Melon seeds are liked to be eaten by emperors, generals, talented men and beauties, as well as common people. The "Zhuizhongzhi" written by Liu Ruoyu, an eunuch of the Ming Dynasty, records that Zhu Yuanzhang, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, "liked to eat fresh watermelon seeds, roast them with salt". Contemporary writer Kwon Yeon-chi wrote in the book "Leaders at the Dinner Table" that "Mao Zedong liked to eat black melon seeds (watermelon seeds), and Liu Shaoqi liked to eat sunflower seeds."
The eighth chapter of "Dream of Red Mansions" writes: "Daiyu and Baoyu were guests in Lixiangyuan. Daiyu was eating melon seeds and just smiled with her lips pursed." The book "The Last Eunuch in China" also said According to records, Empress Dowager Longyu (the wife of Guangxu), who issued an edict announcing the abdication of Qing Emperor Puyi, had a hobby - eating melon seeds. I have to eat melon seeds before going to the palace every day. If I don't eat them, I can't sleep. Because she ate too many melon seeds, Queen Mother Longyu also suffered from stomach problems and her appetite was greatly reduced.
When did the custom of eating melon seeds begin? In the article "Watermelon" in Li Shizhen's "Compendium of Materia Medica", it is said: "The seeds are burst to get the kernels, which are good for eating raw or fried." It seems that the custom of eating watermelon seeds has been recorded in the Ming Dynasty.
In the "Midnight" of Wen Zhao's "Zizhuangxuan Poetry Collection" during the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, there is a poem about selling melon seeds: "The carriages and horses are all returning home, and melon seeds are sold along the street all night." Pan Rong during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty In the "New Year's Day" chapter of his book "The Imperial Capital's Years of Success", he recorded the grand occasion of selling melon seeds on the streets in Beijing on New Year's Eve: "On New Year's Eve - the sound of selling melon seeds and the sound of firecrackers were high and low, and the sound was good. "It's audible."
The book "The Private Lives of Chinese Emperors" records that Emperor Qianlong liked to watch plays and would perform plays in the Old Summer Palace every year. On New Year's Day, he also had a business in the garden. The street, in the style of commercial shops, has antique shops, clothing stores, wine shops, tea shops, etc., and there are even people selling melon seeds in small baskets.
Melon seeds, as the name suggests, are the seeds of melons, such as watermelon seeds and pumpkin seeds. Each of them can become a life, so it contains quite a lot of nutrients, at least twenty kinds. Especially rich in protein and fat. Melon seeds also have medicinal value. "Compendium of Materia Medica" says that watermelon seeds: "Eat fried, nourishing the body, clearing the lungs and moistening the intestines, and quenching thirst."
In recent decades, "Sunflower Seeds" have suddenly emerged and joined the ranks of melon seeds.
Nowadays, Chinese melon seeds have gone abroad and entered countries such as the United States and Japan that are very picky about food hygiene...