At 12:51 on October 23, 2021, in the middle of the ninth month of the lunar calendar, the sun runs to 210 ° ecliptic longitude, and the dew condenses into frost, which is the last festival of autumn - frost. As the saying goes, "cold dew is not cold, frost has changed the sky", and the cold air that frequently visits paints the twilight autumn scenery of "the moon falls and the frost is full of frost", and the transition from autumn to winter is gradually changed.
During the frost season, the old people often say "frosted persimmons are full of treasure" when buying vegetables, "frosted winter melons" are more delicious... Is there any scientific basis for these sayings?
What is FrostFall?
During the frost season, the ancients observed that when the grass and trees withered and withered, jackals, wolves and other beasts began to prey in large quantities to reserve the energy needed for cold winter days, and even the insects living in the cave in the north began to dormant and prepare for the winter, and everything gradually went to Depression and slaughter.
Pu Songling wrote in the "Book with Zhang Liyou" that "Hongfei frost falls, I don't know how many degrees, the thoughts of the cloud tree, the day is forgotten" © Figure worm creativity
Later, "Hongfei Frost" gradually became a term to refer to changes in time and years.
In meteorology, the first frost that appears in late autumn is called "early frost" or "first frost", and the last frost that appears in the following spring is called "late frost" or "final frost", which is the "frost period". In contrast, the "frost-free period" is an important caloric index of agriculture and phenology.
China is a frost-rich country, and the length of the frost period varies from place to place, which is closely related to latitude and altitude. "Frostfall" refers specifically to the Yellow River Basin and usually lasts for 3 to 4 months. Further north, in the Daxing'an Mountains and Tianshan Mountains, the first frost can be seen as early as the end of August. In the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, during the frost fall, the average daily temperature is generally maintained at around 16 °C, until around the time of light snow in late November, and the frost period is not until the end of November. South China can not see frost until the middle of winter, of which the average annual frost day in southern Fujian and the coastal areas of Liangguang is less than one day, and the whole island of Yunnan, Tainan, Hainan and the South China Sea zhudao is even more frost-free throughout the year.
The Daxinganling Forest Farm has been visited by the first frost at the end of August, and the first snow usually fell before and after the frost fell. © Figureworm creative
From another point of view, this also shows that "frost" is not the same as "frost", but just a statement that the weather is getting colder. Just as the poet Zhang Ji famously said in "Fengqiao Night Berth", "The moon is falling and the sky is full of frost", it is just a borrowing of the word "frost" to write cold. Some scholars believe that this is the rhetoric of the poet, exaggerating "frost on the ground" as "frost on the sky".
Thus, another key question of frost falls is involved - where does the "frost" come from?
Qing Dynasty painter Dai Xi", "Autumn Forest Hanyan Diagram" (personal collection, image source network)
Although we often say "frost", unlike "snow", "frost" does not fall from the sky, but condenses water vapor near the ground. In the late autumn night, if the sky is clear and cloudless, the ground is like "uncovered", the heat dissipation is faster, the temperature will suddenly drop below 0 ° C, then there will be thin ice needles or hexagonal frost flowers on the surface of rough objects such as dwarf trees, shrubs, lawns and even dirt. In short, the factors that determine the appearance of "frost" are mainly related to lower temperatures and large temperature differences, and require the blessing of sunny and breezy weather, so there is a saying of "thick frost and fierce sun".
The frost of ice and jade is still the aesthetic image of constructing the unique "autumn sorrow". In the ninth month of the lunar calendar, chrysanthemums bloom everywhere, so the romantic ancients called the morning frost "chrysanthemum cream", adding a proud posture of ice and snow to the chrysanthemums that bloomed in the frost. When the twilight is dull and the night is as cool as water, a round of frost moon evokes people's infinite feelings, and the Southern Dynasty BaoZhao has a verse of "scattering the autumn clouds far away, Xiao Xiao frost moon cold". The frost flowers that spread out in a long way are the makeup makers of this twilight autumn.
In the green brick Dewa of Jiangnan, thin frost falls on the roof, and it looks like a crystal luster from a distance, and this scene is called "frost tile". (Source Network)
In agricultural matters, frost falls mark the end of the autumn harvest and the beginning of winter, and it is necessary to strictly prevent "frost". In fact, "frost" and "freezing" are two very different concepts. The former, like dew, is a natural phenomenon that indicates that the weather is getting colder, and the latter is the culprit that endangers the growth of crops, which is also the origin of the agricultural proverb "frost falls and kills hundreds of grasses".
At this time in northern China, severe frost will cause the harvest of vegetables in the field to be cut off, and it is often necessary to rush to harvest. What should I do if I can't eat a lot of vegetables for a while? It's when pickles come to life. Its raw materials are mostly mustard greens, Chinese cabbage, snow lily, etc., and must use large grains of salt, so that pickled pickles are not perishable, storage time is longer, but also a faint bitter taste, is the finishing touch of autumn and winter cooking.
Fruits and vegetables after frosting usually taste better. © Figureworm creative
Fruits and vegetables after frost, such as persimmons, grapes, winter melons, eggplant, etc., will grow better and taste sweeter. This is due to the interaction of starch in fruits and vegetables with the water in the frost to form maltose, which is actually the self-protection of plants against winter and frost, but unexpectedly makes people harvest better seasonal flavors.
Persimmon cake, also known as "frost persimmon", is a processed product coated with frosted sugar, not a frosted persimmon. © Figureworm creative
Frost on the tip of the tongue
There is a folk proverb: "Winter supplement is not as good as frost fall." "In the late autumn when the weather is getting colder, people pay attention to "replenishing the sun" first, and then "replenishing the frost", and think that autumn supplementation can play a foundation role, more important than winter supplementation.
Many special food customs have also been accumulated throughout China. In the Shandong region, there is a saying that "the frost fell to pluck the radish" and "the turnip race in October" is said. Guangxi Yulin people want to eat beef, breakfast to a bowl of dry fried beef river, at noon to make a radish stew beef, in the evening to eat a small pot of brisket pot.
Beef brisket casserole made from fine beef brisket and beef tendon. © Figureworm creative
In southern Fujian and Taiwan, it is popular to eat duck in frost. Around the time of the solar terms, the local ducks sell very hot, and sometimes they will be out of stock. There are also boiled sheep's head, frosted rabbit meat, steamed ginseng chicken, etc., all in the autumn supplement recipe. Not only that, the frost drop "three fruits" is also a good supplement at this time.
persimmon
"Frost falls to eat persimmons, will not run a nose" "Frost descends to pick persimmons, lidong beat soft dates" "Frost does not pick persimmons, hard persimmons become soft persimmons"... The best CP for frost falls, none other than persimmons. Little red lanterns are hung like persimmons in the courtyard and hillsides, and there is also a suitable name - "Ling Frost Hou". This fruit ripening by autumn wind and white frost, and harmonizing with auspicious words such as "all things are good" and "good things are in pairs", is one of the fruits with the most Chinese symbolic significance.
China incomplete persimmon map © Chinese style
Further reading: Learn more about persimmons, see "Link"
China is the native, main producing country and eugenic region of persimmons, with a total of as many as 1058 varieties.
The sweetness of the taste has Hubei Luotian sweet persimmon to lead the way, and the best astringent persimmon varieties are several milled persimmons, which are produced in Fangshan, Beijing and Mancheng, Hebei. The color of persimmons is red, yellow, blue and white, colorful and colorful, not only the exquisite small, vermilion-like Lintong fire crystal persimmon, but also the Puzhou black persimmon, which is mostly medicinal, and the skin is brown and transparent. The shape is also strange, long, round, square needless to say, and there is also a Yangshao ox heart persimmon that is named for its shape like a cow's heart.
From left to right, they are: millstone persimmons as big as fists, persimmons shaped like cattle hearts, and black persimmons with dark colors like ink. (Source Network)
Persimmons can be made into tea, cakes, sauces, fried, mixed vegetables... A variety of ways to eat, written a thousand years of persimmon processing history, in the Chinese people's autumn diet occupies an important position.
The red tomatoes and gray tiles and white walls of the Huipai buildings that spread over the mountains form a rural landscape with Chinese implications in late autumn. © Figureworm creative
hawthorn
Before and after the frost falls, it is also the season when hawthorns are red.
Red agate-like hawthorn, alias mountain red, mountain fruit, etc., was originally wild, and was widely planted because of its high medicinal and food dual-use value. According to the "Compendium of Materia Medica", hawthorn has many effects such as stopping diarrhea, strengthening the stomach, reducing diet, and eliminating meat accumulation. Fresh hawthorn can be eaten directly raw, stir-fried, soup, juice, especially in stew when putting some hawthorn, lipase, hawthorn acid and other ingredients can also promote lipolysis, enhance protease activity, so that the meat is quickly stewed crisp, defishy and greasy at the same time is also conducive to absorption.
Xinglong County, Chengde, Hebei, at the foot of the ancient Great Wall, is the "hometown of China's hawthorns", ranking first in terms of area and output at the county level in China. © Figureworm creative
China is the country of origin of hawthorn, and the production area is mainly concentrated in temperate areas such as northeast and north China, and it is also produced in Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the south. From the perspective of varieties, smaller ordinary hawthorn is usually used for medicine; the single fruit is larger, and there are small spots after ripening called big Venus, which is the most sour; the largest, soft taste, moderate acidity, usually eaten directly for large sponge balls; and crooked red, the cause and effect handle is crooked, which is the raw material of rock sugar gourd.
Sugar gourd, also known as sugar duner in Tianjin, is called sugar ball in Fengyang, Anhui. © Figureworm creative
In the north in autumn and winter, the most popular way to eat hawthorn is the rock sugar gourd. This traditional snack originated in the Southern Song Dynasty, where hawthorn fruits are strung with bamboo skewers and dipped in maltose, which quickly hardens in the wind and tastes sweet and sour.
The folklore reader "Yanjing Chronicle" mentions that sugar gourds can be found in tea houses, theaters, and streets and alleys during the Qing Dynasty. In the Republic of China period, there were many long-established shops selling honey fruits, such as Bulao Quan, Kowloon Zhai, Xinyuan Zhai and Quan Fude, as well as hawkers carrying burdens or carrying wooden boxes to walk the streets and alleys, while shouting and selling "newly dipped rock sugar gourds", adding a lively season to Xiao Suo's season.
chestnut
Autumn winds, not only crab feet itch, but also chestnut fragrance. This is another "fruit" of frost in addition to the red persimmons and hawthorns.
With its rich nutritional value, chestnuts have the reputation of "king of dried fruits", "hardcore crops" and "woody grains". Its earliest documentary records can be traced back more than 3,000 years, such as the "Hazel Chestnut of the Tree" and "The Chestnut of the East Gate" in the Book of Poetry. In the story of the combination of vertical and horizontal, Su Qin also mentioned when persuading Yan Wenhou that "there is a benefit of jujube chestnuts in the north, and although the people do not work, they are enough for jujube chestnuts". It can be seen that in the Warring States period, chestnuts have been among the "grain" list.
The chestnut has spines in its shell, which when ripe will crack on its own, and looks like a small yellow-green hedgehog from a distance. © Figureworm creative
Chestnuts originated in China, except for a few provinces and regions such as Qinghai, Ningxia, Xinjiang, and Hainan, almost all of which are planted with chestnut trees. From south to north, very different terroir conditions divide chestnuts into two camps: chestnuts in the north are more sticky and sweeter, mainly stir-fried; chestnuts in the south have a higher starch content and are more suitable for cooking.
Sugar fried chestnuts (source network)
Among them, sugar-fried chestnuts can best conquer the taste buds of the north and south.
After eating sugar fried chestnuts, the Qianlong Emperor specially wrote a poem "Eating Chestnuts" to praise chestnuts: "Small cooks are born, and large cooks are small and small are scorched." The size is cooked, and the fire is tempered. Stack chen yuji, offer the same spring pepper. Why learn from Gaoshi, the hearth of taro. Zhang Ailing is also a fan of sugar fried chestnuts, when she was in Shanghai, even if it was not autumn and winter, she often went alone to find the fragrance to buy chestnuts, and this love for chestnuts was also written into the novel "Mercy"...
The Yanshan Mountains run through the northern part of Hebei and are one of the main chestnut-producing areas in China. The picture shows the Jinshanling Great Wall in the autumn morning fog. © Figureworm creative
Sugar fried chestnuts are mostly chestnuts, such as Hebei's Qianxi chestnuts, Kuancheng chestnuts, Henan's True Mountain Chestnuts, Xinyang Chestnuts, Beijing Huairou Chestnuts, etc., are all good products of sugar-fried chestnuts. Others such as cone chestnut, thatched chestnut, European chestnut, Japanese chestnut, etc. are rarely cultivated on a large scale in China, so it is difficult to see in a wok. Nowadays, there are many new ways to eat chestnuts, such as French chestnut cake and Japanese candy chestnuts, which add a rich flavor to autumn chestnuts.
It is the twilight of autumn when it turns into frost. Yan Geling wrote in "Frost Falling": "In the spring, I don't know the things of autumn, autumn is coming, I know everything. "Although the weather is getting colder a little bit, the heat and taste of life will not dissipate.
This issue discusses: In the season of all things killing, what are you going to eat to meet the winter?
Wen 丨 Di Dan Tong
Photo editor 丨Xuege, Little Tiger
Sealed picture hand-painted 丨 snow brother
This article is original by Huaxia Fengwu, unauthorized, please do not reprint
Extended reading: Flip through the "circle of friends" of the ancients' autumn tour to unlock the most literary and artistic cold dew appreciation autumn posture