China News Service, Beijing, June 23 (Reporter Shangguan Yun) "Withered vines, old trees and crows, air-conditioning WIFI watermelon." Recently, many places have continued to suffer from high temperature, and when the weather is hot, many people will use this sentence A joke to describe the ideal way to spend the summer.

  In the hot summer, eating cold drinks is probably a favorite way for many people to cool off.

In fact, in ancient times, there were actually a lot of cold drinks, which could be called "Internet celebrity" food at that time.

In this regard, Cheng Peng, an assistant researcher at the Institute of Literature of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, told Chinanews.com that there were foods similar to ice cream in ancient times, such as "sushan" in the Tang Dynasty.

Ge Hong invented herbal tea?

  There are many cold drinks in the ancients, and there are different cold drinks in different periods.

Data map: The "Bird Zun" ice cream in the shape of the treasure of the town hall of the Shanxi Museum, next to the bird Zun bronze model.

Photo by Hu Jian

  Cheng Peng introduced that, for example, in the Han Dynasty, there was a honey water, which was made by adding honey to cold well water and stirring it.

Ge Hong, a medical scientist in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, invented herbal tea, which can not only cool down and relieve heat, but also relieve fire, so it became a summer drink.

  During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, people called "drinks" "drinks".

"Yinzi" is made from fruits or herbs, which can not only quench thirst, but also clear away heat and detoxify.

However, at this time, although cold drinks were sold in the private sector, they were expensive.

  With the development of society, shops specializing in selling cold drinks appeared in Song Dynasty. In the painting "Across the River during Qingming Festival" created by painter Zhang Zeduan in the Northern Song Dynasty, some stalls specializing in selling "drinks" were depicted.

  In the Northern Song Dynasty, ice-cold beverages were also more popular, and sweet and sour beverages such as mung bean soup and lychee cream water were introduced, which became cool and refreshing by cooling down with ice cubes.

  During the Southern Song Dynasty, in order to attract customers, vendors gave their drinks many elegant names, such as "Xuebao Plum Blossom Wine" and "Xuebao Bean Water".

According to historical records such as "Shi Lin Guang Ji", there are dozens of cold drinks on the market at that time.

  During the Ming and Qing dynasties, delicious cold drinks emerged one after another.

In the Qing Dynasty, in addition to common beverages such as sour plum soup and watermelon juice, a drink called "Dutch water" appeared, similar to lemonade.

The ancient cold drink is very trendy!

  In the hot summer, it is quite pleasant to have an ice cream.

So in ancient times, was there any "net celebrity" cold drink?

  Cheng Peng said that when it comes to cold drinks similar to the current ice cream, "Sushan" must be the first.

At present, it first appeared in the Tang Dynasty.

Drawing: Zhang Jianyuan

  The method of making Sushan is a little more complicated. First, "su" (a dairy product) is heated to an almost melted and very soft state, and then dripping on a utensil such as a plate, slowly pouring out the shape of a mountain, and finally Freeze in the freezer.

  In order to make Sushan delicious and good-looking, people will also embellish the lining when placing the plate.

Later, in addition to the white "Sushan", there also appeared the red or green "Sushan" dyed by "Guifei Red" or "Meidaiqing".

  The "ice cheese" in Song Dynasty is a cold drink made by adding sugar, cheese and other ingredients to crushed ice or shaved ice.

There is also sorbet. In winter, take a basin of water, add a little sugar, mix with fruit juice and pectin, bring it outdoors to make it freeze, and then store it in the ice cellar.

  Of course, there are also cold drinks similar to milk tea.

In the "Tokyo Dream Hualu" written by Meng Yuanlao in the Song Dynasty, it was recorded that the famous ice product at that time-Bingxue Lengyuanzi was a dessert made of soybean powder and sugar, kneaded into small balls, and then added with ice water.

  Cultural people taste cold drinks, always with a little bit of poetry.

For example, Su Shi's "The weeping willows are overcast and the sun is shining, and the sugarcane cheese powder is cold on a golden plate", referring to the frozen cheese sugarcane pulp; Yang Wanli's "Ying Su" vividly describes the famous cold drink - Sushan.

Where does ice come from?

  The ancients used ice to make cold drinks.

But there was no refrigerator in ancient times, so where did the ice come from?

  In this regard, Cheng Peng said, one is for winter and summer use, and the other is artificial ice making.

In fact, people have long learned to store ice in winter and use it in summer. As early as the "Book of Songs", there is a description of ice storage activities in the Shang and Zhou dynasties.

Data map: In a cold drink shop in Taiyuan Food Street, Shanxi, the staff displayed old vinegar ice cream.

Photo by Zhang Yun

  For example, in "Guofeng·Binfeng·July", there is a verse that "cuts the ice on the second day, and takes it in Lingyin on the third day", which means that the ice is cut in December and moved into the ice cellar in the first month.

  However, in ancient times, ice harvesting, ice making, ice transportation, and ice storage were time-consuming and labor-intensive and the conditions were harsh. Only the court and dignitaries could do it, so the ice in summer became a precious thing, and the court often gave ice to officials in summer. .

  In the folk, in the Tang Dynasty, there appeared "ice merchants" who stored ice privately. They dug their own ice cellars and stored ice in ice wells and sold them in summer, but the prices were expensive and far from what ordinary people could enjoy.

  At the end of the Tang Dynasty, people mined a large amount of saltpeter when producing gunpowder. It was found that when saltpeter was dissolved in water, it would absorb a lot of heat, which could cool the water to the point of freezing.

Later, the price of ice cubes gradually dropped.

  Cheng Peng believes that folk customs have strong inheritance characteristics. Herbal tea and cold cakes are all available in ancient times. "Many of our current diets have a long history." (End)