How did ancient people escape the heat?

To make cold drinks, you must first have ice-making equipment, which of course was not possible in ancient times. However, they learned early on how to collect ice in winter for summer use, and they could use ice to make cold drinks. "Li of Zhou" records: "Ling Ren is in charge of ice. When he is in the first year of the year, in the twelfth month of the twelfth month, he orders the ice to be cut, and the third is Ling." This means that Ling Ren is in charge of ice affairs, and during the severe cold in December in winter, he presides over the ice cutting. thing. To store summer ice, three times the amount is needed, because two-thirds of it will melt in the cold. "The Book of Songs: July" says: "On the second day, the ice is cut and washed, and on the third day, it is collected in Lingyin." "The second day" and "the third day" refer to February and March of the weekly calendar, "Lingyin" ” refers to the ice cellar in the shade of the mountain. This poem talks about the time of digging and hiding ice in the bitter cold land of Shaanxi in ancient times.

Since the Zhou Dynasty, each subsequent dynasty has set up specialized officials to manage ice politics. Liu Tong of the Ming Dynasty mentioned in "A Brief Introduction to the Scenery of the Imperial Capital" that Beijing's imperial court ice harvesting in winter was in charge of "Zhongjuan", a close minister of the emperor. At that time, the ice harvesting time started on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month.

The ice stored in the cellar will be taken out and used when the summer heat comes. The emperor expressed a special favor by giving ice to his ministers: "In the summer of June, when the sun is scorching hot, and when the inner hall is attending court, he ordered the Hanlin Department to provide ice and snow" ("Meng Liang Lu" by Wu Zimu of the Song Dynasty); On the first day of summer, the ice will be opened, and it will be given to the ministers of civil and military affairs" ("Scenery of the Imperial Capital").

Whether in the palace or among the people, this kind of ice is generally not eaten directly. First, it is used for indoor cooling; second, it is used to cool food, so there are cold drinks.

In books such as "Tokyo Menghua Lu", "West Lake Old Man Fansheng Lu", "Meng Liang Lu", "Old Wulin Stories" and other books written by the Song Dynasty, Bianjing or Hangzhou were mentioned at that time Cold drinks include: sugared mung bean, pear juice, papaya juice, braised plum juice, black tea water, coconut wine, ginger honey juice, bitter water, perilla drink, lychee dew, white mash cold water, plum blossom wine, kumquat dumpling Snow foam, agarwood perfume, etc. It can be seen from this that ice juice and ice herbal tea are the two major categories of cold drinks in the Song Dynasty.

In "Qing Jia Lu" written by Gu Tieqing of the Qing Dynasty, he talked about the scene of selling "cold water" on the streets of Suzhou in summer: "The natives put ice in the cellar and the neighbors sold it on a load, which is called cold water. Or mixed with bayberry. , peach, and safflower, commonly known as 'ice bayberry', 'ice peach'. "The method is to place the ice around the tea or juice to cool it down. The Qing Dynasty's Rang Lian's "Spring and Ming Dynasty Years' Notes" records: "On the hot days... there are people who give away ice water, or make decoctions such as perilla leaves, hyacinth leaves, licorice and other soups in the market, which is called 'summer soup'." The book also mentioned that "the people who sell plum soup (yangmei soup) with copper cups in (Beijing) city are far away from selling watermelons."

There is also a kind of "jelly" that can be discussed. This "jelly" is light yellow in color, semi-solid and translucent. Add sugar water and juice to make it cool and delicious. It is made from the fruit of Xili. The method is to take out the sticky seeds from the hard shell, put them into a cloth bag, immerse them in cold water, and keep rubbing them with your hands to make the gelatin seep out of the bag. Within an hour, it had condensed into a translucent "jelly powder". "Magnolia is also known as mulberry. From the south of the Yangtze River, it is called 'wooden buns'. It is customary to soak its seeds in juice and make jelly to relieve summer heat."