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Wu Mei is no stranger to everyone. In addition to making sour plum soup that is suitable for both cold and hot, sweet and sour, many people prefer to eat it directly as a snack. Although ebony is black, in fact, it is not only a Chinese herbal medicine with the same medicine and food, but also the protagonist in many famous historical allusions.

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Wu Mei's Historical Allusions

Mume, also known as Shi Mei, Mume, Tang Mei Meat, Plum and Chun Mei, is a dry and nearly ripe fruit of Rosaceae Plum, which is planted all over China, especially in the provinces south of the Yangtze River Basin.

Plum has a long history of cultivation and consumption in China. 1979 found plum pits about 7000 years ago in Pei Ligang site, Henan province. 1962 also found wild plum pit fragments about 5200-5900 years ago in Songze site, Qingpu county, Shanghai. Plum fruit first appeared in Shennong Herbal Classic, a classic Chinese medicine book written in Han Dynasty.

When many people see plum blossoms, they will think of the historical allusion of "looking at plum blossoms to quench their thirst". It is said that when Cao Cao marched in the Three Kingdoms, he couldn't find a road with water because of fatigue. When he was very thirsty, Cao Cao told the soldiers that there was a plum fruit in front of him, sour and sweet, which made everyone drool and insisted on staying where there was water.

The story of Cao Cao and Mei doesn't stop there. There is a classic plot in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, "Plum Blossoms Boil Wine on Heroes", which refers to the story that Cao Cao, who was in charge of the Korean Bureau before the Battle of Guandu, used a banquet to test whether Liu Bei had the ambition to dominate the world, and was finally deceived by Liu Bei's clever words. At the banquet, plum blossoms were boiled and drunk in the jar.

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From dark plum to sour plum soup

Although these two allusions and stories are not directly related to mume, they are enough to show that the fruit of mume is sweet and sour, and it is precisely because of this that a traditional summer drink, sour plum soup, has been produced for thousands of years.

The main raw materials for making sour plum soup are ebony, hawthorn, dried tangerine peel, osmanthus fragrans, licorice and rock sugar. These materials can be used as tea drinks when boiled. According to legend, sour plum soup was invented by Xu Fu, the physician of Qin Shihuang. At that time, Qin Shihuang felt that he had no appetite and was still suffering from working all day and drinking too much. The doctors did their best, but Qin Shihuang's condition still didn't improve. In desperation, Xu Fu thought of the case of treating anorexia with ebony before, so he devoted himself to research. Finally, after several improvements, the sour plum soup was made. After Qin Shihuang took over, he got better and rewarded Xu Fu. He also named this sweet and sour soup "Xu Gongyin".

In the Qing dynasty, sour plum soup was improved in the imperial chef and became a royal drink, especially loved by emperor Qianlong. It is called "Qing Gong Yi Yu Bao Wuzhimei Decoction" because of its effects of clearing away heat and cooling the heart, resolving phlegm and relieving cough, dispelling epidemic and quenching thirst.

Later, it was introduced to the people, so vendors selling sour plum soup can be seen everywhere in the streets. To this day, sour plum soup is still a very popular drink.

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Practical knowledge of ebony

Everyone knows that ebony can be used to cook delicious sour plum soup, so how should we buy ebony in our daily use? You should know this knowledge.

? The difference between dark plum and green plum

Mume is a nearly ripe fruit of Mume, which is a kind of dual-purpose Chinese herbal medicine for medicine and food after low-temperature drying and stewing until the epidermis shrinks and the color turns black. What we usually call green plum is also the fruit of plum tree, but it can be eaten without processing. The dark plum and green plum mentioned here are actually different states of plum fruit.

In addition, there is an evergreen tree of Prunus of Dipterocarpaceae, also called plum blossom. However, ebony of Dipterocarpaceae used to be used as high-quality wood, and its fruit was rarely eaten as fruit.

? Where can I buy the most authentic ebony?

Pickled and dried ebony can generally be bought in the dried fruit area of the supermarket, and this ebony can be eaten directly; If it is used to make sour plum soup, it is best to go to the drugstore to buy ebony with the same origin of medicine and food. This ebony needs to be boiled in water to exert its best flavor effect.

? Identification and Selection of Mume

First of all, from the appearance and shape, the genuine ebony is round or irregularly oblate, while the fake ebony is oblate or slightly oblate. The surface of true ebony is extremely shriveled, while the surface of fake ebony is flat and shriveled is not obvious. Secondly, from the color point of view, genuine products are brown-black to black, while counterfeit products are gray-brown or black-brown. Thirdly, from the perspective of stone, there are many pits on the surface of real stone, while the edge of fake stone is thick and has grooves, and there are no pits on the surface. Fourth, judging from the smell, the genuine product is extremely sour and smoky, while the counterfeit product is only a little sour, and its acidity is far less than ebony.

The seemingly ordinary ebony has so much interesting knowledge. The temperature is rising gradually, so arrange sour plum soup quickly.