Kowloon Zhai or Shin Yuan Zhai? If you want to drink authentic old Beijing sour plum soup, the key is to look at the "sugar" in the ingredient list.

The first time I saw Coca-Cola was around the age of nine. At that time, the Ziyu Hotel had just been built on the north side of Zengguang Road, and there was a shop selling goods to customers at the entrance of the hotel, with an antique shape and a temperament that refused to be thousands of miles away. Once, a few children in the same hospital and I had the courage to go around and found that there were not many things inside, scattered on the glass counter, not so much as commodities as exhibits. The only denser one is a row of glass bottles with black-brown liquid on the windowsill, which are more concave and convex than the Arctic Ocean because of their unique shape, and there is a large circle of English on the bottle. Out of the store, the friends talked about what it was, there was a guy who never knew how to pretend to understand said that 80% of it was sold to foreigners in bottled sour plum soup, this answer made us feel very satisfied, and even nodded their heads and said yes...

Yes, in the eighties of the last century, the summer drink in the hearts of children, except for the Arctic Ocean, was sour plum soup.

"Cooked plum soup" is exquisite

The history of sour plum soup can be traced back to the Song Dynasty. According to folklore, in the summer of a certain year, cholera epidemic, many people are sick and dead, in order to save people, the government doctor boiled Umei water for patients to drink, saving countless people, because this "medicine" is a decoction, so it is named sour plum soup. It is said that in the early years, the shops selling sour plum soup were hung with a disguise, a copper stick, on which a crescent-shaped copper cylinder was welded, which was a will like a needle bag. And the people who wander the streets and alleys sell sour plum soup, holding two small copper cups in their right hands, stacked together, touching up and down, making a clanging sound, which indicates the copper bowl used by doctors to hold sour plum soup. In the notes "Past Affairs of Wulin", written by beginners in the late Song and Yuan Dynasties, there is a record of "brine plum water", which is said to be the predecessor of sour plum soup. The sour plum soup we drink today is actually transmitted from the Qing Palace Imperial Dining Room to the people. The Qianlong scholar Hao Yixing wrote in the "Poetry of the Shushutang": "The bottom whiskers are curved and the water is diverted, and the summer is naturally cool in Yanshan." The sound of copper bowls in the street, an ou of ice water and 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. First soak the ume plum hair, then add hawthorn, rock sugar, add water and simmer. This water must be boiling water, not cold water, so it is called "cooked water plum soup". After boiling, fish out the ume, and add osmanthus flowers, honey or something to the plum soup to bring out different flavors. Then pour it into a magnetic jar or jar, seal it, and chill it, so that it can be drunk in the summer, quenching thirst and relieving the heat. It should be emphasized that the "ice cold plum soup" in old Beijing pays attention to the fact that the ice cube can only be fixed outside the container, and cannot be directly put inside, mainly because the ice cubes at that time were natural ice, unclean, and placed in the sour plum soup for fear of causing trouble to drinkers. Mr. Jin Yunzhen, a famous scholar, said in "Yanju Dream Remembrance" that this article and "cooked plum soup" are the key to ensuring the quality and credibility of sour plum soup, "although street vendors also strictly abide by it, this is the professional ethics of doing business in old Beijing."

Among the above raw materials for making sour plum soup, there is no objection to the others, the only special one is sugar. Hao Yixing said in the "Proverbial Texts": "Today's people boil plums for soup, add sugar and drink them, and Kyoshi uses ice water and plum soup, especially ganliang." "This is also the reason why Jingshi sour plum soup is well-known throughout the country, rock sugar is more useful than white sugar, and the taste is better." But with the passage of time, the cost increased, and some merchants in Beijing also used white sugar. Mr. Deng Yunxiang once pointed out: "(To make sour plum soup) it is best to be rock sugar, generally it is mostly white sugar, and in the early years there was no saccharin and other deceptive things." "During the Republic of China, all the sour plum soup sold at the temple fair was basically added with saccharin, and the social turmoil could not even keep the purity of a bowl of sour plum soup, which was really sighing." Until today, in the face of a variety of sour plum soups in the market, consumers still have to look at whether the ingredient list is rock sugar or white sugar, if not bad money, or buy rock sugar as well.

However, the author saw an article by the cultural scholar Mr. Yuan Shusen in "Looking Back under the Sun", saying that the sour plum soup in old Beijing is also boiled with dried apricots and rock sugar, which is very novel, almost in the article of the old Beijing palm, which is worthy of attention.

From Kowloon Sai to Shin Yuen Sai

Initially, the sales method of sour plum soup was mainly the goods man carrying the burden to walk the streets and alleys, while walking while beating the two small copper cups mentioned above, the shouting sound was "drink sour plum soup, ice cold delicious", Mr. Weng Yihong said that there is also a kind of string of alley goods, it sounds more long and flavorful: "Quench thirst, and bring cold, add roses and add sugar, do not believe you will make a bowl to taste - sour plum soup to another flavor!" ”

With the passage of time, sour plum soup has gradually become a flavored drink that Beijingers are accustomed to drinking, and the sales method has gradually changed from "wandering type" to "fixed type", on the side of the street, under the tree, the top is the well side, the large iron pot containing the sour plum soup is pulled out with ice cubes or directly placed in the well water, and a small dinner table and several small bowls are placed, and the guests who come and go can be drunk, 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 the Qianmen Urn City, that is, between the Arrow Tower and the City Tower, which has been famous in The Daoguang Years, and the "Miscellaneous Memories of Chunming" by Jinshi Fang Junyi praised: "Quenching thirst plum soup ice has been cold for a long time, and it is famous for no more than nine dragons." The military aircraft Zhang Jinglaixiu of the Xianfeng period made "Wangjiang South Words" and said: "The capital gate is good, the urn cave Is Nine Dragons, the ice and snow are full of aroma, the bone removal empowerment summer atmosphere is open, and the cold wind in the two armpits is destroyed." The last sentence vividly writes about its effect of relieving the heat. The Guangxu dynasty Fucha Dun Chong's "Records of the Yanjing Years" clearly pointed out: "Sour plum soup is boiled with sour plums and rock sugar, mixed with rosewood ice water, and its cool teeth are the first in Kyoto." ”

The sour plum soup of the porridge boiled in the "Xidan Arch Qiu Jia Ren" is also called "Qiu Jia Mei Tang", and the "Jusheng Chang" in front of the Drum Tower and the "Longjinghe" of the West Fourth Arch Building are all sour plum soup brands 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 light yellow and clear color, 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.

The full name of Xinyuanzhai is Xinyuanzhai Honey Fruit Shop, as the name suggests, sour plum soup is only one of the products it sells, and it also markets preserved fruits, sugar gourds and other foods. Xinyuanzhai was originally located in the south of Xikou Road, East Liulichang, two small old-fashioned facades, red throttle posts, green oil window ledges, grinding brick seams, very delicate. Hanging on the lintel is a plaque with black oil and gold characters, with the words "Xinyuan Zhai" written on it, round and feminine, which is the handwriting of Zhu Yifan of Guangxu Hanlin. The owner of Xinyuanzhai was surnamed Xiao, a native of Hengshui County, Hebei Province, Xingsan, according to the old school of Beijing, and was called Xiao Sanye when people called him. The Xiao family originally opened a bookstore in Liulichang, and the name was Called On Guzhai ( On Gu Zhai . At the end of the Qing Dynasty, there were many changers, and Third Master Xiao sold sour plum soup as the main food (legend has it that some high-ranking officials and nobles who had friendship copied the secret recipe of making sour plum soup and autumn pear paste at the court to him, and it was very popular after making it). At that time, people visited the Liuli Factory, often mistakenly thought that Xinyuan Zhai was the same as Rong Baozhai calligraphy and painting antique shop, once he went in, he knew that there was no cave sky, a bowl of sour plum soup went down and even exhaled, it was the literati inkers who came and passed on the name, it is said that Mei Lanfang, Ma Lianliang and other Peking opera masters also often patronized, taking its effect of dispelling the heat and moisturizing the throat, better performing for the audience.

Shinyuan Zhai can be red, not only the formula is unique - in many historical records, it is recorded that their family added unique ingredients such as sand kernels and cardamom when boiling - and its business method is very exquisite. It is said that Xinyuan Zhai not only added osmanthus flowers to the sour plum soup, but also poured osmanthus water on the entrance of the store, and the old people on the road smelled fragrant, especially in the summer, which was refreshing, so people who passed by could not help but go in to drink a bowl. In addition, Shin Yuanzhai is ingenious in the container containing sour plum soup, which is a jar of blue and blue porcelain, which is only boiled twice a day, boiled in the morning to cool, and cold outside the porcelain jar in the summer. According to Mr. Hu Jinzhao, who personally drank the "original Xinyuan Zhai sour plum soup", "similar in color to the fine Shaoxing yellow wine, its taste is mellow, the sour and sweet is moderate, extremely refreshing, and the aftertaste is endless", the only drawback is that "the amount is small and the price is high, and it can only be fragrant and cool, slowly tasting, but not quenching thirst".

"Big plum soup" is also delicious

In addition to xinyuanzhai such a brand, open a shop to operate the name, more sour plum soup sellers or on the side of the road to sell a case, the stall is not big, but the guy Shi'er is very exquisite, silver paint ice bucket, pairs of sea bowls, ice plates, small porcelain pots, the case is surrounded by blue cloth, and there is the word "ice cold plum soup", covered with a large cloth umbrella, in order to give customers shade and shade.

Among the more famous of this kind of "selling sour plum soup at stalls" is the aforementioned Qiu Jia plum soup, which was once known as the first in Kyoto with Kowloon Sai, and its taste is also of the light fragrance type. Later, because of the establishment of stalls to obstruct traffic, it was banned in the early years of the Republic of China. After the closure of the business, Qiu Jia Mei Tang taught the boiling method to a fruit shop in Xidan, and gradually spread it among the people. Mr. Jin Yunzhen recalled in "Yanju Dream Memories" a miscellaneous truck vendor who played ice cups at the gate of his house for many years, who was tall and tall, with a loud voice, because he got the true legend of Qiu Jia Mei Tang, so the summer homemade sour plum soup was very famous, its mellow, fragrant, sweet, not under the famous shop, even better, very famous among nearby households, so that it was called "Big Plum Soup". Mr. Jin Yunzhen wrote: "Every summer evening, when everyone was chilling in the courtyard, they only listened to the sonorous sound of knocking on the 'ice cup' outside the door, and a loud voice shouted out: 'Dried fruits, rose dates', I knew that it was the arrival of the sour plum soup seller, and they all lifted pots and bowls, shouted 'buy a big one', and ran out of the door together." "At that time, the price of a pot of sour plum soup was twenty copper plates, and buying a single cup was two copper plates, equivalent to the price of a baked cake, which was not cheap at that time. Therefore, most people still go to dried fruit shops or Chinese medicine stores to buy sour plums to go home, boil themselves, add sugar and osmanthus flowers, although the taste is not as good as the "brand", but it is also very delicious.

Later, for a long time, the sour plum soup of Kowloon Zhai and XinYuan Zhai disappeared from the market. When I was a child, the sour plum soup drunk at home was made of a raw material called "sour plum crystal", I remember when I was in elementary school, between classes in the summer, the school kitchen would make its own sour plum soup for students to drink, the taste seemed to be more "flushed" than the sour plum crystal concocted, after drinking even the nasal cavity will be filled with sour and sweet gas for a long time, and later there are various packaging of sour plum soup drinks on the market, but I still miss the self-products of the school kitchen in the primary school era - and then the famous brand, and then the loud name, In the final analysis, the "Chinese time-honored brands" that are praised orally are just countless generations of people who have had countless beautiful encounters with them.

Original title: What is the secret recipe of authentic old Beijing sour plum soup?

Source Beijing Evening News

Author Hu Yanyun

Process Editor Wang Mengying