The season of nourishment begins with the "Eight Treasure Cakes"

In the forty-fourth year of Qianlong, the Qianlong Emperor lived in the summer resort, and on June 12, he ordered the eunuch to pass on the order to make eight precious cakes. The things used are "ginseng two two, poria two two, yam two two, lentil two two, barley two two, mustard rice two two, Jianlian two two, japonica rice noodles four two, glutinous rice noodles four two Qianlong Emperor special care, to use very fine flour plus sugar eight two, and even steamed cake." When steaming the cake, the chief eunuch, the head of the pharmacy and the trusted eunuch watched the heat, steamed it and left it cold, and sent it every day with the boiling tea.

Eight treasure cakes are mainly made of ginseng, supplemented by eight kinds of Chinese medicines such as poria, lotus seeds, coix kernels, yams and other eight kinds of Chinese medicines with sugar, which belongs to the spleen-strengthening therapeutic food. Eight treasure cakes are not cold or hot, replenish the qi, strengthen the spleen and nourish the stomach. Add color, aroma, taste wins, similar to snack snacks. The Qianlong Emperor began to take this cake from about the age of sixty-five, until he was more than eighty years old, and he often took it.

When Empress Dowager Cixi was more than forty years old, due to the curtain and obedience to the government, she fought all day long, and her body began to have symptoms such as aging and indigestion, and the effect was obvious after taking this cake, and she still took the Eight Treasure Cakes in her old age, without interruption.