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四大怀药做成美味佳肴。

亦药亦肴

中国人一贯擅长食疗。近年来，随着经济的发展，人民的富裕，以药入肴、以食养生再度成为一种大势。

而从周朝就开始进贡怀药、历代医书中都常常提到的修武，它的民风食俗正恰恰好地切中了这股潮流趋势的需要。

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油炸虫参

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牛膝炖鸡

Jitou Ginseng鸡头参

菜园与药房

云台山庄的大厨徐师傅说，世代生在这片大山里的人，基本都可以当半个医生了。

哪个时节该吃什么菜，哪种菜有什么调养功能，哪片山后面的木耳最肥美，哪种蘑菇能炖肉，山民们基本都知道。大山就是他们天然的菜场和药铺，有时肝火旺了，摘点山里的菊花，晒干泡水，就能清热解毒。

修武的菊花好，被称为怀菊花，与怀山药、怀地黄、怀牛膝并称为“四大怀药”，从周朝一直到清代都被列为贡品，也被载入中国的各种医药名书，例如《本草纲目》《神农本草经》等。“大概与这里的气候、土壤的成分、地貌雨水中的矿物质都有关。很多地方都有地黄，但这山里长的就是比外面的味足，山药也更肉、更甘甜。”徐师傅说。

四大怀药一年四季都有，可以选择很多烹饪方式，比如怀山药可以蒸，也可以清炒、炖汤。不过，山里大部分人还是习惯以蒸为主，很少用复杂的调料，一方面可以让原味更突出，另一方面也避免食疗药理上的冲突。修武号称长寿县，百岁老人占比位居全国前列，大概也与此地这样养生的食材与食俗有关。

神仙都爱的日子

修武人的早餐以稀饭为主，配上几道小菜，简单但不单调。

不同的季节里，农家们也就着时令加工储备各种风物，有时炸柿饼，有时晒红薯粉条子。修武的皮蛋远近闻名，农家也很多自己动手做。在当地，咸米饭是一道比较重头的菜，当地人叫做“神仙不出洞”，比喻味道好到神仙都舍不得走。这道菜以五花肉或排骨做底，加工后熬出汤，再把生米放在汤里，加入白菜、腐竹、豆腐、粉条，用地火焖熟，鲜美、丰富。

依托着河流堆积出的平原，地多人少的修武人一直过着相对安稳、富庶的日子，夏梁小麦、玉米甚至成了全国的单产冠军。近些年，人们的头脑更活了，成立合作社到山里向村民收购地黄，再加工成果脯，食疗的效果不变，口感口味都更丰富。以怀菊花为基础改良的云台冰菊，也成为了怀菊中的精品——摘一朵泡在水里，回味甘甜，还带着一点点清凉，视觉上更是美感十足，像一朵鲜花在水中徐徐绽放，跟眼前的生活一样生机勃勃。