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In the Song Dynasty of China, the evolution of sugar cultivation and refinement had advanced significantly, allowing sugar to become a widely consumed food item. This development brought about a diverse array of desserts, contrasting with earlier times. The book "History of Sugar" by Ji Xianlin mentions that China had adopted advanced sugar refining techniques from India at the beginning of the Tang Dynasty. By the Song Dynasty, these techniques had further developed, making sugar a common ingredient in the bustling cities of the time, resulting in a rich variety of desserts that were different from those of the Tang period.
1. Preserved Fruits
The Song Dynasty featured specialized workshops known as "Mi Jian Ju," dedicated to creating various types of candied and syrup-coated fruits and flowers. These creations were similar to today's preserved fruits, involving items soaked in honey or syrup, with those made for the imperial court often being elaborately decorated.
2. Sugar Treats
Sugar was directly crafted into edible forms, possibly shaped into various figures for children to play with or mixed with ingredients like sesame, musk, bayberry, and schizonepeta. Thinner concoctions were turned into pastes, leading to creations like lychee paste, almond paste, and mint paste. Although cane sugar had become predominant, malt sugar or syrups made from other grains were still available for purchase on the streets. There were also sugar sculptures, often made in the shapes of armored door gods, known as "fruit food generals."
3. Cakes
Sugar and rice flour were the base for many desserts, including cakes and dumplings, traditionally made with rice flour. Honey cakes were made with honey, date cakes with dates, and "snow cakes" were so named for their snow-white appearance. During the Double Ninth Festival, people consumed a special cake topped with strips of pork, lamb, and duck, decorated with small colorful flags. Another notable dessert was the "lion's mane chestnut cake," made from chestnut puree mixed with musk, sugar, honey, and colored rice flour, shaped into lions.
4. Dumplings
Cooked dumplings, such as tangyuan, were filled with red bean paste, sesame, or kumquat, or made without filling, simply mixed with yam and sugar. There were also fried versions like "round delights," which might resemble today's sesame balls or fried dumplings, varying by region.
5. Rice Dumplings (Zongzi)
At that time, zongzi were mainly sweet, filled with dried fruits and sugar. Records show that people in Lin'an (Hangzhou) excelled in making zongzi in various intricate shapes for sale, often used to accompany wine.
6. Pastry
Pastries were made with lard and sometimes mixed with flour, including honey pastries, small abalone-shaped pastries, and sugar-glazed pastries. One special kind was the "snowflake pastry," made by blending fried flour with sugar until it reached a consistency that was neither too thin nor too thick.
7. Sweet Buns
Both buns and mantou had fillings, with the difference lying in whether the dough was leavened and the thickness of the dough. Sweet fillings included sugar, "seven treasures" filling, and red bean paste, with some shaped like peaches or turtles for birthdays or festivals.
8. Dishes
There were also sweet dishes like "honey jiang chi," similar to today's gelatin desserts like yokan. Another dish was stuffed lotus roots, filled with a mixture of honey, musk, and flour, then cooked and sliced for consumption.
These categories provide a glimpse into the rich dessert culture of the Song Dynasty, highlighting a time when sugar was still a luxury item, especially in the world's most prosperous and vibrant cities like Lin'an.