Although the word "Xin" means "spicy" in today's dictionary, the so-called "Xin" taste of the ancients is not the taste of pepper. The so-called pungent smell of the ancients refers to the pungent smell of ginger and onion. The ancients had another saying of "five flavors" or "five meats", specifically referring to five spices; But there are no peppers in traditional spicy dishes in China. The origin of pepper is obviously not in China.
George Peter Mudak, an American anthropologist, believes that English peppers are taken from the language of the Aztecs (a branch of North American Indians) in ancient Mexico, and their food is rich in flavor, "especially peppers, which are used to make Satra's spicy soy sauce or the seasoning of almost every food. Pepper is native to Central and South America. It was originally the most important condiment for Indians. /kloc-At the end of 0/5th century, it was spread to Europe by the Spanish.
/kloc-At the end of 0/6, pepper was introduced to China, and it was called "pepper". The spectrum of grass flowers in the Ming Dynasty recorded an exotic grass flower named "Fanjiao". 159 1 year, pepper has been introduced and cultivated as an ornamental flower in China, but it has not been used in diet. During the Qianlong period of Qing Dynasty, peppers were eaten as vegetables by China people. According to reports, the earliest people who ate Chili peppers in China were all in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, the so-called "Xiajiang people".
Because peppers originally came from overseas, Xiajiang area bears the brunt, and it is reasonable for Xiajiang people to try these new foods first. When Xiajiang people were addicted to peppers, Sichuanese didn't know what peppers were. During the Qianlong period, Li Huanan wrote, and his son Li compiled "Awakening the Garden", which is the earliest special work to reflect the history of Sichuan cuisine. However, the whole book does not use the shadow of pepper. During the Jiaqing period in the late Qing Dynasty, Sichuan county records began to see the records of planting pepper.
During the reign of Jia Dao, peppers were widely planted in western Sichuan. The "sea pepper" that people in western Sichuan often say, just like the "pepper" called by the Ming Dynasty, tells us that it comes from a foreign country. During the Jiaqing period, Zanthoxylum bungeanum has entered the circulation field of eastern Sichuan centered on Chongqing as a commodity.
The Selected Archives of Jiadaoba County in Qinggan, co-edited by the History Department of Sichuan University and the Sichuan Provincial Archives, shows that Nanchuan, located at the junction of Sichuan and Guizhou, is rich in peppers. The fifth volume of Daoguang Nanchuan County Records In the first year of Xianfeng, "native vegetables" had the name of "pepper", which should be the local people's title for pepper. During the Daoguang period in Zunyi, Guizhou, which is adjacent to Nanchuan, peppers were also widely planted under the influence of Sichuanese. However, experts concluded that pepper was introduced into China not by land but by sea. No wonder Sichuanese call it "sea pepper"!
Pepper was widely planted in rural areas of Sichuan in the late Qing Dynasty, and the varieties were quite complete. According to the "Overview of Chengdu" edited by Fu Chongju in Xuantong Yuan Dynasty, the farm plants in Chengdu are: Dahongpao Sea Pepper, Chaotianzi Sea Pepper, Niuzihai Pepper, Lantern Sea Pepper, Horn Sea Pepper and Chicken Heart Sea Pepper. Four seasons vegetables in Chengdu: green pepper in May, red pepper and lantern pepper in June, lantern pepper in July, sea pepper and red pepper in August. Pickles in Chengdu are made of salt water and wine, and everyone has them: fish pepper, pickled sea pepper, fish mixed with sea pepper, Chili sauce and bean paste.
The products displayed by foreign farmers include pepper in Yanting County, big vermilion pepper in Shifang County, red pepper, sea pepper in Jingyan County, pepper in Nanjiang County, red pepper in Bishan County, pepper in Xichang County, Gaoshu pepper in Jintang County, honey pepper in Liangshan County, fine red pepper in Xinjin County, seven-star sea pepper in Neijiang County, hot sauce, bean office and Pengxi County. Nanbu county Horn Red Pepper, Qiongzhou Pepper Seed and Bean Office, Wenjiang Bean Office and Pea Office, Wanxian Tree Pepper, Lezhi Horn Pepper, Lantern Pepper and Wuzi Pepper.
Pepper seed in Yingjing County, line pepper in Shuangliu County, chicken heart pepper, spicy bean in Meizhou, long gold bar pepper in pengshan county, red bean curd, pepper in Hezhou, pepper in Shizhu Hall, pepper with horn in Jiangbei Hall, pepper seed in Chengdu County, pickled pepper bean, red pepper and pepper in Huayang County. Zhongzhou pepper, Shehong bean paste, Xindu pepper, Jianzhou pepper seed lantern, Bazhou pepper species, Hejiang pepper, Kaixian specialty, Qingshen pepper, pepper seed spicy bean, Pixian red bean paste, guanxian pepper, Xichong pepper and Aodong pepper.
Five products in Chengdu are: sea pepper powder and hot oil sea pepper. There are 266 kinds of "dishes", among which 6 kinds of hot pepper dishes are hot sea cucumber, hot and sour squid, sliced pepper chicken, spicy chicken, fish with Chili vinegar, and shredded pork with new peppers, accounting for only 2.25%. The price of vegetables in Chengdu South Restaurant is 480 spicy chicken, 320 spicy fish, 640 spicy sea cucumber and 480 pepper chicken. There are 1 13 kinds of home-cooked dishes in Chengdu, among which the spicy ones are: Sichuan-style pork, Chili pepper meat, spicy chicken, pepper chicken, cold belly, miscellaneous pig ears, cold tongue, cold rice noodles, cold rice noodles, cold large intestines and fried meat with sea pepper * * 165438. At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, the spicy taste in Chengdu snacks increased, especially among young men and women. Young men and women in Chengdu still like spicy food.
Tsui Hark's Notes on Clearing Barn says: People who are addicted to food have different eating habits because they are still used to it. Take it for example, northerners like to eat onions and garlic, Yunnan, Guizhou, Hunan and Sichuan people like to eat spicy food, Cantonese people like to eat light food, and Su people like to eat sugar. Among the four spicy provinces, Hunan and Hubei provinces have the highest enthusiasm for peppers. "Hunan and Hubei people have two meals a day and like to eat spicy food. Although they eat in front of the abbot, they are full of mistakes. " The eating habits in various places are so distinct that they should be gradually formed from the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China. Although Sichuanese love to eat sea pepper, Sichuan flavor is not the word "spicy". According to statistics, there are more than 3,000 kinds of Sichuan cuisine, among which the proportion of spicy dishes is less than 30%.