History of roasted sweet potato

At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, vendors baking sweet potatoes began to appear in the streets and lanes of Beijing, and most of their practitioners came from Shandong, Zhili and other counties. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Fu Cha Dunchong wrote the Chronicle of Yanjing, saying: "The diet of the capital is also related to the seasons. After October (lunar calendar), there are chestnuts, sweet potatoes and so on. " During the Republic of China, a scholar opened his mouth and wrote a doggerel for baking sweet potatoes: "Sweet potatoes are cooked with frost and pushed by carts along the street;" Children's food is popular, and a few pieces sell for a copper coin. The spicy taste is sweet and fragrant, and the sweet potato is actually baked yellow; Only when you make a fool of yourself do you know that the hawker is poor and busy. " Another scholar in the Republic of China, Xu Xia, also mentioned baked sweet potatoes in Beiping Lane Snacks, and summarized the characteristics of baked sweet potatoes as "fat, transparent and sweet". Fat is the kind of round baked sweet potato with thin skin and thick flesh; Head, refers to the skill of baking sweet potatoes, which can't be raw, baked or dried; Sweet is sweet but not greasy. The more you eat, the more fragrant it is, which makes people fondle it.

Speaking of baked sweet potatoes, I have to say his unique propaganda. Among the numerous hawking voices in old Beijing, the shouts of selling roasted sweet potatoes are somewhat different, and most of them do not directly shout: "Who will buy roasted sweet potatoes!" "On the contrary, he shouted," come to the bottom of the pot! Chestnut flavor! " Or "have a hot cup!" Mr Zang Hong, who is known as the "king of hawkers in Beijing", once vividly explained the shouts of selling roasted sweet potatoes in old Beijing: "The red pulp is high and the yellow pulp is sweet. When eating, the filling of moon cakes is not as good as it. This piece is two big (copper coins) ... "