In the 6th century Tao Hongjing's "Bielu of Famous Doctors", it was written: "The best sugarcane comes from Jiangdong, and there are also good ones in Luling. There is a kind that grows every year in Guangzhou. They are all as big as bamboos and more than ten feet long. The juice is made from sugar, even Benefiting people." The sugarcane planting area described here has become wider, the sugarcane planting technology has also been improved, and sugar has been produced. This kind of sugar is made by concentrating cane juice until it naturally crystallizes and becomes honey-rich sugar. The processing technology of sugarcane glutinous rice is a step further improved than the previous one.
Tang and Song Dynasties
The handicraft sugar production stage began in the Warring States Period. After the sugar cane pulp was obtained from sugar cane, sugar cane planting became increasingly prosperous, and sugar cane sugar production technology gradually improved. After nearly a thousand years of development, by the Tang and Song Dynasties, a large-scale workshop-style sugar production industry had been formed. .
In 647 AD, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty sent people to India to learn how to boil sugar. There is such a record in the "New Book of Tang" written by Ouyang Xiu and Song Qi: "...in the 21st year of Zhenguan, he sent envoys from Tongtianzi to offer Boluo trees, which are like poplar trees. Taizong sent envoys to learn how to boil sugar, That is to say, the sugar cane in Yangzhou is as heavy as its dosage, and the color and taste are as far as the western regions." This shows that in the frequent cultural and scientific and technological exchanges between China and India, there is also an exchange of experience in sugar-making technology.
Since the formation of handicraft sugar production in the Tang and Song Dynasties, sugar production technology has gradually developed. Some new technologies and new processes have appeared one after another. New varieties such as white sugar and rock sugar produced by indigenous methods have also appeared one after another. At the same time, some sugar production has also theoretical works.
In 674 AD, China invented the dripping method to produce native sugar. This method uses a set of funnel-shaped pottery, equipped with earthen jars and other small facilities. The sugarcane juice is boiled to a considerable concentration and then poured into the pottery (funnel-shaped pottery). Yellow mud slurry is poured in from above, and the yellow mud slurry is absorbed by it. Preparation of white sugar by decolorization. The emergence of white sugar marked a new height in sugar-making technology. This indigenous method of making sugar has been used in China for more than a thousand years.
During the Dali period of the Tang Dynasty (766-779), sugar cane was used to produce rock sugar in Suining, Sichuan. The production of rock sugar adds unique products to the sugar industry.
The sugar handicraft industry flourished in the Tang and Song Dynasties, and the variety and quality of the sugar produced reached a very high level. Sugar products are not only sold throughout the country, but also exported to Persia, Rome and other places, promoting international trade. The widespread sugar handicraft industry has expanded to many regions across the country, such as today's Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Sichuan and other places. During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, a large number of immigrants from Fujian and Guangdong immigrated to Taiwan, and they also brought with them the technology of growing cane and making sugar. Because Taiwan's climate is suitable for growing sugar cane, the sugar industry quickly developed and became one of China's major sugar production bases.
Although China's sugar industry is developing rapidly, the sugar produced still contains some impurities.
Because of the presence of these impurities, the color of the icing is not pure white.
Also because of the presence of these impurities, sugar has some other flavors.
In addition, the output of sugar frost is relatively low now, so sugar frost is now a luxury product both in Ming Dynasty and abroad.
Although it is recorded that ordinary people like to eat it, the real situation is that ordinary people can only eat it three or two times a year.
The reason why Zhu Youjian chose frosting is because the world is currently in the Little Ice Age, the weather is cold, and freezing to death in winter is nothing new.
The Ming Dynasty also needed warm cloth, silk, etc. In recent years, the court also purchased cotton cloth from the Mughal Empire.
