Mr. Wang Zengqi, a food stream in the literary world, once wrote about Beijing's "Bean Juice":
"I haven't drunk bean juice, I haven't been to Beijing."
And there is also a paragraph attached to the article:
▲Wang Zengqi
Pickles on bean juice stalls are not expensive. There are Baoding fellows who sit down, take out two steamed buns, ask "how much is a bowl of bean juice", and the bean juice seller told him, "What about pickles?" "Pickles don't cost money." "Then bring me a plate of pickles." "
Bean juice has also become a mudslide in Beijing's gastronomic circles, with people who love it like ganyi and haters like tasting swill water.
It even became a criterion for testing whether it was pure old Beijing.
▲ This is also Wang Zengqi
What exactly is this bean juice?
Bean juice is actually similar to fried liver, brine boiling, and Chongqing hot pot, using scraps.
The raw material of soybean juice is mung beans, the starch is filtered out, made into vermicelli, and the remaining residue is fished out for fermentation.
The scraps are still fermented, think about this taste, is to let the tongue in the bungee jump, stimulating.
▲Bean juice
It is also because of fermentation, so the bean juice has its unique sour smell, the first food is difficult to swallow, but endure a few sips, it is likely that you will fall in love with it.
Bean juice, there is another aromatic name, called "Steamed Half Street", listen to the name you know, this is the biological and chemical weapons of the food industry.
▲Brine
In the very beginning, bean juice was the shoulder handle of old Beijing folk cuisine.
At that time, as a citizen of the imperial capital, it seemed to be highly knowledgeable, but in fact, the suffering of life was obvious.
The best location is in the Forbidden City, the best landscape is in Changchun Garden, and the most comfortable house is in Prince Gong's mansion, but this is all royal noble, the people needless to say enjoy, even to see it is a luxury.
▲ Forbidden City
And the people keep giving them the best.
When the Eight Banners came, they basically carried bags in the inner city and drove the people to the outer city.
Therefore, mung beans, which are considered by the royal family to be ordinary raw materials, are not willing to waste their scraps.
▲The Eight Banners are stationed in the inner city
It is said that during the Liao and Song dynasties, bean juice was already popular among the people.
Two bowls of bean juice, a few sets of burnt cake charred rings, and some pickles, is a meal for the people. High in protein, as well as salty and light.
Especially in the summer, it not only nourishes the stomach, but also detoxifies and clears the fire.
▲Bean juice, charred rings, pickles
The fire of bean juice in the folk also alarmed the Qing court. In the eighteenth year of Qianlong, there were courtiers who played:
"Recently, the emerging bean juice has been sent to Ilibu to check whether it is clean and drinkable, such as unclean things, and two or three bean juice smiths with cloth are sent to the imperial dining room."
So bean juice also officially entered the court and became one of the imperial meals.
▲Qianlong
Even qianlong ye and Cixi, famous patrons of picky mouths, are full of praise for bean juice.
During the Qianlong period, starting from the ninth month of the lunar calendar every year until the five days after the second year's Lixia, the imperial dining room and the shou dining room had to make bean juice and use it to dissolve the grease after wine and meat.
▲ Cixi young restoration diagram
Cixi and bean juice are not shallow, Cixi was poor in childhood, often hungry and full. At that time, he replaced vegetables with bean juice and served old rice to feed the family.
Later, Cixi developed and became rich, but she still could not forget the bean juice of that year, so she often ordered the shou dining room to always prepare this drink.
Bean juice is even more tolerant at the temple fair, and if a grandfather is dressed decently but eats an enema, he will be laughed at.
But drink bean juice and wear anything.
Nowadays, with more and more foreigners living in Beijing, bean juice has begun to be accepted by people all over the country, and even a group of people in every place are obsessed with it.