Text: Yang Lifeng
The golden silk melon is a variant of the zucchini species of the pumpkin genus in the family Cucurbitaceae, an angiospermum phylum Dicotyledonous plants, and is a star specialty of Sixian in recent years. Various media also carried out comprehensive coverage of the agricultural product. This sparked our interest in finding the roots of the introduction of the golden silk melon. When did the golden silk melon enter China and eventually enter Si County? What is the history of the cultivation of pumpkins and their pumpkin crops associated with it? These issues have been the biggest questions in our minds in recent years. In order to gain a deeper understanding of the history of the species involved, we spent several months looking up a wealth of relevant materials in an attempt to unravel the mystery and satisfy our own curiosity.
First, the name, origin, introduction time and route of pumpkin crops commonly found in China
Query Baidu can see that pumpkin crops have a wide variety of crops in the mainland, and the most planted ones are pumpkin, bamboo shoot melon and zucchini (ground melon is a variant of zucchini, as described in more detail below). The following mainly discusses the pumpkins, bamboo shoot melons, zucchini and golden silk melons grown locally in Si County.
Some pumpkin crops, picture from the internet
The author queried Baidu, 360 search and other mainstream search engines for the above four crops, and found an interesting problem, that is, the Baidu and 360 searches of pumpkin, bamboo shoot melon and zucchini three crops showed that the results were more consistent, and there were very professional explanations from the naming, morphology, and species characteristics of botany (the relevant text because we are not professionals, may not understand, do not post out to occupy the place, interested friends can go to Baidu, 360 search to query). When it comes to the interpretation of this species of golden silk melon, it gives people a feeling of being very amateurish or even advertising.
Baidu screenshot
Baidu's explanation of the golden silk melon is as follows:
Golden silk stranded melon, because its melon is naturally silky like shark fin, so it is named shark fin melon, known as the plant "jellyfish", natural vermicelli, is a rare variety of vegetables. Also known as jellyfish loofah, natural vermicelli melon, etc., native to the Americas.
There is no detailed introduction of phylums, classes, families, orders, genera, and species, nor a professional introduction of morphological characteristics. In short, it feels very loose.
Baidu screenshot
The author also inquired about relevant professional books, and finally inquired from the "Anhui Economic Flora" that the entries closest to the golden silk melon are as follows:
笋瓜( Cucurbita maxima Duch. ex Lam.)
Local names: Beigua (Si County, Wuhe, Fengyang), Stirred Loofah (Shou County).
Morphological characteristics: Annual vine-growing herb. The stem is stout, cylindrical, with short white bristles; The tendrils are stout, 24-faceted, sparsely covered with short bristles. The leaves are kidney-shaped or round, 15 to 25 cm long, nearly full margin, or only finely serrated, bluntly rounded at the apex, heart-shaped at the base, curved and open, about 2 cm deep and wide, dark green on the leaf surface, light green on the dorsal back, short hairs on both sides, and the leaf veins are obviously raised on the back; The petiole is stout, cylindrical, 15 to 20 cm long, densely covered with short bristles. Hermaphroditic flowers; Male flowers are solitary; The peduncle is 10 to 20 cm long and bristles; Flower bell-shaped, 5 lobed, lobed strip lanceolate, 1.8 to 2 cm long, covered with white short bristles; Corolla barrel-shaped, yellow, 5 middle lobes, lobes ovate, 2 to 3 cm long and wide, the edges are wrinkled, folded outwards, there are 3 to 5 raised veins, the middle one extends to the apex into a pointed head, and there are short hairs on the veins; 3 stamens, filigree adhesion, 5 to 7 mm long, anther adhesion adhesion, medicine chamber bent; Female flowers are solitary; Calyxes and corolla are the same as male flowers; The ovary is oval, the peduncle is short, and the stigma is 3,2 lobed. The stems are short, cylindrical, without edges and grooves, and the guati is not enlarged or slightly expanded; The shape and color of the fruit varies depending on the variety; The seeds are plump, flattened, with blunt or slightly arched edges. The flowering period is may, and the fruiting period is from June to July.
Origin and distribution: Native to India. It is cultivated in this province and throughout the country.
Golden silk melon, picture from the internet
The above entries hope to bring some help to friends who love to edit entries on search engines such as Baidu and 360. Well, without further ado, let's take a look at the history of the introduction of the above four crops one by one.
A. Pumpkin
Originated in Central and South America. There are hundreds of names throughout China, the most common names are pumpkin, melon, golden melon, gourd, square melon, north melon and so on. Si County is locally called "wild melon" or "wanggua (sound)". At present, the introduction of pumpkin to China, which is generally recognized by the academic community, began with Li Shizhen's "Compendium of Materia Medica", and the academic community generally believes that pumpkin was introduced to the Americas after 1492. The "Compendium of Materia Medica" says: "Pumpkins were planted in Nanfan, transferred to Fujian and Zhejiang, and now yanjing are also found in various places." "It can be seen that it is a process of transmission from south to north.
The picture above shows the earliest historical records of the introduction of pumpkins in various provinces in the country
In the process of pumpkin transmission from south to north, the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal is one of the important routes. According to the analysis, the records of the pumpkin part in the local historical materials of The Ming Dynasty Prefecture are mostly distributed along the two banks of the canal.
According to the "History of Chinese Pumpkins", the earliest areas in Jiangsu to introduce pumpkins were Danyang (Danyang County Chronicle in the third year of Longqing 3rd year, 1569) and Suqian ("Suqian County Chronicle" in the fifth year of the Wanli Dynasty in 1577).
For various reasons, the author was unable to collect the "Records of Suining County in Wanli", but he collected the engraving of the 22nd year (1683) of qing kangxi, the engraving of "Suining Wang Yushu Beiping lead print of the 18th year of the Republic of China (1929)" of Suining Wang), Ge Zhimoxiu's "Kangxi Suining County Chronicle" (two related records: pumpkin and fangua); the 57th year (1718) engraving of Qing Kangxi ( 1718) , the manuscript, Liu Ruyanxiu 'Kangxi Suining County Chronicle ( Xianguan); and the Qing Guangxu 12th year (1886) engraving, Hou Shaoying's "Guangxu Suining County Chronicle" The relevant historical records of Suining County have relevant records of pumpkins. Among them, the "Guangxu Suining County Chronicle" also made an explanation for this: "Fan melon, also known as pumpkin, grows nan fan. "The Thirteenth Year (1674) inscribed "Lingbi County Chronicle" of the Qing Kangxi Dynasty has recorded that Lingbi County has "many pumpkins". However, the Hongxian Zhi of the eleventh year of Kangxi (1672) and the later Qianlong "Sizhou Zhi" and guangxu "Sihong Hezhi" have no record of this, is it because the amount of seeds is small and the scope is not wide, or because the pumpkin was considered by the local government of Hongxian (and later Sizhou) at that time to be a crude and despicable food for the poor and not recorded in the register? This is well worth studying.
From the above information, it can be inferred that during the Ming Dynasty, pumpkins were quickly promoted to surrounding counties after the successful introduction of Suqian, and in the following decades, Suining and Si counties (should not be absent, but not recorded. Lingbi and other places have also been planted. But the route of spread in Si County can be more complicated. According to the results of the study of "History of Chinese Pumpkins", we can think that the spread and cultivation of pumpkins in Si County may be like this, that is, the eastern and northern parts of the county were introduced from Suqian and Suining, and the south and west of the county, especially the southwest Caogou and other places were introduced from Bozhou to Bengbu, and then from Bengbu.
B. Bamboo shoots and melons
The centers of origin of the melon are southern Peru, Bolivia, northern Chile and northern Argentina in South America, especially on the eastern slopes of the Cordillera Mountains. Bamboo melons are not recorded in ancient books before the Qing Dynasty on the mainland, indicating that the time of introduction of bamboo melons to the mainland is relatively late, which should be later than the pumpkins introduced to the mainland during the Jiajing period, and some people believe that the time when bamboo melons were introduced to the mainland was about after the middle of the Qing Dynasty. It is also possible that the route of the bamboo shoot melon to the mainland will first be introduced to the southeast coast of the mainland, and then promoted inland. At the beginning of the introduction of bamboo shoot melon, because of the similarity with the pumpkin traits, it is also possible to be uniformly called "pumpkin", or confused with the important nickname of pumpkin "melon" and "golden melon", so it is difficult to find traces in the ancient books of the Ming Dynasty, and later with artificial cultivation and natural selection gradually differentiated from the "pumpkin" and valued by people, a new name "bamboo melon" evolved. The earliest record of bamboo shoots in ancient books is found in Qianlong's "Chronicle of Daming County": "Pumpkin, bamboo shoot melon", the reason for calling it bamboo melon is "bamboo shoot melon, the taste is like the name of bamboo shoots", "bamboo shoot melon, raw white and ripe yellow, smooth and crisp, taste like spotted bamboo shoots". Bamboo shoot melon has been widely cultivated throughout the country since the 19th century.
C. Zucchini
Zucchini is native to southwestern North America and northwestern Mexico. The earliest record of zucchini in ancient mainland books is Shunzhi's "Records of Yunzhong County": "Pumpkin, West Urn". Zucchini is very similar to the gourd of the gourd family, and today in some areas around Hebei, "zucchini" also refers specifically to zucchini, so "zucchini" or "zucchini" is considered to be a urn imported from the west, "zucchini, a zucchini, long round, spotted, young vegetables old shell hard, yellow, silk very luscious", so zucchini may have been introduced from the northwest land route. In fact, zucchini was cultivated earlier and more concentrated in the northwestern provinces, and the records of zucchini such as Kangxi's "Shuozhou Zhi" and Yongzheng's "Yanggao County Chronicle" were earlier than the whole country. From the mid-19th century, zucchini began to be cultivated in large areas throughout the country.
Golden silk melon, picture from the internet
D. Golden silk stranded melon
The golden silk melon is a variant of zucchini, and the Yongzheng eleventh year (1733) engraving "Records of Eun County" was first recorded: "Stirring melon, a golden loofah". In the sixth year of the Republic of China, in 1917, Henan's "Heyin County Chronicle" said: "Fruits and vegetables are cucumbers, watermelons, melons ,etc., and pumpkins, stirred melons, bamboo shoots, etc. are produced in the field." Wu Qilin of the Qing Dynasty recorded in the Qing Dynasty's "Botanical Names and Facts Tu Kao Volume VI Vegetables" recorded: "The melon is longer than a foot, the color is yellow, and the gourd is also pale yellow." Naturally into silk, like a knife cut, stirred with a spoon, oil and salt mixed, the taste is like skimming blue", the Republic of China's twenty years of "Dongfeng County Chronicle" contains: "stirred melon, also known as stirred loofah, shaped like jade melon, there are filaments, can be salted to eat.". Therefore, in the folk, there are "noodle melons", "natural fans", "vegetarian jellyfish", "plant jellyfish" and other names (Zhang Pingzhen's "Vegetable Name Interpretation"). Today, it is often called "golden loofah" or simply "golden melon". The golden silk melon was introduced to Si County in the middle and late Qing Dynasty or the Late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China.
Dishes made of golden silk melon, pictures from the internet
Dishes made of golden silk melon, pictures from the internet
Second, in recent years, various media have publicized and reported on the golden silk melon
After the author's network search, I found that since about 2017, the Internet has begun to pay attention to the history of the introduction of golden silk melon into Sixian County, and several influential views have emerged:
The first is to believe that there was planting in Si County during the Three Kingdoms period, which was first seen on the Internet report "The First 'Farmers' Harvest Festival' in Si County' Golden Silk Melon Cooking Competition" on CCTV in 2018! " to form a great public opinion influence in 2019. According to this view: "Si County golden silk melon has a history of more than 1,000 years of cultivation (some articles say that it is more than 2,000 years), when Cao Cao passed through Si County, he once wrote a poem about 'the sweetness of the melon outside Suzhou City, and the melon fragrance of Si County is like a sponge.". ；
The second is that the Ming Dynasty was introduced by Shanghai Chongming Island during the Wanli Dynasty, this statement is mainly imported from foreign media, less mentioned in the Si County media, and this statement is proposed earlier, the earliest year of the author's inquiry on the Internet is probably 2014 (this statement may be earlier, interested friends can query it online). And this statement also carries a celebrity: the Qianlong Emperor. I don't know where the allusion comes from, saying that when the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing Dynasty went down to Jiangnan, he once tasted golden loofah and praised "quenching thirst with a pure heart, crisp and tender and refreshing"; in addition, Suining County was planted on a large scale earlier than Si County.
The third is that it is believed that the early Ming Dynasty was introduced, and in the report, the story of the famous literary scholar Song Lian and the golden silk hanging melon in Si County was arranged in the report, as well as the related poems of Song Lian (a unit in Si County compiled a book "Selected Poems of Song Lian" in 2015, which impressively recorded two poems about the stranded melon written by Song Lian, but the author went through the "Song Xueshi Anthology" and did not find any verses about the hanging melon). Some local writers have also gone further, writing Deng Yu into the story of the golden silk melon passing into history.
Third, the value of pumpkin crops to the region after the founding of New China
Pumpkin crops have played an important role in disaster relief in history, and still have an unshakable position after the founding of New China.
Qi Rushan wrote the book "The Countryside of North China" in 1956, which mentioned: "Pumpkin is a very common vegetable in the north, it can also be said that it is a very important vegetable, it can be said that it is a cold and bitter people's daily food, indispensable vegetables and vegetables, towns and cities are naturally buying food, there are also sellers in the countryside, because it does not need a lot of work, it can grow on its own, where the house base is empty, the edge of the field, etc., must be planted, so that it is convenient to eat by yourself; Old and tender are edible, just grow fist big, you can eat, after the old take off the storage, can be eaten at any time, only if not frozen, can be stored for several months; The atmosphere in the countryside is to be able to save grain and rice as the first priority, but in addition to grain and rice and there is nothing to eat, pumpkin noodles are very much, sugar is also a lot, can be substituted for rice noodles and full, is actually a cold family relief product, can not eat dry food, but also very nutritious; After the autumn, other vegetables and vegetables have passed, cabbage is growing, all kinds of pods have been frosted and can no longer be regenerated, eggplant and the like can not be preserved for a long time, in addition to pickles and dried vegetables, fresh people only have this thing. Therefore, for a long time after 1949, pumpkins played a very important role in the food structure, except for North China, it is estimated that this was the case throughout the country. ”
This situation continued until the 1980s, when local rural areas took sweet potato (dried) pumpkin as a staple food substitute, and zucchini and golden silk melon as vegetables, which became a scene that was reluctant to mention in that era.
In the new century, the pumpkin genus of bamboo shoots, zucchini and golden silk melon have become the characteristic agricultural products of the region, which are exported to the north and south of the river. According to relevant reports, by 2020, the planting area of golden silk melon in Sixian has exceeded 20,000 mu, and has won the title of 'National Geographical Indication Product', and Sixian has also won the title of 'Hometown of China's Golden Silk Stranded Melon'. The current pumpkin species in Si County have developed from a necessary famine relief to an important crop necessary for getting rich.
Historical materials provided: Zhang Wende, Wu Xingmei
bibliography
History of Chinese Pumpkins
Flora of Anhui Economy
Flora of Northern Anhui Resources
Wild Flora of Sixian
"Kangxi Suining County Chronicle" Kangxi 22nd year (1683) engraving
"Kangxi Suining County Chronicle" Qing Kangxi 57 years (1718) engraving, codex
"Guangxu Suining County Chronicle Manuscript" Qing Guangxu 12 years (1886) engraving
"Lingbi County Chronicle" Qing Kangxi Thirteenth Year (1674) engraving
"Suqian County Chronicle" Tongzhi 13th year engraving
"Suqian County Chronicle" 24 years of the Republic of China lead print
"Hongxian Chronicle" Kangxi edition
"Sizhou Chronicle" Qianlong edition
"Guangxu Sihong Hezhi"
Sixian Chronicle, 90 years edition
Sixian Chronicle, 2008 edition
"Selected Poems of Song Lian", SiXian Literary Association, 2015 edition
Collected Writings of Song Xueshi, Shanghai Commercial Press
Reference text
"Sixian County: Rural Revitalization Looks at the Industry", "Golden Wire" and "Silver Wire" Crab Fat"
"Si County Golden Silk Twisted Melon"
"Anhui Si County: Developing the Whole Industry of Golden Silk Twisted Melon and Doing a Good Job in Rural Revitalization"
"Science and Technology Supports the Development of Golden Silk Melon Industry in Si County, Anhui Province"
"Si County's First "Farmers' Harvest Festival" Golden Silk Melon Cooking Competition" is on CCTV! 》
"The Story of Deng Yu and Si County's Golden Silk Melon"
"That's it! This specialty of Si County is quite big! 》
"Promotional Materials for Stranded Melons"