As Medicine As Dish

Text by Yan Junling Translation by Bian Jiajin Photos by Zeng Jian

As Medicine As Dish

Text by Yan Junling Translation by Bian Jiajin Photos by Zeng Jian

Chinese are good as diet therapy for a long time. In recent years, with the economic development, people are getting richer. Adding medicine into our daily diet and improving the health with food has been a trend. Since Zhou Dynasty, Huai medicine has been the tribute, and Xiuwu has been mentioned in some medical books through the ages. The customs and dietary habits in Xiuwu just fulfill the need of this trend.

Dishes made of Four Major Huai Drugs四大懷藥做成美味佳肴。

亦藥亦肴

中國人一貫擅長食療。近年來，隨著經濟的發展，人民的富裕，以藥入肴、以食養生再度成為一種大勢。

而從周朝就開始進貢懷藥、歷代醫書中都常常提到的修武，它的民風食俗正恰恰好地切中了這股潮流趨勢的需要。

Garden and Pharmacy

The Chef Master Xu in Villa Mountain Yuntai says, people who are from birth living here in the mountain can be almost a doctor.

The villagers know everything—which vegetables should be eaten in which season, which vegetable has what kind of function for health caring, in which part of the mountain are there the biggest black funguses, and which kind of mushroom can be cooked with meat. The mountain is the natural vegetable garden and pharmacy. When people are hot tempered, they pick up some chrysanthemums and dry them to make tea to clear the inner heat.

The chrysanthemum in Xiuwu, also called Huai chrysanthemum, is very famous. It is together with yam, rehmannia and achyranthis renowned as Four Major Huai Drugs and it was listed as a tribute from Zhou Dynasty to Qing Dynasty. Huai chrysanthemum is also recorded into all kinds of Chinese medical books, including Compendium of Materia Medica, Sheng Nong's Herbal Classic and so on. Master Xu explains, "It's probably related to the climate, the components of the soil and the minerals in the landform and water. There are also achyranthis in other places, but achyranthis here have a stronger taste, and yam is also relatively heavier and sweeter.“

The four major Huai drugs can be found all year round, and there are many ways of cooking. For example, Huai yam can be steamed, plainly fried or be stewed into soup. However, most of people living in the mountain are used to steaming the yam with few complex seasonings. This can highlight the original taste of yam, on the one hand, and can avoid the conflicts in medical functions, on the other hand. Xiuwu is known as the county of longevity, where the number of centenarians tops the list all over the country. Perhaps it has something to do with the healthy food ingredients and the dietary customs in this area.

Loved by gods

The main breakfast in Xiuwu is porridge, sometimes with some small dishes. It's simple but not plain. In different seasons, the farmers process and restore different foods. Sometimes they make fried dried persimmons, and sometimes they dry sweet potato noodles. The preserved egg of Xiuwu is widely well known. Many farmers also make home made preserved eggs. In Xiuwu, the salted rice is an important dish, which is named as “the gods are not out of the hole” by local people, meaning that the taste is too great that it makes the gods notwant to leave. This dish is based on marble meat or pork ribs to produce the soup, and then the raw rice will be added, followed by cabbages, dried beancurd sticks, tofu and rice noodles. It should then be stewed for a period of time. The salted rice is delicious and with plentiful contents.

Fried worm ginseng油炸蟲參

Relying on the flatlands accumulated by rivers, people in Xiuwu who own a wide land are living a relatively stable and rich life. The wheat and corn in Xialiang are national champions of yields. For years, people become smarter. They have established the cooperative to purchase achyranthis from villagers and then process it to preserved fruit. The function is not changed, but the taste becomes better. Yuntai icy chrysanthemums, refined from Huai chrysanthemums, has also become the quality products of Huai chrysanthemums. Picked and added into water, chrysanthemum tastes sweet with a bit of cool. It looks also beautiful, just like a flower blooming in the water slowly, as vigorous as it is spectacular.

Stewed Chicken with achyranthis牛膝燉雞

Jitou Ginseng雞頭參

菜園與藥房

云臺山莊的大廚徐師傅說，世代生在這片大山里的人，基本都可以當半個醫生了。

哪個時節該吃什么菜，哪種菜有什么調養功能，哪片山后面的木耳最肥美，哪種蘑菇能燉肉，山民們基本都知道。大山就是他們天然的菜場和藥鋪，有時肝火旺了，摘點山里的菊花，曬干泡水，就能清熱解毒。

修武的菊花好，被稱為懷菊花，與懷山藥、懷地黃、懷牛膝并稱為“四大懷藥”，從周朝一直到清代都被列為貢品，也被載入中國的各種醫藥名書，例如《本草綱目》《神農本草經》等。“大概與這里的氣候、土壤的成分、地貌雨水中的礦物質都有關。很多地方都有地黃，但這山里長的就是比外面的味足，山藥也更肉、更甘甜。”徐師傅說。

四大懷藥一年四季都有，可以選擇很多烹飪方式，比如懷山藥可以蒸，也可以清炒、燉湯。不過，山里大部分人還是習慣以蒸為主，很少用復雜的調料，一方面可以讓原味更突出，另一方面也避免食療藥理上的沖突。修武號稱長壽縣，百歲老人占比位居全國前列，大概也與此地這樣養生的食材與食俗有關。

神仙都愛的日子

修武人的早餐以稀飯為主，配上幾道小菜，簡單但不單調。

不同的季節里，農家們也就著時令加工儲備各種風物，有時炸柿餅，有時曬紅薯粉條子。修武的皮蛋遠近聞名，農家也很多自己動手做。在當地，咸米飯是一道比較重頭的菜，當地人叫做“神仙不出洞”，比喻味道好到神仙都舍不得走。這道菜以五花肉或排骨做底，加工后熬出湯，再把生米放在湯里，加入白菜、腐竹、豆腐、粉條，用地火燜熟，鮮美、豐富。

依托著河流堆積出的平原，地多人少的修武人一直過著相對安穩、富庶的日子，夏梁小麥、玉米甚至成了全國的單產冠軍。近些年，人們的頭腦更活了，成立合作社到山里向村民收購地黃，再加工成果脯，食療的效果不變，口感口味都更豐富。以懷菊花為基礎改良的云臺冰菊，也成為了懷菊中的精品——摘一朵泡在水里，回味甘甜，還帶著一點點清涼，視覺上更是美感十足，像一朵鮮花在水中徐徐綻放，跟眼前的生活一樣生機勃勃。