Taiwanese dates were introduced in 1960 as native varieties in Taiwan, and after several generations of evolution, they have evolved to several excellent varieties with small fruit size, sweetness, crisp honey and delicious honey. Taiwan jujube fruit skin emerald green, flesh white, rich in vitamins and pectin, high nutritional value, and has the effect of promoting gastrointestinal digestion and beauty, the Hong Kong fruit market has the reputation of holy fruit.
Jujube is native to China and has been cultivated for more than 5,000 years. Although it is also distributed in Japan, the United States and other countries, it has not been cultivated commercially, but It is widely cultivated in China as an important specialty fruit tree. Among them, the dates belong to the dried fruit category, with the date cutting machine, the jujube is cut once, making it easy to absorb sugar, and then put into the pot with white sugar to cook, dried, it becomes the usual eating dates. It can also be used to make tea, with a delicate aroma of dates.
Among them, Taiwanese dates are an excellent tropical and subtropical rare fruit. It is different from the mainland red dates, the skin is smooth, pale green, the skin is thin and crisp, sweet and juicy. Taiwan jujube is rich in nutrients, containing a large number of vitamin C, calcium, phosphorus, vitamin B, carotene, etc., known as vitamin pills, fresh fruit, with purifying blood, helping digestion, beauty and other health care effects.
Taiwanese dates are produced in Kaohsiung, so they are also called Kaohsiung dates, officially known as Indian dates, native to India, Myanmar and the mainland Yunnan area. Through the guidance of Taiwan Agricultural Experiment Improvement Field and the improvement of cultivation management methods, The fruit of Kaohsiung jujube has increased, and the yield and variety have been improved, and it has become the main fruit in Winter in Taiwan. It is 3 to 4 times larger than a normal jujube and resembles a green apple.
Since the period from colonization to abundant production of mangoes is about 4 to 5 years, Taiwanese dates are one of the short, flat and fast tropical fruit varieties that were put into production in the same year. The quality of Taiwanese dates lies not only in its sweet and delicious taste but also in its rich and colorful cultural history.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > the origin of Taiwanese dates</h1>
Speaking of the historical origin of Taiwanese dates, we must first talk about the origin of dates. Our country is the homeland of jujubes. The earliest jujube trees were domesticated from wild sour jujube thorns. There are verses in the Book of Poetry and Wei Feng that have thorns in the garden, but in fact, they eat food. Thorns are sour date trees, small but bushy shrubs. Wei Feng refers to most of Shanxi north of present-day Yellow River. The fruit is small, round, and the skin is thin and sour.
There is a record of peeling dates in August in the "Book of Poetry, Feng Feng, July", in the Spring and Autumn Period, Zheng Guo's "Han Feizi • Wai Chu Said Left" contains the retirement of the child, and there are no thieves in the country for five years, the road does not pick up the left, and the peach jujube shades the street, and there is no help. It shows that at that time, inside and outside the capital of Zhengguo, the streets were lined with peach dates, and the streets were shaded with peach dates, and people did not pick peach dates indiscriminately.
"Warring States Policy Yan Ce I": In the south there are jieshi and yanmen rao, and in the north there are jujube chestnut benefits, although the people are not made by the field, the jujube chestnut is real, enough to eat the people, this so-called Tianfu is also. It shows that even in the years of poor grain harvest, the jujube chestnut can survive for the people of the northern region. There are records of Anyi Qianshu jujube, his people and the Marquis of Qianhu, etc. in the "Chronicle of The Chronicle of Cargo Colonization". Anyi, the area of present-day Yuncheng. It means that there are a thousand jujube trees in the family, which is equivalent to a "thousand households", which also reflects the scale of planting jujube trees at that time.
The above records show that as early as 3,000 years ago, jujube trees were cultivated in Shandong, Henan and Hebei in the Yellow River Basin, and by the Qin and Han Dynasties, they had been widely planted, and the scale was very large and the yield was considerable. So how did Taiwanese dates come about? According to legend, Taiwanese dates are developed from the specialties of Lanxi, Zhejiang, and have a history of more than 400 years.
It turned out that during the Jiajing period of Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty, there was a literati named Zhang Mao in Lanxi County. He knew that the dates in his hometown were sweet and crisp, fragrant and refreshing, and every time the jujubes were ripe, he would choose a batch to send to the capital and offer them to Emperor Sejong, who loved to eat them very much. Later, Zhang Mao found that although the dates were good, they were not easy to preserve, so he asked the jujube farmers everywhere for advice.
Or a local man named Wang Lai came up with a good idea. He first pulled the jujube body with a knife a few knives, and then rolled it together with the date nectar, boiled it together, and dried it to become a date. Zhang Mao then dedicated it to Emperor Sejong. Since then, the honey jujube has been famous all over the capital and slowly spread to all places, and there is today's Taiwan dates.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the folklore of dates</h1>
Legend has it that in the distant past, a dispute between Muslims and infidels broke out and they fought. The leader of the pagans, armed with a steel knife, came to hunt down Muhammad. When Muhammad saw that someone was coming to kill him with a knife, he was weak, so he turned left and right, and after throwing him off, he took off his green robe and sat down on an earthen platform.
After a while, the pagan leader, out of breath, ran to Muhammad and asked, "Just now, did you run from here to a tall man?" Have you seen it? Muhammad replied calmly with his head bowed: "See, he ran in a southeasterly direction." The pagan leader said, "Then you will lead me quickly." ”
Muhammad said, "Wait until I eat the dates." As he spoke, he tore a cotton lump from the hem of his robe, squeezed it with his right hand, and then cut a small mound of dirt and put the cotton lump in it. The pagan leader said, "You have only planted it, when will you be able to eat it?" Quick, don't rub it. Muhammad smiled and said, "What are you in a hurry!" I'll be able to eat it right away. The man did not believe, "If I can eat the dates you planted at once, I will worship you as my teacher!" ”
Muhammad said, "Then just watch." The words landed, and a tender and green jujube sapling really grew in the mound. In the blink of an eye, it grew more than a foot tall, and two small flowers bloomed. After a while, the two small flowers formed two dates. Muhammad reached out and took it off, one for the pagan leader and one for himself.
Dates are sticky and sweet, it's rare! The pagan leader looked at him in amazement and thought, This man has such great ability, and let this jujube tree bear two dates, and gave me one, who is he? When Muhammad saw that he was stunned after eating the dates, he looked up and said, "I am Muhammad, and by the call of Hu Da, if you want to kill, you will kill!" ”
The pagan leader, who looked at him carefully, thought about the scene of eating dates, threw down the steel knife, went forward and clasped Muhammad's hand tightly, and said, "We will not be a wronged family in the future, but we will live in harmony with the Muslims." "Since then, the two sides have reconciled. The jujube tree planted by Muhammad grew longer and more luxuriantly, and people ate sweet and fragrant dates. Later, Muslims regarded dates as very precious things, and also made beads into beads for worship.
Since the reform and opening up, the jujube processing industry in Taiwan's jujube district has risen one after another, and all kinds of jujube products have come into being: dried dates, jujube paste, jujube sauce, smoked dates, scorched dates, black dates, honey dates, canned dates, date powder, date tea, date wine, date vinegar, date drinks and other series of products have emerged continuously, these products are not only sold all over the motherland, but also go out of the country and go to the world.
Reading through the humanistic history of Taiwanese dates, we are deeply moved not only by the charm of Taiwanese dates themselves but also by the sweat of countless working people behind them.
【References】
The Historical Record of Dates
The Legend of Taiwanese Dates