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Where did the ice in summer come from? The ancient people were so wise

We all know that although the ancients didn't have refrigerators and freezers, they still produced various kinds of ice cold drinks in summer. Then, in addition to the original method of deep digging and extensive ice accumulation, where can they get these ice? It is said that at that time, there were 'imported ice' & hellip; & hellip;

Utensils: as early as the pre Qin period, the ancients began to use ice to cool down. At that time, the tools they used were called ice Jian. It is a box made of wood or bronze, with a large mouth and a small bottom, and a small diameter drain at the bottom, which can discharge cold water directly after the ice melts for use.

How to store ice?

Since the Zhou Dynasty, there was a special official position in charge of ice management. In December and January every year, he would lead his subordinates to collect ice on the river and lake, seal it in a cool ice cellar, and equip with leaves and other heat insulation materials for summer use. Due to the limitation of preservation environment and methods, two thirds of these cellar ice will melt by themselves before use. Therefore, ice storage personnel need to prepare ahead of time and collect ice far more than the demand to meet the needs of the court.

How to make? In the aspects of ice mining, ice storage and ice use, Qing Dynasty has its unique management process. Every year, before the Beijing watercourse freezes, it is necessary to drain the "Shuhe" water to remove the weeds in the water. The first batch of ice will be collected around the winter solstice, and the second batch will be collected after the water surface freezes again. Over and over again, about five batches of ice can be harvested each winter.

How to carry? In order to ensure the quality of ice and prevent the ice from falling from the pit mouth to the pit bottom, there will be a special ice plate for carrying ice in the pit. When the ice reaches the pit mouth, the ice plate will be supported at the pit mouth and at the pit bottom to form a slope, so that the ice can slide down, and then the workers in the pit will put it neatly.

Early ice is very precious, more often only choose to blow heat.

At the end of the Han Dynasty, Cao Cao, the ice storage magnate, often gave ice to his subordinates as a precious object.

By the Ming and Qing Dynasties, ice products were more popular. For example, in Shunzhi, the largest ice storage year, the annual reserve of the official ice cellar can reach 208621 pieces of ice, multiplied by the weight of a single piece of ice (about 100 kg), and the total weight can reach more than 20000 tons. Even in the Yongzheng year with the least ice reserves, the official reserves are about 9000 tons a year.

In addition to the use of royal family members, ice tickets were also set up for officials at all levels to supply by ticket. However, the amount of ice that can be obtained with ice tickets is very small, which is not enough for use at all. Officials often go to the market to buy ice.

The popularity of ice

However, before the Tang and Song Dynasties, ice was too precious, so it was not uncommon for people to collect, store and even sell all kinds of ice food in the Song Dynasty, when the material civilization was rich. For example, there are many cold drinks and cold foods recorded in "Tokyo Dreamway", such as "ice and snow cold primordial", "ice and snow liquorice soup", "ice and snow cold water litchi cream", "ice and snow fine material" and so on. They are made of ice as raw materials or auxiliary materials, such as "ice and snow liquorice soup" which is made of liquorice, sugar and other raw materials and then added with ice chips.