In the past, the summer solstice, like the winter solstice, was an important folk festival in China. Before the Qing Dynasty, the solstice in summer was a national holiday. People reunite with relatives at home to avoid the heat, which is also called "summer break". It is recorded in Wenchang Miscellanies in the Song Dynasty: "Hundreds of officials have three days off from the summer solstice." Since it is a festival, it must be accompanied by delicious food. So, in the traditional customs from summer to the sun, what foods do people pay attention to?
As the saying goes, "Winter Solstice Day, jiaozi Summer Solstice Day", the solstice when eating noodles in summer generally refers to noodles, that is, the length (strip) of noodles symbolizes the long days from summer to the sun. In the north, it is most suitable to taste the flour ground from freshly harvested wheat, and the nutrients in fresh flour are also high; In addition, after the summer solstice, the weather is hotter, and cold dishes and cold noodles are common on the dining table, which makes them cool and relieves heat. On this day from summer to Sunday, the business of noodle restaurants on the streets of Beijing is the most prosperous, whether it is "cold noodles", "noodles with gravy" or "Zhajiang Noodles, noodles with oil sprinkled, noodles with scallion oil, Dandan Noodles, beef noodles" and so on.
Not only in the north, but also in the south, there is a saying that "we eat solstice wonton in winter and solstice noodles in summer". In the south of the Yangtze River, the custom of "eating noodles from the summer solstice, one thread a day is shorter" has a long history. There are many kinds of noodles in the south, such as shredded pork noodles, Yangchun noodles, three fresh noodles, Daoxiao Noodles and crossing the bridge rice noodles.
When it comes to mutton, many people think it is an indispensable food for winter tonic. How can I eat mutton in summer? In fact, the solstice after summer will soon enter the dog days. It is necessary to eat some mutton in order to better expel the moisture in the body and supplement the nutrients lost by anorexia and metabolism. Therefore, there is a folk saying that "a bowl of mutton soup does not need a doctor's prescription in summer" and "eating Fu Yang in summer is healthy and aphrodisiac".
In Xuzhou, Jiangsu and other places, people go to restaurants, mutton restaurants and barbecue stalls to eat mutton and mutton soup on the solstice and dog days in summer, and feel comfortable all over. It can be said that there is "voltage" to share and heat to share. ...
The proverb says, "The summer solstice wonton and the winter solstice group bring people in Ankang together in the four seasons." In Wuxi and Yixing, Jiangsu, people eat wonton on the solstice in summer. Old people say: it is not easy to get heatstroke in summer to eat a bowl of solstice wonton; In addition, eating wonton also means "chaos and harmony". When eating wonton at home, the soup is generally equipped with seaweed, shrimp skin and other ingredients rich in protein, calcium and iodine, which can not only supplement the minerals and vitamins lost by high temperature and sweating in summer, but also help the elderly and children eat some seaweed and shrimp skin, which is also very good for strengthening their physique.
In Taizhou, Zhejiang and other places, there is another saying that "the soup from summer solstice is not soup, but flat food, similar to wonton and shaped like jiaozi." The fillings are usually shrimp skin, peanuts, water bamboo, pickles and dried tofu.
In the past, before and after eating old grains and harvesting new wheat at home, that is, when the new grains were not ready, people would pick some immature wheat, pour the green wheat grains into a stone mill after cooking, grind them like noodles, then mix them with seasonal vegetables, garlic, sesame oil, pepper, salt and other seasonings, and eat them cold or fry them with eggs.
In addition to wheat, in the northwest, people will pick immature wheat and highland barley, stew them in a pot, rub off their shells and chew them. They taste waxy, tough and delicious.
In addition to the above traditional foods, the weather will become more and more sultry after the summer solstice. Therefore, the diet should be as light as possible and eat less greasy and spicy food. To quench thirst and relieve summer heat, you can drink more mung bean soup, sour plum juice, tremella, or fresh vegetable juice and fruit juice, and drink less drinks and cold drinks with more sugar and electrolytes such as cola and soda.
Time is like running water, and nearly half of the year has passed in a blink of an eye; The day of midsummer is also a time for crops in the field and students to grow up and work. Years of hard work and hard work are the days of autumn harvest in the near future. No matter how busy and tired you are, don't forget to eat at the right time, supplement nutrition at the right time, make your body better and spend the summer solstice safely and healthily ~