There are two legends about the origin of Laba porridge. First, the dietary customs originated from faith. One is related to Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Let's start with faith. It is said that Buddha Sakyamuni traveled to famous mountains in India before becoming a Buddha. In order to explore the truth of life, he visited strange people, visited old people and practiced hard. One day, he came to the countryside of Mojeto, hungry and thirsty, and fainted to the ground. Then a kind shepherdess saved him with her lunch. This lunch was mixed with glutinous rice and glutinous rice porridge, and some wild fruits were added. Muny feels particularly sweet when she is in season. It was on this day that Yingshi Muny became a Buddha. This day is the eighth day of December, December is the twelfth lunar month, and the eighth day of December is commonly known as Laba. Later, on this day, monks chanted sutras and cooked porridge for the Buddha with torreya grandis and fruits to commemorate the day when the Buddha became a Buddha, so this porridge for the Buddha, called Laba porridge, was popular for a long time and gradually spread to the people. In fact, this statement is quite credible, because there are many records about Laba porridge in the past dynasties: Elder Meng: It is recorded in Tokyo's love love love: "It is the day when a temple holds a Buddha bath and sends seven treasures and five flavors of porridge to its disciples, which is called Laba porridge. Wu Dream Volume 6 December: "On the eighth day of this month, the temple name is Laba. Dasha and other temples have five kinds of porridge called Laba porridge. "On the eighth day, temples and people made porridge with walnuts, pine nuts, milk mushrooms, plums and chestnuts, which was called Laba porridge. This is recorded in Fu Cha Deng Chong's "Yanjing Age". Laba porridge is made of yellow rice, white rice, Redmi, millet, water chestnut, red beans and peeled jujube paste. , dyed with red peach kernels, almonds, melon seeds, peanuts, pine nuts, white sugar, brown sugar and grapes. "These are all records about Laba porridge found in allusions. However, among the people! There is another saying about the origin of Laba porridge, which was left by Zhu Yuanzhang, the Ming emperor. It is said that Zhu Yuanzhang was poor when he was a child, and his parents sent him to a rich man's house to herd cattle. The rich man treated him badly. He was often beaten and did not have enough to eat. One day, he came back from herding cattle and passed a wooden bridge. Unexpectedly, the old cow slipped, fell off the bridge and broke her leg. The old rich man was furious and put Zhu Yuanzhang in a room and refused to eat. He was so hungry that he wandered around the room looking for something to eat. Suddenly, he found a mouse hole in the room and opened it. I didn't expect it to be a granary for mice, with rice, beans and taro in it. Later, when Zhu Yuanzhang became emperor, he was tired of eating delicious food. One day, he suddenly remembered that when he was a child, he had eaten porridge cooked by five grains and beans dug in a mouse hole, so he asked the chef to make him a sweet porridge, and all kinds of five grains and beans were mixed together. The day he ate was the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, so it was called Laba porridge. Seeing that the emperor ate Laba porridge, the officials of the civil and military in the Qing Dynasty followed suit and gradually spread it to the people, becoming a custom. Nowadays, the custom of drinking Laba porridge has gradually lost its original intention, but it has become an interesting eating custom, because the cooking methods of porridge in various places are also varied, showing a strong local color. Health food The health food to be introduced today is Astragalus membranaceus, also known as Ginseng. Modern pharmacological research shows that Astragalus membranaceus contains polysaccharide, monosaccharide, xanthone, folic acid, various amino acids, cellulose, selenium, silicon and other trace elements, and has the functions of improving disease resistance, preventing colds, improving cardiopulmonary function, lowering blood pressure, protecting liver, promoting cell metabolism, diuresis, strengthening kidney and lowering blood sugar. Especially the elderly, with the aging of the body, cardiovascular diseases are prone to occur. Scientists have found that Astragalus plays a very important role in improving the metabolism of the elderly and preventing senile diseases. Therefore, often using Astragalus decoction, soaking in water as tea or stewed chicken soup with Astragalus and Lycium barbarum have good disease prevention and health care effects. Wax gourd chicken soup: ingredients: Astragalus, Lycium barbarum, a black chicken leg, ginger rice wine. Practice: After the chicken is slightly scalded, add Astragalus membranaceus, Lycium barbarum and ginger slices, stew for about 30 minutes, and then season with rice wine. This soup has the functions of invigorating qi and yang, invigorating qi and weakness, and relieving mental fatigue. Astragalus and Lycium barbarum have the effects of enhancing immunity and resisting cancer. Huangqi Jujube Beverage: Ingredients: Ginseng two yuan, Huangqi two yuan, Lycium barbarum and jujube each 1.5 yuan. Practice: put all the herbs into a pot and add water to boil, or brew with hot water. Regular drinking of this tea can enhance human immunity and can be used as daily health tea. Refreshing huangqi tea: ingredients: several pieces of cinnamon and one or two pieces of huangqi. Practice: 1. Wash the medicinal materials quickly with clear water. 2. Add 500cc of boiled tea, boil over high fire, and then turn to low heat until there is about 300cc left. Cinnamon and Astragalus can warm blood and lift qi, improve abdominal pain, increase gastrointestinal absorption function, and also have refreshing effect. Cooking with boiling water is nutritious and delicious. Many people put rice in cold water before cooking, but if the order is reversed: boil water first, then put rice, the vitamin B 1 in rice can be better preserved. Vitamin B 1 is the main nutrient in rice, which can protect the nervous system, promote gastrointestinal peristalsis and increase appetite. In the daily diet, we should try to avoid the loss of vitamin B 1. The tap water that people usually use for cooking is disinfected with chlorine. If you cook directly with this water, the chlorine in the water will greatly destroy the vitamin B 1 in rice. If the water is boiled first and then the rice is poured in, the chlorine in the water has basically evaporated, which will reduce the damage to vitamin B 1. Cooking with electric cookers and pressure cookers is inconvenient to separate water from rice. You can cook with boiled water. Rice contains a lot of starch, which is insoluble in cold water. Cooking rice with boiling water makes the rice in hot water with higher temperature from the beginning, which is beneficial to the expansion and rupture of starch, making it gelatinized as soon as possible and easier to be digested and absorbed by the human body.