Why do people in China like to eat melon seeds so much?

Since the Ming Dynasty, emperors, generals and ordinary people all like to eat melon seeds.

The custom of eating melon seeds was popular in the Ming Dynasty, and it became more and more serious in the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China. Before the late Qing Dynasty, "melon seeds" were mainly watermelon seeds. Since the late Qing dynasty, pumpkin seeds have been popular, and sunflower seeds have sprung up in the Republic of China, which finally decided the situation of three pillars.

From revolutionary leaders to ordinary people: how did melon seeds become popular?

China people like to eat melon seeds, which may come from the concept of thrift, and then gradually go deep into the level of food culture and become a custom. The custom of eating melon seeds probably originated in the north, not only because the records of eating melon seeds are mainly found in historical documents in the north, but also because the winter in the north is cold and long. During the slack season, everyone stays at home to avoid the cold-figuratively speaking, it is called "cat winter", and the main ways to kill time are eating melon seeds and chatting. The custom of eating melon seeds has been handed down like this.

As far as I can see, Taiping Universe, which was written in the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, recorded "melon seeds" for the first time in history (Volume 69, Eighteen Youzhou, Hebei Road). Later, Wu Yue's widely circulated Song of the Year recorded the custom of "eating melon seeds": "Eating melon seeds in the first month, flying kites in February, planting underground seedlings in March, and burning spindles at the grave in April ..." Why does "eating melon seeds" rank first among all things? When did the tradition that China people like to eat melon seeds begin? It is unknown, but it is certain that it was very popular in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

There is a poem "Night" in Zhao Wen's "Zi Zhuang Xuan Poetry Collection" during the Kangxi period: "The edge of spring is as light as water, and the red light fills the courtyard steps, and the horses and chariots return, selling melon seeds all night along the street." During the Qianlong period, Pan Rongbi's "Ji Sheng at the Age of Jingdi" also recorded Beijing's New Year's Day: "Selling melon seeds to relieve boredom, selling rice wine and playing ice lanterns ... comparable to firecrackers, it sounds good." "On the occasion of the New Year, Emperor Qianlong set up a trading street in the garden (Yuanmingyuan). In the form of market shops, there are antique shops, clothing stores and restaurants.

Literary works are rooted in reality. There are plots of selling and eating melon seeds in Ming and Qing novels such as Jin Ping Mei, A Dream of Red Mansions and Flowers of Evil.

The scene of Daiyu eating melon seeds in the TV series A Dream of Red Mansions

There is a song "Give Melon Seeds" in the folk tune "Melon Seed Shell" which rose in the Wanli period: "Melon seeds are not exotic goods, but are wrapped in sweat towels to send my brother. One by one on the tip of my tongue. Courtesy is light, meaning is heavy, and there are not many good things. Thanks brother, don't forget me. " Feng Menglong commented: "The first sentence of the old saying,' Gua Ren Er is a rare commodity', is meaningless and does not conform to the etiquette. Today's cloud' this is not a strange goods' is wonderful. " In the middle and early Qing Dynasty, "the annual tax payment in Jinzhou Haikou was mainly about melon seeds, which were transported to Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Fujian provinces for sale, and the tax amount was about 12 thousand or 12 thousand, or even 22 thousand." By the end of the Qing dynasty, "melon seeds earned about 15 thousand Jin a year, and there was no large market in Hekou and Hankou except for the natives." It can be seen that the consumption of melon seeds should not be underestimated.

During the Republic of China, Mr. Feng Zikai spent a lot of time describing the custom of eating melon seeds in China. He thinks that the technology of eating melon seeds in China is the most advanced and developed. "At banquets and teahouses, I saw countless masters who ate melon seeds. Recently, the melon seeds king sold well, and the children in our country also learned the stunt of biting melon seeds. " Mr. Feng Zikai hates eating melon seeds to "kill time" and criticizes eating melon seeds as a national bad habit. He said, "Apart from smoking opium, there is no better way than eating melon seeds, and the most effective one has three conditions for it: one is insatiable, the other is not enough to eat, and the third is to shell."

Contemporary writer Quan Yanchi's documentary literature "The Leader at the Dining Table" also mentioned that "Mao Zedong likes to eat black melon seeds (watermelon seeds), Liu Shaoqi likes to eat sunflower seeds, and Jeremy goldkorn puts everything he can eat into his mouth regardless of black and white ... Every night at a meeting, Mao Zedong (melon seeds) builds a' Baota shan', Liu Shaoqi piles a' yurt', and Jeremy goldkorn sometimes can't even hold a dustpan, so he has to hold it twice.

In a word, emperors and generals, literati and ordinary people, men, women and children all like to eat melon seeds. In the Ming Dynasty, eating melon seeds has become a life custom of China people.

They are all "intruders": How can watermelon seeds, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds stand on three legs?

Melon seeds are nothing more than sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and watermelon seeds. Other melon seeds cannot be mass-produced or eaten as snacks. Sunflowers and pumpkins are both American crops. 1492 After Columbus discovered America, they were introduced to China, probably in the first half of16th century, that is, during the Jiajing period in the late Ming Dynasty. A new crop often goes through a long process from introduction to popularization, from appreciation to eating, and even the success of a crop introduction may be the result of many introductions. Then the value of the crop is noticed and recorded by scholars, and it will spread in society for a period of time. Therefore, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds have become one of the mainstream snacks, which must have been a long time since the Qing Dynasty.

Documentary records also prove this point. As far as I can see, the earliest record of sunflower seeds is Kangxi's "Taoyuan Township Records": "Sunflower, also known as sunflower, is purple, yellow and white, and its son eats it when he is old"; The earliest record of selling sunflower seeds is "Textual Research on Plant Names": "(Sunflower) can be fried, slightly fragrant, and sold in the market together with pumpkin seeds and watermelon seeds in Yunnan and Guizhou". However, the fact that sunflower seeds were sold in Yunnan and Guizhou in the late Qing Dynasty does not mean that sunflower seeds have become popular snacks.

In the Qing Dynasty, sunflowers were mainly used as ornamental plants, and their consumption and sales were only recorded occasionally. During the Republic of China (Heilongjiang), the large-scale planting of sunflowers was recorded earlier in the Records of Hulan County. "Sunflower seeds are edible, and some people talk about mu seeds", which shows that sunflower seeds have become popular.

Looking at pumpkins, pumpkin seeds are more popular than sunflower seeds, and the earliest sales record of pumpkins is also Textual Research on Plant Names. However, since the late Qing Dynasty, there have been many edible records of pumpkin seeds, far exceeding sunflower seeds. Earlier records, such as "Xingyi County Records" by Xianfeng (Guizhou), said: "The county produces the most pumpkins, especially the biggest one. The county people take melons as their vegetables and fry them with their sons to replace watermelon seeds." In addition, the popularity of "(pumpkin) white wine with tea is expensive in Jinchuan" and "pumpkin ... pumpkin seeds can be seen. However, in the Republic of China, although pumpkin seeds were widely eaten, they were still slightly inferior to watermelon seeds.

Although sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds are also members of melon seeds, they have been popular in society since modern times-pumpkin seeds have been popular since the late Qing Dynasty and sunflower seeds have been popular since the Republic of China. During the Republic of China, sunflower seeds were often called "fragrant melon seeds", which was not common in the late Qing Dynasty, or it can be said that sunflower seeds were popular during the Republic of China. So what is the popular custom of eating melon seeds since the Ming Dynasty? It is not difficult to speculate that it must be watermelon seeds.

Watermelon seeds are the most popular in China.

There are many varieties of watermelon, and the variety differentiation is caused by natural selection hundreds of years after introduction. Since the Yuan Dynasty, there have been more than 50 varieties of watermelons recorded in local chronicles, not only watermelons that we mainly eat pulp today, but also watermelons that mainly eat melon seeds. The latter, also known as melon seeds and watermelon, has various cultivation methods and different names in different regions, such as melon, seed melon, seed melon and melon seeds.

Increase your knowledge! Why do people in China like to eat melon seeds?

Seed melon, a variety of watermelon, is mainly used to obtain melon seeds.

As far as the author is concerned, the earliest record that watermelon seeds are edible is Wang Zhennong's book in Yuan Dynasty: "(Watermelon) seeds are dried by explosion, and it is easy to get them with recommended tea", and the "Instructions for eating utensils" in the late Yuan and early Ming Dynasties also says: "After eating watermelon, you should not be angry with your offspring". However, is this the "melon seed" in the special products of Youzhou in Taiping Universe?

Mr. Ye Jingyuan, a scholar of agricultural history, thinks that "there are melon seeds in Taiping Universe, but there are no watermelons, which shows that watermelons were cultivated in the early stage after they were introduced into China", and Mr. Peng Shijie also thinks that "there are melon seeds in the native products of Yanzhou in Taiping Universe". Watermelon seeds have been eaten as snacks since the Yuan Dynasty at the latest, and may even be traced back to the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty.

Regarding eating watermelon seeds in the court, please refer to Liu Ruoyu, the eunuch in the late Ming Dynasty, who said that the former emperors (Zhu Yijun and Ming Shenzong) "roasted fresh watermelon seeds with a little salt". The method of making imperial palace meals has influenced the preference of the upper class for melon seeds, and further influenced the people. In the early Qing Dynasty, Confucius said, "Stir-fry watermelon seeds, put on sleeves and chew all the way." In the late Qing Dynasty, Huang Junzai had statistics in Seven Ink in a Golden Pot. "Counting the smoke lamps in tea houses, wine markets and prostitutes' houses at home and abroad, the daily consumption of watermelon seeds is about 30 stones, which is unexpected. "It can be seen that the consumption of watermelon seeds is huge.

The French missionary Gubocha once lived in most parts of China around the middle of the 9th century, and his experience was extremely rich. He made a direct and detailed investigation on all aspects of China society. He described many watermelon seeds:

Increase your knowledge! Why do people in China like to eat melon seeds?

French missionary Gubocha (18 13- 1860) came to China in 1839 and began his journey across the Chinese empire in 1844. The picture above shows his book A Journey to the Chinese Empire.

"China people especially like watermelon seeds, so watermelons are essential in China ... In some places, watermelons are worthless at the time of harvest, and they are preserved only for the seeds inside. Sometimes, a large number of watermelons are transported to busy roadsides and given to passers-by for free, provided that the melon seeds are left to the owner after eating ... For the 300 million people of the Chinese Empire, watermelon seeds are really a cheap treasure. Eating melon seeds is a kind of daily consumption in 18 province. Watching these people use melon seeds as appetizers before eating is really an intriguing sight ... If a group of friends get together for tea and drink, there will definitely be watermelon seeds on the table. People on business trips eat melon seeds, and children or craftsmen will buy this delicious food as long as they have a few coins in their pockets. You can buy it on the street or on the roadside. Even in the most desolate areas, you don't have to worry about finding watermelon seeds. Throughout the Qing empire, this form of consumption is indeed an incredible and unimaginable thing. Sometimes, you will see rivers and mountains sailing with wooden boats full of this beloved cargo. To tell the truth, you may think that you have come to an animal kingdom.