Having said that, the price of fruit has indeed risen a lot this year, and touching the wallet, it feels more and more difficult to achieve fruit freedom. I can't help but think of a question: what was the situation of the ancients eating fruit? Have they achieved fruit freedom?
The History of Ancient Fruits Revealed!
"Crossing the Fruit" in the film and television drama
There is a fragment in "The Great Qin Empire": Qin Shi Huang toured the east, and the honor guard team was extraordinary and well-dressed. Among them, there is also a luxurious carriage, in which sits the famous Second Emperor Hu Hai, eating grapes and watermelons for a while, enjoying a variety of delicious fruits.
Looking at the classics, we found that our ancestors could eat very few fruits, only apples, pears, peaches, citrus, fresh dates and so on.
"Crossing the Fruit" 1: Grapes
Grapes are native to the Caucasus, the Caspian Sea and other regions. It was not until 138 BC, when Zhang Qian of the Western Han Dynasty (qiān) went to the Western Regions, that grapes were introduced into the Han Dynasty.
In the Tang Dynasty, there is a poem called "Ancient Congjun Xing": every year the bones of the war are buried outside the wilderness, and the empty pu (pú) peach enters the Han family.
"Crossing Fruit" 2: Watermelon
Watermelon is native to Africa, and later through West Asia, Central Asia, all the way to the western region, during the Northern Song Dynasty, the Khitan people first got watermelon seeds in the western region, and gradually introduced to the Central Plains and the south.
Therefore, in the TV series, Hu Hai was asked to eat grapes and nibble on watermelons, which was absolutely wrong.
Han Tang Dynasty
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Ming and Qing Dynasties: The "Golden Age" of Fruit Abundance
Someone took out the Ming Dynasty edition of Li Shizhen's "Compendium of Materia Medica" and consulted them one by one, and finally determined that the 10 things were definitely brought back by Zhang Qian. Among the fruit parts, there are grapes and pomegranates.
In addition, during the Tang and Song dynasties, it is said that the Tang monks brought back the seeds of mangoes after taking the scriptures; the Southern Song Dynasty introduced cantaloupe. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, pineapples, strawberries, papayas, etc. were also introduced.
A luxury item? Ancient "fruit freedom" is also difficult!
"Spoiled wife demon" Tang Xuanzong, set up a "special track" for lychee
Character: Yang Guifei
Fetish: Loves to eat lychees
Yang
In the New Book of Tang and the Biography of Emperor Xuanzong's noble concubine Yang Shi, it is recorded that "concubines (shì) lychees, who will want to be born, are sent by the station, and travel thousands of miles, and the taste has not changed to the beijing master."
Tang Xuanzong ordered people to build a post road dedicated to transporting lychees to Chang'an, a total distance of more than 1,000 kilometers, to ensure daily delivery and free shipping throughout the country.
Fruit world
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Luxury
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1. Longan: on a par with ivory
During the Han and Tang dynasties, gifts were often given to foreign envoys, "Yue women collect dragon's eyes, and barbarians collect ivory." Chang'an is thousands of miles away, and the horse sends to whomever the family is. "This poem by Yin Yao (yáo) (fān) writes the preciousness of the dragon's eye, which is a tribute that can be compared with ivory.
2. Cherry with poetic energy
In the eleventh year of Tianbao, Tang Xuanzong gave cherries to Wenwu Hundred Officials, which was recorded by the famous poet Wang Wei, and also wrote a poem "Chì gives cherries to hundred officials".
The great poet Bai Juyi was also full of praise after eating it, directly praising that "the peach is the most said in Eastern Wu, and the fragrance is fresh and the smell of nóng is special." ”
Bai Juyi
3. Watermelon
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, watermelon was worshipped as the first of the fruit tributes. Some emperors like to eat watermelon even to the point of insanity.
According to records, the Jiajing Emperor was very fond of eating, so he opened a small melon garden for this purpose.
Li Heng: From general to "fruit rich man"
Character: Li Heng
Official position: General Wei Yuan
Achievements: Planted more than a thousand citrus trees near his home, and became a rich local man by selling citrus
Li Heng
At that time, many people compared this matter with a famous saying of Ma Qian of taishi company: "Whoever plants a thousand citrus trees can have equal wealth as a thousand households." ”
Marquis of Qianhu: An ancient title, meaning the marquis of a thousand households, who had the right to tax more than a thousand households.
ancient times
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Modern: Will fruits be different too?
No.1 Peaches
Initial form: dry, dry, large core and not much pulp, the flesh is said to taste like chewing wax.
No.2 Bananas
When we eat bananas, we will see some black spots in the middle of the banana, which are actually the seeds of bananas, and the seeds in the earliest bananas are very large and very hard.
No.3 Apple
Former name: Pinnacle
Palate: Sour
Smell: The smell of the frequency is very fragrant, put one on the head of the bed, the bed is all the fragrance of apples, put in the sleeve, the body has that smell.
No.4 Watermelon
In the past, the skin of watermelon was the same as the pulp of pumpkin now, there were very few places to eat, and there were very few red places, basically white, and watermelon seeds were also very large.
The Song Dynasty of "Fruit Freedom": The price is enviable!
The Tokyo Dream Record records that the people of the Song Dynasty almost completely achieved fruit freedom. In the city, whether it is streets or alleys, there are fruits sold everywhere.
According to Mr. Cheng Minsheng's
Study on Prices in the Song Dynasty
Records:
When the lychee harvest is harvested, it is only 8 yuan per catty;
The citrus produced in Taihu Lake is only 6 yuan per kilogram on average;
In Zhengzhou, 3 money to buy a Zhengzhou pear.
Highlights:
The daily income of ordinary people in the Song Dynasty was 100-300 yuan.
Thinking of the fruit freedom of the ancients, it can be said that I want to eat without money to buy, and when I eat it, I have to write a poem to praise gratitude. Compared to them, living in the moment, we are really great!