Ingredients: dried ebony (half a catty), hawthorn (half a catty), osmanthus fragrans (one or two), licorice (one or two), borneol or brown sugar.

Production steps

1. Dried ebony and hawthorn bought from the dry goods market must be boiled in water first.

2. Wrap the soaked ebony and hawthorn with gauze and a small amount of osmanthus and licorice.

3. Fill the cauldron with water, put it in a gauze bag and boil it.

4. After boiling, add appropriate amount of borneol or brown sugar which can play a dyeing role. 5, simmer for 6 to 7 hours, the water is about half, and the sour plum soup is ready.

Drinking instructions

1. The prepared sour plum soup can't be eaten all at once, so you can put it in the refrigerator for a few days. But at room temperature, sour plum soup is very easy to deteriorate. If you see thin bubbles floating on the surface, it means that it has deteriorated and you can't drink it.

2. Sour plum soup with licorice will have an astringent taste. Putting some ice cubes when drinking can reduce the astringency.

3, the sour plum soup made by novices is likely to be too strong or too weak, and the ratio of heat to water can only be tried!

raw material

Myrica rubra, honey, candied dates, roses, sugar.

Of course, Yangmei should be washed carefully, because it is easy to hide some bugs. After washing, choose a big, full and dark red one, not too much, about 25 pieces, put it in a big bowl, sprinkle with four spoonfuls of sugar and marinate. Cover the bowl and shake it up and down a few times to distribute the sugar evenly.

Choose 8 candied dates, put them in a pot and pour a bowl of water. First, burn it quickly with strong fire, and then cook it slowly with slow fire to extract the sugar in the candied dates. When cooking dates, mix honey in another big bowl, about 4 spoonfuls, and stir well. Sprinkle 7 or 8 rose buds for later use. Because the sweetness of honey is natural, sweeter and has room for aftertaste, unlike sugar.

After the candied dates are burnt, the water is completely boiled, and the essence and sweetness of the candied dates are absorbed. Instead of candied dates, pour boiling water into the prepared honey bowl, then stir it evenly, and the mixed fragrance of honey and roses wraps around the nose.

Then pour the honey water into the pickled Yang Meili, and immediately cover the bowl to prevent the steam from overflowing. Then shake the bowl up and down for 2-3 minutes, so that the sour juice of Myrica rubra is completely dissolved in honey water, and then send it to the refrigerator for refrigeration.

There is no process of boiling bayberry here, in order to keep the bayberry fresh and tender. Because cooking will make the water in Yangmei evaporate, and the mouth will be old and astringent. In many cooked sour plum soups, Yangmei loses its bright color and tastes like chicken ribs.

This sour plum soup, the entrance is the ethereal fragrance of roses, followed by the sweetness of honey, followed by the sour taste of bayberry, and then a little sweetness of candied dates. Progressive all the way, bittersweet, icy. It's really exhausting to hold a bowl of sour plum soup in hot weather.

At this time, bayberry is sour and sweet. It's mainly sweet, but it doesn't seem to mean sour. Just like a girl who is in love with spring, sometimes she is jealous of her lover's mind and sometimes she remembers his goodness. She seems indifferent, and her heart has been turned over a thousand times.

It turns out that jealousy is the best.

"The copper bowl in the street calls for a glass of iced plum soup". Hao Yixing's Du Men Zhu Zhi Ci in Qing Dynasty depicts the summer in this city and reveals the main varieties of people's summer soup.

Sour plum soup is always a good drink in summer. In the Qing Dynasty, it was improved into a royal drink by the royal restaurant, and the so-called "Shi Gong Mei Jian" was. Because it has the effects of clearing away heat and cooling the heart, removing heartache, resolving phlegm and relieving cough, eliminating epidemic diseases, promoting fluid production and quenching thirst, it is known as "Qinggong Yibao Imperial Mume Soup" and was introduced to the people, so vendors selling sour plum soup can be seen everywhere in the streets and at the entrance of dried and fresh fruit shops. Put a crescent halberd on the stall (indicating that it is cooked at night) and hang a sign that says "iced hot water sour plum soup". The stall owner held a pair of small bronze bowls and tinkled from time to time. Passers-by all want Mei to quench their thirst, and they feel cool when they hear the sound. After a bowl, the summer heat completely disappeared. At that time, the operators of sour plum soup not only peddled stalls along the street, but also many shops mainly selling sour plum soup. For example, the Tianqiao "Qiujia", Xidan archway "Luyuzhai", Donganmenwai Street "Yuyuanzhai" and Qianmen "Jiulong Zhai" are all famous, but at present, there is only Xinyuanzhai south of Liulichang Road at that time.

Aside from social and political reasons, the most important reason for the decline of "Sour Plum Soup" is probably the business philosophy of the operators: standing still and unchanging, which is difficult to adapt to modern tastes. In fact, an important reason why "national drink" can't beat "foreign drink" is outdated marketing and old-fashioned technology, otherwise such a good thing will not be washed away by cheap "foreign carbonated water".

The soup has the effects of promoting digestion, resolving stagnation, promoting fluid production, quenching thirst, astringing lung qi, relieving restlessness and calming the nerves. Regular drinking can really get rid of illness and strengthen the body. It is a rare healthy drink in hot summer. []