Do you know why the dishes in the Su Xi Chang region are so sweet? That's right, because rich people used to use sugar to show off their wealth.
Today, although the price of sugar is a little more expensive than salt, it is not a rare thing, and even if the sugar intake is too much, it is not good for the body, and in the past, people rarely ate sugar, because sugar was a very expensive thing in ancient times.
The emergence of sugar was relatively late, until the Tang Dynasty introduced the method of making sugar from India, and the process was mature during the Song Dynasty, but for most people, the price of sugar was much more expensive than salt, and it was generally affordable for rich people and nobles.
China was the first country in the world to learn to make sugar by hand, and before that, the source of sweetness in nature was almost only honey, but honey was rare and dangerous, and it was not easy to eat.
During the Western Zhou Dynasty, the ancestors learned to make maltose, that is, the "gluttony" in the sweet as a gourd.
Whether it is the Book of Poetry, the Classic of Mountains and Seas, the Chu Ci or the Book of Rites, there are records related to candy.
During the Han Dynasty, the processing and production technology of caramel was very mature, but the production of caramel required a lot of grain, and in that era when the grain production was not too high, people could not easily afford to consume such items that required a lot of grain.
During the Qin and Han dynasties, caramel was a relatively valuable gift, and during the Han Dynasty and pro-Xiongnu, there were a large number of food made of caramel among the dowry items, and caramel was also a necessary tribute for sacrifice.
Of course, Chinese discovered the secrets of sugarcane very early on, and also knew how to use sugarcane juice as a source of sweetness.
In the Chu Ci and other classics, it is recorded that in the fourth century BC, the Chu people learned to use sugarcane juice to cook.
However, it is a pity that compared with the production of mature maltose, the Chinese people have not learned to convert sugarcane pulp into sugar cane sugar, and for a long time in ancient times, sugarcane was only grown in remote areas such as Lingnan and Sichuan, and it was difficult to see it in the Central Plains.
The first person in the world to make sugarcane into sugar was the Indians around the fifth century BC, and during Alexander's crusade, he discovered sugar in India and brought it back to Europe, known as "solid honey made of plants".
During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the countries of Central Asia in the Western Regions offered sugar as a tribute to the Central Plains Dynasty.
At that time, sucrose was called "stone honey", and at the same time, the production and processing technology of sucrose was slowly introduced to the Middle Lands.
However, for a long time, the processing technology of sucrose was not very mature, the quality of sucrose was not very good, although the sweetness was very high but there was a lot of dregs, until the Tang Dynasty, India's sugar technology was introduced to Middle-earth and was improved, and sucrose technology was rapidly improved.
Roughly in the two Song Dynasties, the sucrose processing technology of the Chinese people has been very mature, and the sucrose processed by the Song Dynasty is almost not much different from now, white as snow sweet as honey, the quality is very good, and it is also used for export.
During the Southern Song Dynasty, there were even institutions dedicated to the management of sugar processing and trade.
After the establishment of the Yuan Dynasty, the sugar bureau of the Song Dynasty was retained, but the price of sugar during the Yuan Dynasty was more than ten times higher than that of the Song Dynasty.
By the Ming and Qing dynasties, sucrose had almost completely replaced maltose, but sucrose was still a relatively expensive commodity, and if the family was better off, it was too rare for people with a less good family.
Compared with the East, ancient Europe lacked sugar, and after the opening of the new shipping route, sugar became an extremely important trade commodity, and most of the plantations opened by Europeans overseas were used to grow sugar cane.
Because Europeans love sweetness, but it is difficult to grow sugar cane in Europe, the price of sugar is high and extremely profitable.
In ancient times, sugar was something that only rich and noble families could often eat, and the poor and even ordinary people could hardly afford to eat it.
Although the Jiangnan region does not produce sugar, there are many rich people in the local area, and in order to show off their wealth, Su Xi often and the rich families in Yangzhou and other places in the Ming and Qing dynasties like to add a lot of sugar to the dish, and over time, it has become a local sweet tradition.
In modern times, because of the influence of war and other reasons, sugar has become a rarity, and it is difficult for people to eat enough in the war-torn era, let alone eat sweet food such as sugar.
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, it was as difficult to obtain white sugar, brown sugar and other things as it was to obtain urgently needed medicines.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, because of the lack of materials and other reasons, people were not easy to eat sugar, especially in rural areas.
In fact, the vast majority of people eat sugar free realization, not many years, in ancient times for a long time, sugar is very expensive, can afford to eat a lot of sugar needs a strong economic strength as a support, sugar is more rare than salt in ancient times.