means that you can eat bananas and fish.

Mangzhong

It's a solar term for busy farming. There is an apricot yellow in the proverb, and you can also eat boiled plums.

In the south, May and June are the season when plums ripen, and there is an allusion that "green plums boil wine to talk about heroes" in the Three Kingdoms. Plum contains a variety of natural high-quality organic acids and rich minerals, and has unique nutritional and health-care functions such as purifying blood, regulating intestines, reducing blood fat, relieving fatigue, caring skin, regulating acid-base balance and enhancing human immunity. However, most fresh plums are sour and difficult to eat directly, and they need to be processed before they can be eaten. This processing process is boiling plums.

Anmiao

The custom of fighting mud battles among awns Anmiao is a farming custom activity in southern Anhui, which began in the early Ming Dynasty. Every time the rice is planted in the season of awning, in order to pray for a good harvest in autumn, all localities should hold an Anmiao sacrifice activity. Every household uses new wheat flour to evaporate bags, knead the flour into the shapes of five grains, six animals, fruits and vegetables, and then dye it with vegetable juice as a sacrifice offering, praying for the bumper harvest of five grains and the safety of villagers.

Send flowers to God

Welcome flowers to God at the Flower Festival on the second day of the second lunar month. It's nearly May, and the flowers are beginning to wither and fall. People often hold a ceremony of offering sacrifices to the flower god on the day of the ear seed to send the flower god back to his place, and at the same time express their gratitude to the flower god, hoping to meet again next year. This custom no longer exists today, but it is mentioned in A Dream of Red Mansions by the famous novelist Cao Xueqin.

Summer Solstice

On this day, cold noodles are commonly eaten in all parts of Shandong Province, which is commonly known as crossing the water. There is a proverb "Winter Solstice jiaozi Summer Solstice Noodles". In Laiyang, Yantai, new wheat is recommended on the summer solstice, while in Huangxian (now Longkou City, Yantai), new wheat grains are cooked to eat. Children weave a delicate small hedge with wheat straw and fish it into their mouths again and again in soup, which not only eats wheat grains, but also is a kind of game, which is very interesting for farm life.

Summer solstice wonton winter solstice group, four seasons Ankang people get together

Eating a plum on the summer solstice will do no harm for a year

Little summer

There is a proverb: Eat mangoes in a little summer. What a ghost proverb is this! ? The so-called eating mango in the summer represents that this season is the mature and rich period of mango. Lotus fields in Baihe Town, Tainan County are rich in lotus leaves and lotus seeds. Baihe Town, known as the Lotus House, holds the Lotus Festival every year.

it's too hot to cook. This is a typical Cantonese dialect. I think this solar term is also about drinking mung bean soup ~

The algorithm of three days is related to the summer solstice, but it is just before and after the first summer, "jiaozi is prone to two days, and the eggs are spread in three days". Is this way of eating more common in the north?

There is another saying about eating lotus root. Honey lotus root has the habit of eating lotus root in summer. Lotus root contains a lot of carbohydrates, calcium, phosphorus, iron, vitamins and dietary fiber, which has the effects of clearing away heat, nourishing blood and relieving annoyance, and is suitable for eating in summer. Simmer fresh lotus root with low fire, slice and add appropriate amount of honey, and you can eat it at will.

Great Summer

There is a traditional folk tonic method, that is, eating young chickens in great summer. Broiler refers to a cockerel that can't crow yet and has just matured but hasn't been bred; Or a cockerel that weighs 1 kg to 1.5 kg in three months and has never been bred. Later, there was a special breed called Broiler. Broilers contain certain growth hormone, which has a good tonic effect on children in growth and development period and middle-aged and elderly people with decreased hormone level.

there is also a folk saying that "an old duck wins the tonic in the summer". When the old duck stews, it can be eaten by adding vegetables such as lotus root and wax gourd to make soup, which can replenish deficiency, relieve summer heat and nourish yang. Combined with Gordon Euryale seed and Coix seed stew soup, the effect of nourishing yang is better, which can strengthen the spleen and eliminate dampness and stimulate appetite.

people in Jiaojiang, Taizhou also have the custom of eating ginger juice to adjust eggs in summer. Ginger juice can remove moisture in the body, and ginger juice can adjust eggs to "replenish people". Some elderly people like to eat chicken porridge, which is said to replenish yang.

On the Great Summer Festival, people in Putian have the custom of eating litchi, mutton and rice grains, which is called "the Great Summer Festival".

Litchi Litchi is a specialty of Putian, among which Song Jiaxiang, Zhuangyuanhong and "Eighteen Niangs Red" are excellent varieties, which are well-known in ancient and modern times. Before and after the Great Summer Festival, litchi is ripe for the trees to flow and smell ten miles. Litchi contains a lot of glucose and vitamins, which has certain nutritional value, so eating fresh litchi can nourish the body. Song Biyu's Litchi Recipe states: "Litchi should be picked with dew and soaked in a cold spring. When eating, it is best to put it on a white porcelain basin, with red and white contrasting, which can better set off the delicate color of litchi; In the evening, it is the best time to take a bath and take photos of people in the new moon. " Therefore, it is said from the old story: on the day of the Great Summer Festival, first soak fresh litchi in cold well water, and take it out and taste it carefully when the Great Summer Festival arrives. Eating lychee at this moment is the most pleasant and nourishing. So, some people say that eating litchi in the summer heat.