When was sweet potato introduced into China?

Sweet potato is native to South America and the big and small Antilles, and is widely planted in tropical and subtropical areas all over the world, and also in most parts of China.

Sweet potato was first planted in Mexico and Colombia in Central America, and then brought to the Philippines and other countries by the Spanish. Sweet potato was introduced to China for the first time in Wanli period at the end of Ming Dynasty, and entered China in three ways-Yunnan, Guangdong and Fujian. ?

It is generally believed that sweet potato was introduced into China in the Ming Dynasty, and Chen Yi was the first person to introduce sweet potato into China. According to historical records, Chen Yi was born in Beizha, Humen, Dongguan, Guangdong. In the eighth year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1580), he dressed in cloth and wrapped his shoulders and set out for Annan (present-day Vietnam) by a friend's merchant ship.

When they arrived in Annan, the local chiefs put on formal dishes when they received them. This dish is sweet and smooth. Besides being very delicious, it can also satisfy hunger. This is sweet potato.

After that, Chen Yi paid special attention to the growth habits and cultivation methods of sweet potatoes. Two years later, on 1582, he risked his life, bribed a chief, hid potato seeds in a bronze drum and wanted to take them back to China secretly. Chen Yi bought 35 mu of land in front of his grandfather's grave on the hillside of Xiaojie Mountain in jinzhou area, Humen, and began to plant sweet potatoes on a large scale.

After the harvest, he decided to spread food widely, and chose his longevity spot next to the potato field to stay with the sweet potato. As "the first person to introduce sweet potato in China", Chen Yi has made great contributions to the development of grain sources in China.

In the Ming Dynasty, Chen Zhenlong, a native of Changle, Fujian, and his son Chen Jinglun, who had been doing business in Luzon (Philippines) for many years, saw a local root crop called "sweet potato", which was "as big as a fist, with scarlet skin, crisp and juicy heart, edible both raw and cooked, high yield and barren tolerance". Chen Zhenlong decided to introduce sweet potatoes to China when he thought of his hometown of Fujian, where there are many mountains and few fields, poor land and insufficient food.

Sail for seven days and return to Xiamen, Fujian in late May of the lunar calendar. Sweet potato is called "sweet potato" because it comes from abroad. Chen's introduction of sweet potato is discussed in Xu Guangqi's Agricultural Records and Tan Qian's Miscellaneous Jujube.

After sweet potato was introduced into China, it showed the excellent characteristics of strong adaptability and no land occupation, and it could spread to the mainland quickly. At the beginning of the 17th century, serious floods occurred in the south of the Yangtze River, resulting in crop failure and displacement of hungry people.

At that time, scientist Xu Guangqi was living in his home in Shanghai because of his father's death. He learned that the sweet potato planted in Fujian and other places is a good crop to save the famine, so he introduced it from Fujian to Shanghai and then to Jiangsu, and the harvest was good.

Chen Chuangui, the fifth grandson of Chen Zhenlong, introduced sweet potatoes to Zhejiang in the early years of Kangxi, and his son Chen Shiyuan took several younger generations to Henan, Hebei, Shandong and other places for extensive publicity to persuade them to plant sweet potatoes. According to the account, when Chen Shiyuan taught to grow sweet potatoes in the ancient town of Jiaozhou, Shandong Province, he personally cultivated seedlings, cut vines and branches, and harvested them in autumn, so he got a lot of potatoes, which were widely circulated and planted in competition. Sweet potato soon spread in North China.

During the Qianlong period, many places were planted by the government. In Zhili, the emperor even "encouraged planting in Zhili". Thanks to the active promotion of the government and the public, sweet potato soon spread widely throughout the country, becoming the fourth largest food crop in China after rice, wheat and corn. Sweet potato 1733 spread to Sichuan, 1735 spread to Yunnan and 1752 spread to Guizhou. Since then, traces of sweet potatoes have spread all over the southwest.

nutrition

Some people advocate that sweet potatoes should be eaten with skin, because sweet potatoes are rich in calcium and polyphenols. Wash the skin thoroughly before cooking, and even the skin can absorb nutrients when cooked; Moreover, because there is less pesticide added to sweet potatoes, you can buy sweet potatoes with better quality and cook them with skin, so that you can absorb complete nutrition. Sweet potato skin is rich in mucin and other polysaccharides, which can reduce blood cholesterol, maintain vascular elasticity and prevent cardiovascular diseases such as arteriosclerosis and hypertension.

Orange sweet potatoes are due to beta carotene, but not all sweet potatoes are orange. Except purple sweet potato, the sweet potato in Uganda is white-hearted, because the local climate makes it impossible for varieties with high carotene content to grow, and those that can grow will only produce a lot of carbohydrates.

Sweet potato contains a lot of dietary fiber, which can not be digested and absorbed in the intestine, and can enhance intestinal peristalsis. There is also an oxidase substance, which easily produces a large amount of carbon dioxide gas in human gastrointestinal tract. Eating too much sweet potato will make people bloat, burp and fart.

Sweet potato is one of the most abundant natural sources of β-carotene, which will be converted into vitamin A when it reaches the human body. Vitamin A is very important for human immune system and can keep eyes healthy.

eat

Baked sweet potato is a popular street food in East Asia. In China, sweet potatoes, usually yellow varieties, are baked in large iron drums in winter and sold as street food.

Sweet potato soup is served in winter, and sweet potato is boiled with rock sugar and ginger. In Fujian cuisine and Taiwan Province cuisine, sweet potatoes are often cooked with rice into porridge. Steamed sweet potato is a famous dish in Liancheng County. Sweet potato and green vegetables are common side dishes in Taiwan Province cuisine. They are usually cooked or fried and mixed with garlic and soy sauce, or simply seasoned with salt before eating.

They and dishes featuring sweet potato roots are very common in bento restaurants. In the northeastern cuisine of China, sweet potatoes are usually cut into pieces and fried, and then soaked in a pot of boiling syrup.

In some parts of India, sweet potatoes are cooked slowly over a coal fire in the kitchen at night and then eaten with seasoning. In the south, it is easier to simply boil or cook vegetables under pressure before peeling, cutting and seasoning them. In Tamil Nadu, it is called "Sakala Walikilangu".

It is cooked and eaten as a snack in the evening. In some parts of India, fresh sweet potatoes are sliced, dried and ground into flour; Then mix it with wheat flour and bake it into pancakes (bread). Some Indian communities convert 15% to 20% of the harvested sweet potatoes into pickles and snack chips. In India, some of the harvested tubers are used as feed for cattle.

In Pakistan, sweet potato is called shakarqandi, which can be used as vegetable or meat (chicken, mutton or beef). Ash baked sweet potatoes are sold as snacks and street food in Pakistan market, especially in winter.

Refer to the above? Baidu encyclopedia-sweet potato

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