Flowers bloom on the tip of the tongue in spring

Source: China Women's Daily

Xiang Danping, all-media reporter of China Women's Daily

"I chase spring in the silhouette of the sun, I look for spring on the blooming branches, I admire spring in the girl's new clothes, and I taste the smell of flowers at the table." In this spring when flowers are in full bloom, flowers can not only bloom on the branches, but also bloom on the tip of the tongue.

In fact, there are many edible flowers in spring, such as peach blossoms, cherry blossoms, roses, small daisies, carnations, lilies, etc. are all excellent food ingredients. Using flowers into vegetables is not only beautiful in color and fragrant, which can enhance appetite and is also a good companion for dietary therapy. Pickling, stir-frying, porridge, pastries... This spring, it seems that only by eating the flowers into the stomach can we fully express our love for the flowers. So, which flower delicacies are the most common fragrances on the family table?

Peach blossoms: scorching and fragrant, beauty and anti-aging

"The peach is dying, burning its glory". Bright peach blossoms are rich in naphthol and coumarin, which can make the skin delicate and delicate, delay aging, and are good food and beauty products, "Taiqing Fang" wrote: "Peach blossoms are picked on the third day of March, wine is soaked, in addition to hundreds of diseases, good color." ”

When the peach blossoms bloom in spring, the newly opened flowers are picked and immersed in white vinegar or low-grade pure grain wine, and when the liquid color is slightly red, it can become peach blossom wine (vinegar); peach blossom wine (vinegar) can be washed or taken internally, which has the effect of beauty and beauty.

If you don't want to drink peach blossom wine, you can come to a bowl of peach blossom porridge with "human face peach blossoms reflecting red", watching the beautiful peach petals tumbling in the snow white rice porridge, there is really a feeling that the flowers are not intoxicating and everyone is intoxicated. Take 4 grams of fresh peach petals (2 grams of dried flowers), 100 grams of fresh japonica rice, put the peach blossoms into the peach blossoms after the porridge is cooked and then cooked for 10 minutes to become peach blossom porridge; women often drink this porridge to regulate the dark face and dry skin caused by poor liver qi and poor blood qi.

Cherry blossoms: fresh and romantic, dreamy and sweet

In Japan, the most common way to eat cherry blossoms is "salted cherry blossoms", which are made of Yae cherry blossoms. When making tea, watch the petals of the flowers bloom in the water, as if in full bloom in a teacup. Cherry blossoms are mostly used in pastries and desserts, like dreamy embellishments, such as cherry blossom biscuits, cherry blossom custard, cherry blossom mousse cups, etc.

Would you like a sweet cherry blossom cookie to taste a piece? Prepare 75g butter, 30g powdered sugar, 130g of low gluten flour, 1g of table salt, and eat an appropriate amount of cherry blossoms; soften the butter, beat until the color is light and fluffy, add sugar and salt, and then add flour to mix into the dough; put the dough into a plastic bag to form a circle or square, put it in the refrigerator and freeze for 20 minutes; take out the dough and put it at room temperature for a few minutes to warm it, cut it into biscuit slices with a knife; glue the cherry blossom petals on the surface of the biscuit, gently press and fit with your hands; preheat the oven at 170 degrees and bake for 18-20 minutes.

Roses: Fragrant flowers, nourishing the face and calming the spirit

Rose flowers are slightly warm, have the effect of activating blood and regulating menstruation, soothing liver and qi, balancing endocrine, etc., and can also nourish the face and calm the mind, beautify the skin, and eliminate fatigue. Rose petals eat slightly sweet and with a little bitter taste, fresh roses can be made into rose cakes, rose rice balls and other pastries, the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing Dynasty once hand-picked: "After the sacrifice of the gods dim sum, with rose cakes do not have to play again." "Roses can also be boiled in porridge with cereals or stewed with rose gum. Red roses can be stewed with chicken leg mushrooms, fresh bamboo shoots, trumpet mushrooms, etc., and are a good tonic. Dried rose flowers can be drunk alone in water, or they can be drunk with green tea or Pu'er tea, and the aroma is fragrant. Rose flowers stained with sugar is rose sauce, can be used as an ingredient for a variety of sweet fillings, can also be applied to the pasta snack, sweet and delicious, left until autumn and winter can also be eaten. Legend has it that Empress Dowager Cixi had the roses mashed and mixed with brown sugar to make rose sauce, and the teeth and cheeks remain fragrant after eating.

2 kinds of rose tea are recommended, which women often drink to beautify their faces. 1. Lily rose tea: take 5 grams of lilies (dried products), 3 grams of roses, rock sugar to taste, put the lilies, roses and rock sugar into a cup and add boiling water to soak for 5 minutes; this tea has a soothing and calming effect. 2. Rose chrysanthemum red date tea: take 6 to 10 dried roses, 2 to 3 chrysanthemums, and 2 red dates together into a tea cup and flush into hot water; this tea can nourish qi and blood, nourish the face and calm the spirit.

Rose Cranberry Cake is a delicious, high-value dessert. Mix the japonica rice flour with glutinous rice flour, the sugar dissolves with water, the roses are crushed and mixed in; add cranberries and sugar water and slowly mix into the powder and stir quickly, so that the powder is evenly dampened and translucent; put the cake powder into the cake mold and steam for 12 to 15 minutes on high heat.

Jasmine: Fragrant and sweet, refreshing

Jasmine is evergreen all year round, and there is a poem that "the garden is full of flowers and herbs, but a hui can smoke a room of incense". Jasmine can soothe the liver and eyes, cool and detoxify. Chinese especially like jasmine, often used to make tea to drink, can refresh and relieve the tiredness. In fact, jasmine into the dish, can also play a pleasant fragrance, Ming "drinking and eating notes" recorded: "jasmine young leaves picked and washed, with tofu boiled food, excellent." The aroma of jasmine flowers can penetrate the top of the head and down to the lower abdomen, relieve all the stale breath in the chest, and have a mild calming effect, and put a small handful of poop when cooking, such as jasmine papaya scented porridge, jasmine rice tea, jasmine mash soup and so on.

The simplest is jasmine scrambled eggs. First, put the jasmine in brine and boil, then scoop it up; beat the eggs and put a little salt, put the eggs into the oil pot to form, and then put the jasmine flowers and mix well.

You can also boil a pot of jasmine porridge of "Angel Amore". Take 3 to 5 grams of dried jasmine, 100 grams of fresh japonica rice, boil the porridge in water until cooked, put in the dried jasmine and cook it for another 10 minutes; this porridge is sweet and sweet, very refreshing, not only refreshing, but also can condition dry skin, anti-aging and anti-aging.

Peony flower: national color heavenly fragrance, clear heat and nourish the yin

"Only peonies are the true color of the country, and the flowers move the capital during the blossom season." Peony flowers can clear hot and cool blood, activate blood stasis, moisturize the intestines and detoxify, its consumption began in the Song Dynasty, the Southern Song Dynasty Empress Gaozong loved to eat peony mixed with lettuce in the spring. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, people already had a relatively complete recipe and production method of peony flower dishes, and it was recorded in the "Yang XiaoLu": "Peony petals, soup blanching, honey soaking can be, gravy braised can also be." ”

In fact, whether it is stir-fried, hooked, or stewed, the rich aroma of peony flowers will not change. Peony flowers into the dish, there are peony white fungus soup, peony flower slices, peony flower tenderloin silk, peony petal wine and so on. Women often drink peony white ear soup, which can clear lung fever, benefit the spleen and stomach, nourish yin and vitality, benefit qi and blood, and strengthen the brain and kidneys. Take 2 peony flowers, 30 grams of white fungus, first wash the white peony petals, soak the white fungus in boiling water, soak and expand, pick and wash it and set aside; pour the clear soup into the pot, add salt, cooking wine, monosodium glutamate, white pepper noodles and boil; put the white fungus into a bowl, pour in the prepared clear soup, steam until the white fungus is soft and flavorful, take out and sprinkle the fresh peony petals; this soup is clear and delicious, light and refreshing.

Acacia flowers: elegant and plain, simple and homely

Locust flowers bloom in April and May, when in full bloom, the street is fragrant, can be used to steam locust flowers (that is, locust flower wheat rice), can also be used to make locust flower sauce, soup or cake, such as locust jasper, fried locust flower, fragrant fried locust flower cake, etc., simple and small and fresh.

Rinse the locust flowers with water, let them dry for a while, pour flour and stir well, each flower needs to be filled with flour; put a piece of gauze on the cage drawer to pour the locust flowers in, and use chopsticks to put chopsticks in the locust flower pile to steam for ten minutes; after the basket is put in the pot, stir and spread, and when it is cool, put it in a frying pan to add oil, green onions, ginger and stir-fry, put a little salt out of the pot, that is, the locust flower wheat rice.

Rhododendron: "Xi Shi" in the flower, moisturizing the lungs and improving qi

"This thing in the flower is Xi Shi, and the hibiscus peony medicine is the mother-in-law." In spring, rhododendrons bloom all over the mountains. Rhododendron contains amino acids and vitamins, which have the effect of moisturizing the lungs and clearing the throat, improving the qi and calming the spirit, reconciling menstrual blood and strengthening the brain.

The Bai people of Dali, Yunnan, love to eat rhododendrons. The large white-flowered rhododendron with its white color, large corolla and thick flesh can be boiled in soup or cooked or fried with broad beans, bacon, ham, etc., and has always been a traditional ingredient used by the Bai people for hospitality and wedding feasts.

Magnolia flowers: sweet and refreshing, detoxifying and analgesic

In spring, the magnolia is full of white jade-like fragrant flowers blooming as if it were yangchun white snow. The petals of the magnolia are thick and large, and if you wrap it in wet flour and fry it in a frying pan with bean paste, this is the well-known "magnolia slice" at home and abroad. "Magnolia tablets" are sweet and crispy, very delicious, and have the function of detoxification and pain relief.

Hibiscus Flower: Fragrant and slightly sour, fresh and thirsty

Roselle flower, also known as rose ashwagandha, its flowers are conical or irregular shape, calyx purple red, known as the "ruby" of the plant kingdom, it smells slightly sour, can suppress cough, lower blood pressure, and relieve alcohol. Hibiscus flowers are often used to make water and tea, sweet and delicious, both clear heat and fire, but also thirst quenching.

If you use roselle flowers into the dish, you will get a purple and red soup color, which makes people particularly appetizing. Hibiscus flowers can also be made as hibiscus flower tangyuan, hibiscus flower lemon radish, lemon hibiscus flower jam, rose hibiscus flower goji berry tea and so on.

Hibiscus flower: nutritious, cool blood and wet

Hibiscus flower tastes slightly bitter, has the function of clearing heat, dampness, cool blood and detoxification. Hibiscus flowers are rich in trace elements such as calcium, magnesium, iron, potassium, selenium and chromium, which are beneficial for diabetics and boosting immunity. A research study released by the Guangzhou Agricultural Technology Extension Center shows that cooking with hibiscus flowers is not only nutritious but also safe and reliable. Studies have shown that the amino acid content and crude protein content of hibiscus flower are 1.7 times that of tomatoes, and the vitamin C content is 8.9 times that of broccoli and 4.7 times that of tomatoes.

In spring, you may wish to make a light and smooth hibiscus shrimp tofu soup for your family. Hibiscus flowers can be removed from the calyx, flower core and flower buds after washing and controlling drying, the ginger shredded and shrimp together into the pot sautéed and added 1000ml of water, after boiling on high heat and then add shredded tender tofu, egg whites and hibiscus flowers, turn to medium heat and season after boiling; shrimp, tofu and eggs are high-quality protein, with smooth hibiscus flowers, the taste is layered, delicious and nutritious.

Rather than a variety of complicated flower delicacies, I prefer to cook a pot of "Hundred Flowers Porridge" with fresh petals in middle age. The method of "hundred flowers porridge" is very simple, first boil the water, put the rice, cook the rice until it is cooked and not rotten, put the petals of roses, peach blossoms, jasmine, lotuses, chrysanthemums, honeysuckle and other petals together, if it is fresh petals, put them into the pot later, you can maintain the fresh fragrance of the flowers; if it is a dried flower, put it in early, giving it enough time to restore its original appearance. You can also add some lilies and a few cloves to the porridge, and then slowly stir in one direction, wait for all the floral aromas to be fused together, and then add some osmanthus ice sugar water, and a pot of floral "Hundred Flowers Porridge" will be boiled. When eating porridge, it is best to add a little locust flower honey, which is both moist and sweet, and really leaves a whole bright spring in the mouth.

In fact, whether it is flower dishes, flower desserts or flower porridge drinks, they are the best gifts that nature gives us in the spring. After the "May Day" holiday, maybe you eat too much big fish and big meat and seafood, just come to a flower food refreshing and moisturizing the body and mind, and leave the taste of spring on the tip of the tongue. This spring, only flowers and delicacies can not be disappointed.