Did the ancients like to eat melon seeds? What is the history of eating melon seeds?
As we all know, people in China are fond of eating melon seeds, whether watermelon seeds, pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds. After the explosion, people can't stop.
Melon seeds have shells, and manual peeling is time-consuming and laborious. Faced with this situation, China people have their own way. They picked up a melon seed, put it between their teeth, and gently knocked it, and the pressed melon skin would crack from it. Then, they gently probe into the shell with the tip of their tongue, and the melon seeds will easily enter their mouths. Chew a few times, their breath will be fragrant, and it is convenient and quick to operate a set.
Eating melon seeds is a good idea for countless people. China people love to eat melon seeds so much, which can be explained from a scientific point of view, except appetite. Melon seeds are rich in protein, vitamins and some trace elements. Eating melon seeds can make the whole digestive system active. The fragrance of melon seeds stimulates the taste buds on the tongue, which transmit this nerve impulse to the brain and then act on digestive organs such as salivary glands, so that saliva and gastric juice containing various digestive enzymes are relatively exuberant. It can be said that eating melon seeds is always beneficial and harmless, whether before or after meals.
In this way, it is reasonable that melon seeds are regarded as national snacks.
In the late 1930s, Mr. Feng Zikai wrote an article about China people's love to eat melon seeds. He wrote:
China people have three doctorates: chopsticks doctor, paper blowing doctor and melon seeds doctor ... But I think the most advanced and developed of these three technologies is eating melon seeds ... The person who invented eating melon seeds is really a genius!
Speaking of eating melon seeds, it is not a modern rise. The fate of China people and melon seeds has to start from hundreds of years ago. According to historical records, the custom of eating melon seeds was popular in the Ming Dynasty and intensified in the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China. Sunflower seeds before the late Qing Dynasty were different from today's. At that time, "melon seeds" were mainly watermelon seeds. Since the late Qing dynasty, pumpkin seeds have been popular, and sunflower seeds have sprung up in the Republic of China, which finally decided the situation of three pillars.
From this perspective, we are not just eating melon seeds, but a magnificent "epic"!
Northern Song Dynasty: With a long history, watermelon seeds made their debut.
As mentioned earlier, there were no sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds before Ming and Qing Dynasties. Sunflowers and pumpkins are both American crops. 1492 After Columbus discovered America, they were introduced to China, first during the Jiajing period in the late Ming Dynasty.
In contrast, watermelon has a long history.
The origin of watermelon in China has been debated since the Ming Dynasty. Some people claim that watermelon was introduced to China for five generations, while others claim that watermelon originated in China.
Ouyang xiu recorded in the history of the new five dynasties and Hu jiao's "the story of stranded land" in the late five dynasties;
Since I went to JD.COM ... I walked into Pingchuan, where there are many plants and trees, and I began to eat watermelon. Yun Qi Dan broke the Uighur and got this. Cow dung was planted here and a shed was built. It is as big and sweet as China wax gourd.
Based on this, it is speculated that watermelon was introduced to Xinjiang from Central Asia by Uighurs after 940 A.D., and was unearthed by archaeologists in the Tang tomb of Tianjiawan in the eastern suburb of Xi in 199 1, which strongly proves that watermelon was introduced to the mainland in the Tang Dynasty.
Another view mainly depends on the interpretation of ancient documents, such as "cold melon" and "five-color melon".
Of course, no matter what kind of statement, it can be seen that watermelon gradually spread to the south after the Five Dynasties at the latest, and the cultivation of watermelon gradually spread in the Central Plains and the Yangtze River Basin in the early Southern Song Dynasty. By the middle and late Southern Song Dynasty, watermelons had been widely planted in the south of the Yangtze River. After long-term cultivation and dissemination, the varieties of watermelons gradually increased, with more than 50 varieties recorded in local chronicles.
China people not only cultivated watermelons that we mainly eat flesh today, but also cultivated watermelons that mainly eat melon seeds, which may be the earliest melon seeds eaten by China people.
The book Taiping Universe, written in the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, recorded "melon seeds" for the first time in history. At that time, there was a local product called "melon seeds" in Youzhou.
Later, Wu Yue's widely circulated Song of the Year recorded the custom of "eating melon seeds":
Eat melon seeds in the first month, fly kites in February, plant underground seedlings in March, and burn spindles in the grave in April. ...
In the Ming dynasty, people ate from top to bottom, and watermelon seeds became more and more popular.
Although melon seeds first appeared in the Song Dynasty, they really prevailed in the late Yuan and early Ming Dynasties. The earliest record of watermelon seeds is Wang Zhen's agricultural book in Yuan Dynasty:
Watermelon is easy to get with the recommended tea.
The Dietary Guide also includes:
Eat melons (watermelons) before eating your son, so you won't be angry with melons.
Regarding eating watermelon seeds in the court, please refer to Liu Ruoyu, the eunuch in the late Ming Dynasty, who said that the former emperors (Zhu Yijun and Ming Shenzong) "roasted fresh watermelon seeds with a little salt". The cooking method of meals in the Forbidden City has influenced the preference of the upper class for melon seeds.
There are good things in the world, and there will be prosperity in the afterlife. Melon seeds are particularly popular among the people. There is a song called "Melon Seed Shell" which rose among the people during the Wanli period, including "Give Melon Seeds":
Guaren is not a strange commodity, but it was wrapped in a sweat towel and sent to my brother. One by one on the tip of my tongue. Courtesy is light, meaning is heavy, and there are not many good things. Pay more attention to my own brother and don't forget me.
In a word, emperors and generals, literati and ordinary people, men, women and children all like to eat melon seeds. In the Ming Dynasty, eating melon seeds has become a daily custom.
Qing dynasty: the variety increased, and watermelon seeds sat firmly in the first place.
As mentioned earlier, sunflowers and pumpkins were introduced into China during Jiajing period in the late Ming Dynasty, and a new crop often went through a long process from introduction to popularization, from appreciation to consumption. Even the success of a crop introduction may be the result of many introductions. Then the value of this crop was noticed and recorded by scholars, which should have been circulated in society for some time. Therefore, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds have become one of the mainstream snacks, which must have happened after the Qing Dynasty.
In the middle and early Qing Dynasty, watermelon seeds still occupied the first place in the "snack hot sale list". Inside and outside the imperial court, from royal officials to ordinary people, they all like to eat watermelon seeds.
Confucius' Preface to the Wind Festival in the early Qing Dynasty said: "Stir-fry watermelon seeds, put on sleeves and chew them on the road." During the Kangxi period, Zhao Wen wrote a poem "Eve", which recorded the situation of selling watermelon seeds along the street:
The edge of the spring is as light as water, and the red light is full of courtyard.
The leaked horses and chariots went home and sold melon seeds all night along the street.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Huang Junzai had statistics in Seven Ink in a Golden Pot. "Counting the smoke lamps of tea houses and restaurants at home and abroad, the daily consumption of watermelon seeds is about 30 stones, which is unexpected." "The tax situation in Haikou and Jinzhou is mainly about melon seeds every year, which are transported to Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Fujian for sale. The tax revenue is about 12,000, 12,000 or even 22,000." By the end of Qing Dynasty,
The French missionary Gubocha once lived in most parts of China around the middle of the 9th century, and his experience was extremely rich. He made a direct and detailed investigation on all aspects of China society. He described many watermelon seeds, and China people's love for watermelon seeds surprised him even more. In his book, he exaggerates China as a "rodent kingdom".
French missionary Gubocha (18 13- 1860) came to China in 1839 and began his journey across the Chinese empire in 1844. The picture above shows his book A Journey to the Chinese Empire.
Relatively speaking, sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds seemed a bit lonely in the Qing Dynasty. The earliest record of sunflower seed consumption is Kangxi's "Taoyuan Township Records":
Sunflower, also known as sunflower, is purple and yellow, and its son is old and edible;
In the Qing Dynasty, sunflowers were mainly used as ornamental plants, and their consumption and sales were only recorded occasionally. Later, it was not until the Republic of China that the large-scale planting of sunflowers was recorded in the Records of Hulan County, Heilongjiang Province.
Look at the pumpkin again. Pumpkin seeds are more popular than sunflower seeds. Since the late Qing Dynasty, there have been many edible records of pumpkin seeds, far exceeding sunflower seeds. Xianfeng's "Xing Yi Fu Zhi" and other earlier records:
This county produces the most pumpkins, especially the biggest ones. People in the county use melons as vegetables, and collect their sons for cooking, instead of watermelon seeds.
Pumpkin (pumpkin) seeds are fried and dried as food in the city, and they are sold in teahouses and hotels all year round, and people are scrambling to buy them.
The popularity of pumpkin seeds can be seen, but it is a substitute for watermelon seeds after all. Although it is widely eaten, it is still slightly inferior to watermelon seeds.
Republic of China: Three "sons" came to the fore, and sunflower seeds sprang up everywhere.
By the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds became popular, and the world of melon seeds became a three-legged situation. The aura of "old-fashioned" watermelon seeds gradually faded, and two new varieties, especially sunflower seeds, sprang up. This kind of snack called "sweet melon seeds" was quickly favored by Chinese people.
The Republic of China is an elegant era, and a series of actions of biting melon seeds are obviously not so "elegant" and can't stop the enthusiasm of Chinese people at all, so melon seed pliers came into being.
It is made of brass, light and small, and shaped like scissors. There are two or three half-moon gaps of different sizes on both sides, which can clamp open melon seeds of different sizes. Like the "crab eight pieces", this gadget gives more sense of ritual to eating melon seeds.
Of course, this is only for the rich, and others don't pay that much attention. They still like eating melon seeds.
Lu Xun in Xiao Hong's eyes is a veteran fan who never leaves his hand. Others have a glass of red wine with a movie, and Lu Xun has a cigarette with melon seeds. Temperament is so accurate!
Not only is Lu Xun crazy about eating melon seeds, but Lin Yutang also lists eating melon seeds as a great pleasure in life. In his own words, the joy of eating melon seeds is equally divided between biting melon seeds with your teeth and eating melon seeds.
Even more exaggerated is Huang Kan, the master of Chinese studies! When he was in class at Jinan University, he frantically told the students Amway melon seeds, saying that there was no sound of eating melon seeds in his ears. Even if you listen to this class interestingly, it's no fun for me to attend.
This shows the magic of eating melon seeds.
Until modern times, melon seeds still occupy an important position in the hearts of China people. They are not only the first choice for leisure, but also the best companions after a meal.
Small melon seeds have been unforgettable for thousands of years. Perhaps, what we long for is not only the fragrance of melon seeds, but the time that has been silently amazed by melon seeds, the simplest, most casual and most relaxed ordinary.