Sour plum soup has a thousand years of history and is one of the oldest traditional beverages in China.
Origin of sour plum juice
Plum juice drink has a very long history. As early as the Shang and Zhou dynasties, ancients knew that plum juice was used to extract the sour taste as a drink. The oldest Chinese classic, the plum jelly mentioned in the Book of Rites, was an important drink at that time.
In the Song Dynasty, plum juice beverages had become popular. The Song Dynasty document “Menglianglu” describes that ebony, amomum and other decoctions were used in teahouses to replace tea at that time, which resembled today’s sour plum soup; “Wulin Old Things” described the brined plum water in the fairs in Hangzhou during the Southern Song Dynasty. , Is also a refreshing drink, which is closer to sour plum soup.
In the Yuan Dynasty, the name plum soup finally appeared. In “Drinking Zheng Yao” there is “white plum soup”, which is a drink prepared with white plum meat as the main ingredient; “Cooked Plum Soup” in “The Complete Collection of Necessary Things for Home” is a drink with yellow plum as the main ingredient. There is also “Taigotang”, which uses ebony and honey as the main ingredients, which has the effect of quenching thirst and relieving heat, which is very close to the sour plum soup. In “Jin Ping Mei”, there is already a description of plum soup, which can be “sweet” or “sour” according to the taste.
At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang used ebony plum as the main ingredient, combined with hawthorn and licorice Chinese medicine, and boiled it into soup. According to legend, Zhu Yuanzhang also used sour plum soup to cure the plague at that time, and later became a daily health drink in the Ming court. The sour plum soup industry even regards Zhu Yuanzhang as the ancestor. It is not difficult to find the portrait of Zhu Yuanzhang in many sour plum soup specialty stores.
In the Qing Dynasty, the sour plum soup was popular in the imperial palace, during which it was especially liked by Emperor Qianlong. According to the records of the Qing palace, in response to Emperor Qianlong’s healthy diet requirements, the Imperial Tea House at that time trial-produced a variety of sour plum soups-called ebony soup in the palace, based on various recipes circulating in the Central Plains. Among the many plum soups, Emperor Qianlong appointed the simplest one, sweet-scented osmanthus plum soup.
Practice of sour plum juice
Material: 50g ebony, 50g hawthorn; Accessories: 6g licorice, 10g sweet-scented osmanthus
- Step 1
Prepare hawthorn, ebony, licorice, and sweet-scented osmanthus.
- Step 2
Wash ebony, hawthorn slices, and licorice with water.
- Step 3
Soak ebony plum and hawthorn slices in water until soft.
- Step 4
Put enough water in the pot, add ebony plum, hawthorn slices, licorice, and sweet-scented osmanthus wrapped in gauze and put it in the pot. Bring to a boil.
- Step 5
Turn to low heat and cook for 40 minutes, add rock sugar and cook for another 10 minutes.
- Step 6
Drain off the residue, pour out the sour plum soup, let it cool and drink it, the taste will be better after refrigeration
Tips
- Do not use an iron pot or pressure cooker to stew the sour plum soup, it is recommended to use a casserole, a stainless steel pot and a rice cooker;
- Not recommended for pregnant women and breastfeeding women;
