The taste in memory, the must drink in the summer of old Beijing: sour plum soup

Hello everyone, I am the master of Kyoshi play. Today I would like to talk to you about a traditional, summer drink in old Beijing, sour plum soup.

Sour plum soup has been a good summer drink since ancient times, it can be regarded as a more unique summer drink in old Beijing, it has a particularly long history in Beijing, the earliest, it is said to date back to the Song Dynasty. The "Tugong plum frying" recorded in ancient books is one of the oldest sour plum soups. In the late Song and early Yuan dynasties, a scholar was meticulous, and there is a record of "brine plum water" in the "Past Affairs of Wulin" written by him, which is said to be the predecessor of sour plum soup. There is also a folk legend, telling that in ancient times, there was a summer in one year, there was a cholera epidemic in a place, many people were sick and died, in order to save people, the doctors of the government, boiled a lot of Umei water for these patients to drink, it did not take long, these patients were sick, thus saving a lot of people, because this "medicine" belongs to the decoction, so it was named sour plum soup.

And the sour plum soup we drink today is actually first introduced to the Forbidden City by the people, and then in the imperial dining room of the Qing Palace at that time, after renovation and continuous improvement, it was made into a drink exclusive to the emperor to quench heat and thirst, and later this recipe flowed back to the folk. Because it has the effect of: removing heat and sending cooling, peace of mind, expectorant cough, epidemic relief, and thirst quenching, it is known as "Qinggong Exotic Treasure Imperial Ume Soup". This drink is 150 years earlier than the soda that was introduced to China in the West. During the Qing Dynasty, this sour plum soup was popular in the palace, especially the Qianlong Emperor, who loved it very much. For this popular drink that has been popular since the Qing Dynasty, it has been described as: "hot to cool, dry to clean up". In the hot summer, a bowl of sour plum soup can also be eaten and neutralized, the qi is dissipated, the thirst is quenched, the lung qi is converged, and the annoyance is calmed. A cup of belly, really feel that can sweep away the dryness of the body.

Why is sour plum soup so popular in the Qing Palace? This is because the Manchus have historically preferred to drink acid. This Manchu people, arising between the White Mountains and the Black Water, hunting and gathering were their main methods of production. The Manchus liked to fish and hunt and ate meat, and then invented the Manchu food of sour soup. Sour broth is made with cornmeal after fermentation. After eating those hot and greasy meats, and drinking some sour soup, it is just the right taste.

Later, sour soup was brought to the city of Beijing. Due to the climate and geographical environment of Beijing, the Manchus who live in the northeast all year round have different degrees of discomfort in all aspects of their bodies and lives. Sour soup is fermented from cornmeal, its sugar content is very high, excess sugar, stored in the body, very easy to make people gain weight. In addition to the Manchu people often eat venison and bear paws with high calories, and then drink sour soup made of cornmeal, it is easy to make the body and outside the wet and hot fight, which is easier to gain weight and gain weight. When the Qianlong Emperor discovered this problem, he ordered that this diet structure be adjusted. After receiving the holy will, the Imperial Tea House racked its brains and finally concocted a drink that can replace the sour soup - sour plum soup, the formula of which is: degreased and greasy wumei, osmanthus flowers that dissolve phlegm and scatter stasis, licorice root that clears heat, detoxifies and nourishes the skin, hawthorn that lowers fat and blood pressure, and rock sugar that nourishes the lungs, and boils them together. Sour plum soup is not only degreased and greasy, but also rich in organic acids, citric acid, vitamin B2 and crude fiber and other nutrients. As soon as the sour plum soup came out, it was loved by the Qianlong Emperor. It is said that the Qianlong Emperor drank sour plum soup before and after tea. I don't know if you have found that whether it is in the historical records or the video records of court painters, it shows that the Qianlong Emperor was a thin figure all his life, did not have a large belly, and was thin but very nervous. It is said that this is related to his love of drinking sour plum soup. Later, the Qing Palace all rose up to drink this sour plum soup.

The raw materials of sour plum soup are mainly wumei, hawthorn, osmanthus and rock sugar. Umeboshi is made after smoking with half-yellow plums. The Compendium of Materia Medica says: "Those who pick half yellow plums are smoked as ume." "It can remove heat and cool, relieve pain with peace of mind, and even cure cough, cholera, dysentery and other diseases." The mythological novel "The Legend of the White Snake" writes the story of Wumei's epidemic. And this sour plum soup has also appeared in China's famous book "Dream of the Red Chamber".

In the process of boiling sour plum soup, this water is particularly important, it must be boiled water, can not use cold water, so it is called "cooked water plum soup". After boiling, fish out the ume, and add osmanthus flowers, wood, honey or something to the plum soup to bring out different flavors. Then pour it into a magnetic jar or jar, seal it, and freeze it with ice, so that when you drink it in the summer, it is thirst-quenching and relieving the heat. Here it needs to be emphasized that the "ice cold plum soup" in old Beijing pays attention to the fact that the ice cubes can only be placed outside the container, and cannot be directly put inside, mainly because the ice cubes at that time were natural ice, not clean, and placed in the sour plum soup for fear of causing trouble to drinkers. The famous scholar Mr. Jin Yunzhen (Zhen) once said in "Yanju Dream Memory" that "cooked water plum soup" is the key to ensuring the quality and credibility of sour plum soup. This principle was strictly adhered to even by street vendors at that time, and it was also the professional ethics of the old Beijing business.

Initially, the sale method of sour plum soup was mainly the sale of goodsmen carrying burdens and walking the streets. In the early years, in the streets and alleys of Beijing, at the door of the dried and fresh fruit shop, there were vendors selling sour plum soup everywhere. These people who sell sour plum soup in the streets and alleys have a crescent moon stick inserted in their stalls (which means that they have just been boiled the night before) and then hang a sign that reads "Ice cold hot water sour plum soup". Holding two small copper bowls in his hand, he made a clanging sound from time to time. Passers-by are expected to have quenched their thirst and smell the feeling of coolness. A bowl of belly, the heat is all gone. It is said that this sour plum soup as a palace drink is said to have been first introduced to the folk by a vendor surnamed Liu, who began to sell candy at a stall outside the front gate of Dashilar, because a relative and friend was a eunuch in the palace, and the recipe of the imperial drink in the palace was passed out, and he imitated the osmanthus sour plum soup for sale according to the Qing Palace recipe, and since then the sour plum soup has gone from the exclusive drink of the imperial palace nobles to the ordinary people, and has also become one of the essential summer drinks for old Beijingers to spend the summer. Hao (Hao) Yixing, a famous scholar during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, once wrote in the "Poetry of the Shutang": "The bottom whiskers are diverted (injured) by the water, and the summer is naturally cool in Yanshan." The sound of copper bowls in the street, an ou of ice water and plum soup. He used words to restore the scene in Beijing at that time, peddling plum soup in the middle of summer. At that time, the people of Beijing also gave this copper bowl a nice name, called "Ice Cup".

With the passage of time, sour plum soup has gradually become a flavored drink that Beijingers are accustomed to, and its sales method has gradually changed from "wandering type" to "fixed type", on the side of the street, under the tree, and at the side of the well, the large iron pot containing the sour plum soup is pulled with ice cubes or directly placed in the well water, next to a small rice table and several small bowls, and the guests who come and go can drink a bowl when they sit down, which is very convenient.

Later, "long-established brands" featuring the production of sour plum soup appeared, the earliest of which was "Kowloon Zhai". Kowloon Zhai is located in qianmen urn city, that is, between the Arrow Tower and the City Tower, and has been famous in Beijing during the Daoguang years. There is also comparable, Xidan Arch Qiu (Autumn) family boiled sour plum soup, also known as "Qiu jia plum soup", has been known as the first in Kyoto. There are also things like, Jushengchang in front of the Drum Tower, "Longjinghe" near the West Fourth Archway, "Lu Yu Zhai" in xidan archway, "Yu Yuan Zhai" in Dong'an Mending Street, etc., these are the famous brands that sell sour plum soup with the name of Kowloon Zhai. At that time, The sour plum soup in Beijing can be roughly divided into two kinds, one is the "light fragrance type", paying attention to the fact that the color is light yellow and clear, the entrance is light and mellow, and Jiulong Zhai is one of the representatives. However, after entering the Republic of China, the "light fragrance type" gradually declined, replaced by the "thick fragrance type" sour plum soup with a color like amber, honey juice, and a sweet and thick fragrance, which is represented by the famous Xinyuan Zhai. It is said that Peking Opera masters such as Mei Lanfang and Ma Lianliang also frequented here.

Nowadays, Beijing Jiulong Zhai, Xinyuan Zhai, Tongrentang Pharmacy and this old square with sour plum soup, of course, if you permit, it is best to go to the Front Door Tongrentang store, where according to your personal taste habits, the current ingredient package, so that the taste can be more thick. Well, today, I'll talk to you here, and we'll see you later.