How Did Osmanthus Fit Into the Life of the Ancients?

Since ancient times, osmanthus has been inseparable from the lives of Chinese people, and the history of Chinese people's appreciation of osmanthus has been at least 2,500 years.

Whether it is used in wine as osmanthus wine, as a spice, or even as a pattern on clothing, it can be said that osmanthus, is the most appropriate representative of the golden autumn.

In the Song Dynasty, there is also a record: "the moon to be full when the flowers are just in full bloom, then flowers will be disabled after the moon is waning". This is a description of the flowering period of osmanthus.

If there is no accident, then the 15th day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar is the day when the osmanthus is in full bloom, and after half a month the flowers wither, the moon will also become waning, the flowers bloom and fall, corresponding to the loss of the moon. The human plants and the vast universe are linked together in such a form.

 

Ingredients - The Fragrance of Sweet Osmanthus

Cinnamon is excellent as an ingredient. However, fresh osmanthus contains tannin and tastes astringent and bitter, so they are usually pickled before serving.

Generally, pick the dewy osmanthus flowers early in the morning after the rain, remove their stems, wash them, use salt master stock to fix the color, and then dry them.

If it is salt osmanthus, then a layer of osmanthus and a layer of salt will be used to seal the osmanthus; if it is sugar osmanthus, a layer of osmanthus and a layer of sugar will be used. Seal it for a month, and when you open it again, the color and taste are already fixed and refreshing.

The pickled osmanthus can be made into soup, cake, sugar, tea, of which osmanthus into tea is quite delicate: because the smell of the tea itself is easily taken away by the flowers, so the "Tiao Ding Ji" has recommended that a slightly inferior tea to match, not only can borrow the fragrance of flowers to improve the quality tea, there will be no tea flavor by the flowers cover the trouble.

When it comes to the winter solstice, it can also eat with sweet rice dumplings. In the cold winter, after eating the hot Tangyuan, the fragrance of osmanthus still lingers between the lips and teeth.

 

Dwelling - The Fragrance of Sweet Osmanthus in the Room

When the osmanthus flowers are in bloom, the ancients would fold a few sticks and put them in the bed tent, or incense. In the opinion of the ancients, the fragrance of osmanthus helps to sleep, calms the mind, and stabilizes the mood, so it is especially suitable to be placed indoors to improve the quality of sleep.

However, the flowering period of osmanthus is very short, so there are various kinds of incense made of osmanthus, "Muxi Chen (osmanthus incense)" is one. In the Song Dynasty, ancients put fresh osmanthus and incense sealed in a container, and then put into the steamer slowly steamed, over time, the smell into the incense wood, the aroma will be puffed.

 

Clothes - Skirt Full of Osmanthus Fragrance

In the pattern of autumn hanfu clothing, it is typical to have jade rabbits and osmanthus flowers, and the Palace Museum in Beijing also has a collection of artifacts with similar patterns, a clever combination of osmanthus and rabbits.

As for the color matching of the osmanthus pattern, it is very suitable to match with the clear moon white, or the lively laurel color or light green.

It can also be decorated with Yunjian: "Yunjian to protect the collar, not to let it get oil." The oil said here, usually said is the woman's osmanthus head oil (with half-open osmanthus and clear sesame oil seasoning, can protect the law to nourish the hair to moisten autumn dryness), so the Yunjian and autumn, is also a good pair of partners.

Article source: Han Time (Jiu Yu)