Bing Tang Hu Lu,so small ,yet so important
"I have deep feelings for the Bing Tang Hulu,because I have started to learn to make it ever since my childhood",Mr Guo,an experienced senior producer in Beijing said so,The item Bling Tang Hu Lu ,means,a string of haws coated with dissolved crystal sugar on a stick,Bing Tang refers to crystal sugar, and Hu Lu,actually it means calabash, here it is used to describe how it is look like when the sugar-coated haws are on a stick, the haws are very much similar to calabashes, and in most occasions, calabash represent happiness and healthy.
The maker we mentioned above start to learn to make the Bing Tang Hu Lu ever since his childhood, that is surely a long time, what quite similar is,the Bing Tang Hu Lu also has a long history, it can be dated back to the Song dynasty,the period of Songguangzong in Nan Song,when its fame had been established,it is said that one day,SongguangZong's most favored wife was caught by illness, and she did not have much appetite,GuangZong,the king,is very anxious,for the doctors in the palace had tried many methods, but they did not have much effects, his wife’s disease did not get any much better, so he could only post an official notice to ask folk doctors to come into the palace to cure his wife’s illness. After checking his wife’s condition, one of the doctors said that there was no need to use any extra drugs, the only thing the king’s wife need to do is to eat five to ten haws per day. As there were no other ways,Guang Zong had to have a try on this method, so the doctor coated the haws with sugar,and boiled them together,and ask the king’s wife to eat it, having had tried the method for a month,The wife’s illness got much better, and after a few months, her illness had been fully cured.
The fruit of hawthorn, called haws.
Botanically they are pomes, but they look similar to berries. A haw is small and oblong, similar in size and shape to a small olive or grape, and red when ripe.
Later for others convenience to eat this snack,someone put the ten sugar-coated haws on a stick,that is what we eventually see today,the Bing Tang Hu Lu.
Bing Tang Hu Lu,is undoubtedly a popular snack in modern China, especially in Beijing,and its popularity not only comes from the long history, but also due to its great flavor ,and its strong effect on accelerating the digest, as in today's China,people’s living standard has greatly improved,but what we must face is, problem also arise,that is the health problem,as the snack is consisted by two ingredients,sugar and haws, and for the item sugar, it is a crucial source of nutrients ,but it also the cause of many diseases, as people eat more and more sugar, it is a problem must be concerned by all the people in China, it is what we cannot neglect.
Do you want to have a try?
IMMJ 2015-2016 Team Work
Produced by Peijin, Bingshu& Cicy
