Hunan people eat betel nuts and walk alone in the sea. Taiwanese are famous overseas for their delicious betel nuts. Taiwan can plant areca trees, so you should eat more green nuts, which are not ripe. Hunan is not suitable for planting due to its limited climate, so it should eat more mature areca nuts. Hainan is also the main producing area of betel nut, but it is said that the southern part of the island is eaten, and the northern part is not eaten. Most of the local people eat betel nut, and the Han people don't like it. Then, people regard betel nut as a daily habit, and even the provinces that "can't live without this king" are Hunan and Taiwan. However, the distribution of "betel nut tribe" in history is much broader than today.
As for areca, the earliest recorded date is around 900 BC. In the poems of the ancient Indian poet Margo, the soldiers led by King Krishna (the eighth incarnation of Vishnu in Indian mythology) drank coconut juice and chewed betel nuts. According to Ridley's report (1925), the geographical distribution of Areca catechu production areas includes Guangdong, Xiamen, Taiwan and Bonin Islands in the north, Socotra Island, Madagascar and East Africa in the East Indian Ocean in Africa in the west, and Central Pacific Ocean and Fiji Islands in the east, It can be seen that cultivation is widespread in tropical areas. India is the world's largest producer of betel nut. According to the report of the Central Betel Nut Commission of India, in 1956, the cultivation area of betel nut in India was up to 2161500 hectares, and the annual output was up to 21760000 Maunds (Maund, an Indian unit of measurement, whose weight varies from place to place, but is legally equal to 37.327 kilograms), equivalent to more than 800000 tons.
Areca nut flowed into China during the Western Han Dynasty. In the first year of Yuanfeng (110 BC), Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty set up nine prefectures, including Nanhai, Jiaozhi and Rinan, including Hainan and Vietnam, where areca nuts are produced. Special products must be paid tribute. It is believed that betel nut was widely popular in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and originated here. Areca was sent to the palace as a tribute, so it first appeared in Sima Xiangru's Shanglin Fu. He wrote: "Stay in Xuyu, Renpin and Lu"; Liuluo and Xuyu are tree names similar to brown champagne. Renpin (Pinyin Bin) is today's areca tree, and Bulu is a palm tree. In Zuo Si's Wu Du Fu, this image is expressed as: "betel nut has no coca, coconut leaves have no shade". At the same time, we can find many records about betel nuts in small countries in the South China Sea from historical books. For example, Funan "has sugar cane, sugar cane, pomegranate and orange, many betel nuts, and birds and animals like China". In the second year of Yongming (484), it was listed as an official, and the list of tribute was attached at the end, including "a piece of turtle betel nut", that is, a tortoise shell betel nut plate (South Qi Book, Volume 58, Southeast Yi · Funan).
And the betel nut of Gan Gui Li State is "extremely refined and good, which is the pole of all countries" (Liang Shu, Vol. 54, All Yi · Gan Gui Li State).
They "eat lettuce all the time and use betel nut juice as wine" (The Old Book of the Tang Dynasty, Vol. 197, Nanman • Linyi Kingdom), "none of them is brewed by yeast wheat, and they are drunk when drinking it" (The History of the Song Dynasty, Vol. 489, Foreign Five Three Buddha Qi). Compared with those who are too strong to drink, don't forget the flavor.
Although betel nut is a common thing in the local area, it can also be used as a gift for wedding events. "When you marry, accept betel nut as a gift, up to 200 plates" (New Tang Book, Volume 222, "Southern Barbarians Under Goluozhulou Honey"). The specific order is: "The resources for marriage: first coconut wine, then betel nut, then ring, then Jibei cloth, or measuring gold and silver as a gift" (History of the Song Dynasty, Volume 489, Foreign Five Bones).
It is also useful for entertaining guests at ordinary times; In Zhenla, "when visitors arrive, they can make progress with the crumb betel nut, longan, and clam", (ibid.) "It is generous to leave betel nut as a gift to guests". (The History of the Song Dynasty, Vol. 488, The Address of Four Foreign Countries)
When the king goes on patrol, betel nut is also one of the guards of honor.
The cultural cause also owes a lot to betelnut. "Myanmar is a country of southwest barbarians, and its characters are advanced. They are written in gold leaves, then paper, and then betelnut leaves" (The History of the Yuan Dynasty, Vol. 210, "Three Foreign Barbarians • Myanmar"). Buddhist disciple, Bei Ye writes scriptures; The kings of the South China Sea are shown on the table. The first move is full of fragrance. No wonder these two kinds of treasures can be successfully introduced into China.
As for the detailed introduction of betel nut in Chinese historical records, it was first seen in Yang Fu's Foreign Material Records. Yang Fu, a native of Emperor Hanhe (89-105), was quoted by Jia Sixie in Qi Min Yao Shu as saying:
"Areca nut is like bamboo shoots and bamboo shoots growing on poles. It is hard to plant. The stem is straight up without branches and leaves. It looks like a column. The flood swells up like a" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" ". It can be used to support and retain the food, and eat the ancient cardia ash together. It can also be used to lower the qi and sleep on food, white insects, and eliminate the grain. Eating is set as a mouthful "; This paper not only describes the shape of areca tree, but also introduces the medicinal and eating methods. "The essence of seed is hard" is puzzling. Li Shizhen's "Compendium of Materia Medica" Volume 31: "When you are born, you are like a bamboo shoot, and when you accumulate hard, you will lead the stem straight up", which means hard for a long time. For those who "dissect the epithelium, boil the skin, and cook it thoroughly", please refer to the Yunnan Chronicle cited in the 971 volume of Taiping Yulan: "Yunnan has big bellied areca nuts, which are dissected into four pieces, which are threaded with bamboo, and dried in the shade can be stopped for a long time"; It seems that there were two ways of eating at that time: cooking and drying in the shade. Cooking is similar to the way of eating in Hunan today, but drying in the shade seems to be lost. Both Fuliu and Piper longum are suitable for tropical cultivation, and Fuliu is more resistant to low temperature than Piper longum. Nanyang Islands and Indochina Peninsula are almost planted by every family. Its flowers, stems and leaves all have pungent fragrance, which is used for chewing areca and seasoning. Today, there are wild people in Hainan Island. The aborigines call it grum. See the Flora of Guangdong by Hu Xiansu and others. "Ancient Ben powder" refers to the clam named Ancient Ben, which is used to make water ash by burning. It is called Mu Fen powder. First, put betel nuts in your mouth, and then take the Fu Liu vine to grow an inch. A little ancient Ben ash, chew it together, and get rid of evil in your chest. As for "qi lowering, food retention, white worm elimination and grain elimination", it is the medicinal effect of areca nut, because areca nut contains a variety of alkaloids, and the fruit (today's so-called areca nut core) can be used as a stomach tonic and insect repellent, especially for the treatment of pork tapeworm. The skin (today's so-called areca flower) has the effect of treating abdominal distension, eliminating edema, etc. In addition, areca is also an important medicine for treating beriberi in clinic. The south has long been a town of malaria. The so-called malaria is nothing more than the result of the joint action of various parasites and toxins in hot and humid weather. Areca nut has so many effects that it naturally becomes the primary non-staple food for people's daily health in Hainan and Guangdong. Li Kaixian said: "People say that it is necessary to catch an elephant and cure it. Areca nut leaves the town of malaria" (Zhonglu Leisure Living Collection) Volume III "Japanese Invaders in the South of the Yangtze River Killing Shandong Militia"), that's exactly what it means.
The eating method of betel nut is very specific. Once it is divided into the southern and northern sects of Hunan and Taiwan today, each has its own model and follows the ancient method. The Southern Grass Form says: "Areca catechu, whose flowers and colors are still solid in March, is as big as an egg. When it is ripe in December, its color is yellow; when its seeds are peeled off, they can not be eaten if they are fat and strong, but only seeds. When their seeds are green, their shells are taken from the solid and exposed to dry, so that they can be eaten together with rattan and ancient cardia ash, which is smooth and beautiful. They can also be eaten raw, which is the best"; "Combine the shell, take the solid and expose it to dry, so as to support the rattan and the ancient cardia ash to eat together", which is the way of eating in Hunan; "It can also be eaten raw, the fastest and the best", this is the way of eating in Taiwan. The cooking of areca nuts in Hunan was also a last resort at the beginning. "In fact, the meat of areca nuts is very perishable in spring, but it can only be harvested after they are cooked with ash juice and still baked and smoked for a long time.". Hunan is also a "miasma town". Although it is not easy to plant, people still need areca nuts to "cure miasma", so they invented the "long pause" method of "cooking ash juice" and "baking and drying by fire". It was just intended to be stored for a long time. But today, we have created a wide range of eating methods through innovation. "Eating is supposed to be a pretext" has become the mainstream, and expelling insects and malaria has become an appendage, which is unpredictable for the ancients.
During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, betel nut was popular in the Yangtze River valley, changing from health food for people in the south to high-end leisure food for nobles in the north. The imperial court used it as a reward (Seng Ru, King of Liang, thanked Tuoli for offering betel nuts), and the banquet was set up as a good recommendation (Shen Yue's poem "Bamboo Betel Nut Plate": Xing Chenghuan and Xu Yu, Ning Cijia finished the banquet). Qi and his friends gave gifts to each other, and funerals were introduced as offerings. Many interesting stories happened with the birth, aging, illness and death of the world.
Let's first look at a description of "sensationalism". Yu Yiqi, a native of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, wrote in his "Letter with Han Kangbo" that "betel nut is a great thing to travel southward: its son is very special, its wood is also very strange, its size is three circumference, and its height is nine zhang. The leaves gather at the end of the tree, under the buildings, in the Huaxiu room, and its son knot outside the room. Its rope is like a spike of millet, and its decoration is like a valley. Its skin is as thick as a tung tree, and its joints are like bamboo. Its inner space, its external strength, its bending is like a rainbow, and its shape is like a rope let down. It is not big at the beginning, not small at the end, not inclined upward, not inclined downward. Straighten the pavilion. If you walk in the forest, you will be lonely; if you shelter in the shade, you will be depressed; if you believe, you can chant long and think far. It is not frost resistant and cannot be planted in the north. It must become a reverie tree in Hainan; The distance is far and wide, without meeting the eyes of the elders, it is self hating "; This is a field trip. Seeing the charm of "drinking", it triggered a long thought. However, he loved this thing when he was alive and failed to fulfill his wish before he died, which led to a story of filial piety. There is a story about Ren's father and son. Ren Fang, who once said with a smile to Xiao Yan, Emperor Wu of Liang Dynasty, "If I do three things, I will take Qing as a cavalry", not only likes to eat betel nuts, but his father Ren Yao is also an addict who "values betel nuts, and thinks they are regular bait". "At the end of his life, he tried to ask for it, and cut a hundred mouthfuls, which was not good". At that time, he was disappointed. A thousand years later, we betelnut people should be able to speculate, so Ren Fang "deeply hated it, so he never tasted betelnut". Betel nut is as addictive as tobacco and alcohol. If you can say that you can't chew it without chewing it, let Yansheng's filial piety move the sky. It's not just a show. Therefore, the "Southern History" said that he guarded the tomb and that "grass cannot grow in the place of crying". I firmly believe that it is a fact, not a feudal superstition.
After all, Ren Fang was born in poverty, so it was a lifelong regret that his father failed to get a good mouth when he was dying. Wang Xiaoyi, a Henan official who was a royal relative of the state, had no such regret. In the 10th year of Yongming era (492), Emperor Wu of Qi handed over his last words to his two sons. First, he gave them the admonition of "studying hard, keeping the foundation, governing the boudoir court, and remaining idle". Then he mentioned the funeral, "Three days of soul giving, only incense, water, rice, wine, and betel nuts. Shuowang ate a dish of vegetables, added sweet fruits, and learned about the province. After the funeral, he could kill the soul, and use the umbrella I often used. In the time of looking forward to the new moon, people will sit on the ground and enjoy incense, water, wine, rice, and betel nuts.
Liu Muzhi later made great achievements and shared both sorrow and glory. However, he was born in poverty and was suspected of having a "soft meal". His wife is the daughter of Jiang Si. "She knows very well that she can't stop going to Jiang Shi". On one occasion, Jiang Mansion opened a big "Pa Di", and his wife "didn't come if ordered". Liu Muzhi refused to listen to the advice and could not resist hunger, so he went. "Ask for betel nuts after eating. The Jiang brothers said in their play: 'You are always hungry when eating betel nuts. Why should you do this?'" The wife was very angry. "She cut off the market food to pay for her brother." After earning face, she refused to perform her marriage obligations ("Since then, she has not combed Mu's food"). The addiction of betel nut is similar. Later, Mu Zhi became prosperous and was ready to help his brothers. His wife "cried to thank him". He had the demeanor of doing great things, and said, "I don't want to hide my grievances, I don't want to worry about them." However, when I was drunk, he specifically "asked the chef to store betel nuts in gold" (Southern History), which was a little ironic. I don't know whether the blush of the Jiang Family brothers at that time was the result of eating betel nuts or the regretful shame. Hundreds of years later, Li Bai felt that he had hurt himself at times, and he had to solve this problem by himself: "When is a golden plate? One person will recommend betel nuts" (Princess Yuzhen sent a gift to the guard Zhang Qing through bitter rain in another restaurant).
