Many things that seem to be taken for granted, after some deep investigation, tend to find some interesting periods, and such things are also true in the world of spices. What comes to mind when you think of sage? I believe that the most friends will think that it is a Western food spice, and it is easy to extend from the Western food spice, and it is easy to locate its origin in the West, and the actual situation is not so simple.
Sage this plant, we as early as the Qin and Han Dynasties have relevant records, in modern research found that sage family members are numerous, according to incomplete statistics of this genus of plants there are about a thousand species, and of which seventy-nine species of origin is in China, which also proves that sage has a long history in our country. It is also for this reason that many Western cooking books say that the sage steppe is produced in Italy is not rigorous.
Compared with the record time of sage in the East and the West, both are basically around the third century BC, and after the discovery of sage, neither we nor the Western world used it in dietary cooking. In China, sage is used for medicinal purposes in addition to smudging clothes. In the Western world, it is not used to smudge clothing, but is directly used as an herb, and sage's original name in the West has the meaning of 'salvation', which also confirms its use as an herb.
Because of historical reasons in Europe, around the sixth century AD, they reluctantly began to promote the use of sage on a large scale, and it is for this reason that the status of sage as the five famous spices of Western food was established. In China, because it is true that the products are relatively rich, it was not until the Republic of China period that some masters who studied Western food knew about the dietary uses of sage. Sage this spice, it is very peculiar, after drying the aroma is far more intense than when fresh, in order to avoid too irritating taste, in the cooking to use it more choice of fresh sage use.
With the prevalence of some Western cooking methods, the spice of sage is also used more and more often, but in fact, as long as sage is well controlled, its use is still more. For example, in ingredients with high oil content, the use of sage can play a degreasing effect. Sage can also be used as a filler in some grilled meats, such as the famous Western roast turkey, which features sage and onions in its filler. Starting from the taste of our people, we use sage prefer to use purple, this sage aroma should be more peaceful, some localized Western food will use it to make salad, used with grilled steak, etc., I believe that as people's taste buds become more and more diverse, sage in cooking will also evolve more suitable for our taste buds, so that it is not limited to Western food.