Is the litchi eaten by Yang Guifei fresh? How did ancient people keep food fresh?

The litchi given to Yang Guifei at that time was of course fresh. After all, Yang Guifei was the favorite concubine of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty. There are many ways for them to keep fresh, but if this fruit is fresh, it will be ice cubes like this. As early as the pre-Qin period, there were records of collecting ice cubes, so the ancients were very clever and began to use ice to keep food fresh very early. But they don't have a refrigerator, so they can't make ice cubes, so their ice cubes are collected in winter, then stored and taken out to keep fresh when needed.

There is an old saying? Riding a princess and laughing in the world of mortals, no one knows it's litchi? This sentence has been passed down to this day, which shows how much Yang Guifei likes to eat litchi. As for the students' favorite concubines, of course, the dishes were fresh, so the lychees sent to Yang Guifei at that time were all rushed to escort them. This way of operation can be greatly reduced, and the time on the road plus the preservation of ice cubes, so the litchi transported to Yang Guifei is still very fresh.

But in ancient times, ice was a very luxurious product, and not everyone could afford it. At that time, only some princes and nobles could use this kind of thing. If other people want to preserve food, they can only preserve it by pickling it or drying it in the sun. It is precisely because of this that some pickles or bacon practices have spread to the present. Now it may be used as various vegetables, but at that time, because there was no refrigerator, this method was used to keep vegetables and meat fresh.

But in other words, there were many varieties of litchi at that time, and litchi was produced in many places. Therefore, we can use local materials, and there are many high-quality litchi varieties in Lingnan, Bashu and other places nearest to Chang 'an. However, because the only means of transportation at that time was a horse, and the horse could not run day and night and needed to rest, it was necessary to replace the ice cubes at each post station, otherwise the ice cubes would all melt. So it was a luxury for Yang Guifei to eat litchi at that time.