In the long history of human development, along with the progress of food culture, the four seasons change, and we eat according to the season, which is the most basic dietary wisdom left to us by our ancestors. It is a simple eight words, but it covers too many meanings, and it tells us to better conform to nature in order to survive in peace.
Dog days are a critical time in summer, when the climate is hot and humid, and microbial and bacterial activity is extremely frequent, which brings great trouble to our lives. The older generation, full of wisdom, can always sum up the corresponding response in the process of adapting to nature. These methods have been passed down for thousands of years and have been proven to this day. For us today, many of the old traditions are still valid. When I was a child, I often heard the old people say: "A treasure in ambush, no disease disturbance for a year", do you know what this "treasure" is?
"A treasure in ambush"
Dog days are quietly approaching, and this phase is marked by rising temperatures and more frequent rainfall. Both the temperature and humidity are at their peak of the year. In such an environment, people will obviously feel that the air around them is unbearable, and their bodies will involuntarily sweat profusely. At the same time, appetite decreases, appetite becomes poor, and at night, it is often easy to fall into insomnia.
In the face of such high temperature and humidity weather conditions, many people's first reaction is to turn on the air conditioner, blow the air conditioner, eat cold drinks, or take a cold shower. It is undeniable that these methods can indeed achieve rapid cooling in a short period of time, so that people can get a temporary cool. However, at the same time, these actions can also unconsciously bring cold into the body. Because, although dog days give people an unbearable feeling of heat on the surface, in fact, the internal state of the human body is hot on the outside and cold on the inside. When you are in a warm environment, sweating not only dissipates heat from your body, but also expels cold and dampness from your body. However, if you keep your body in a cold environment, although it feels comfortable and comfortable, the moisture and cold accumulated in your body cannot be effectively removed.
Because of this, the older generation always tirelessly tells the children that in the summer, they must let their bodies sweat properly and bask in the sun more. At the same time, it is necessary to eat some foods that can sweat and dehumidify, ginger is a typical representative of them. Since childhood, we have often heard adults say: "Eat radish in winter and ginger in summer, and don't work for doctors to prescribe medicine". In the eyes of the elderly, ginger has always been a good remedy for the hot summer.
Consuming ginger can help the body effectively dispel the latent cold, strengthen one's own physique, and then improve the resistance to various diseases. In addition, the gingerol secreted by ginger also has the function of promoting the secretion of gastric juice, which can help gastrointestinal digestion. For those who have problems such as loss of appetite, indigestion and lack of appetite, it has a certain degree of improvement effect. In addition, the spicy nature of ginger itself can also deeply remove the dampness and cold in the body, making people feel refreshed and swept away the feeling of fatigue.
Ginger is an ingredient that has a wide range of uses. In addition to being used for daily cooking seasoning, it is also a traditional Chinese medicine with remarkable efficacy. Not only can it be eaten directly, but it can also be applied to the body, used to soak feet, or used for moxibustion. Ginger produced in the summer is the best time of the year. In order to be able to properly preserve the ginger in summer, the older generation will choose to dry the ginger on dog days. After sun-dried ginger, not only has more advantages in terms of storage time, but also its own spicy taste can be alleviated to a certain extent, so it is more acceptable to people. The sun-dried ginger can be used to soak in water and drink, or it can be eaten directly. Eating a little bit every day will help us get through the dog days peacefully and smoothly.
The method of drying ginger is widely spread in the four provinces of the mainland, as well as Anhui, Sichuan and other places. Today, I will share with you in detail the correct way to dry ginger.
First of all, we need to prepare old ginger or small yellow ginger. Both types of ginger are rich in gingerol, and the corresponding effect is even better. Break the ginger you bought home into small pieces, place them in a basin, then add water and rinse them twice to wash off the sediment attached to the surface of the ginger blocks.
After the initial rinse, we continue to add the appropriate amount of water to the basin, add a little flour, baking soda and salt, and then do the scratch washing. The reason for this is that in this way, it can effectively remove dust impurities, dirt, and possible residual heavy metals and pesticides from the surface of ginger. It is important to know that the environment in which ginger is grown, grown, and stored is mostly closely related to the soil, so we must remove any heavy metal residues that may exist. Let the ginger soak in the water for about 20 minutes, then rinse it several times with clean water to make sure it is washed off.
After washing the ginger, we need to cut it into slices against the texture of the ginger. If you don't know the texture of ginger for a while, then you can choose a piece of ginger at random, break it, observe the direction of the ginger shreds inside, cut against the ginger shreds, or observe the raised threads on the surface of the ginger skin, and slice them according to the direction of the threads.
After cutting the ginger slices, we first put them in a pot to steam. It is important to note that the steaming time does not need to be too long, 6 - 8 minutes is enough. This step is significant, on the one hand, it can sterilize the ginger slices, and on the other hand, it can mix the spicy flavor of the ginger, making the ginger slices softer when eaten.
For specific operation, first boil the water in the pot, wait for the water to boil and the steam to rise, put the steaming drawer, and then spread the cut ginger slices evenly on the steaming drawer, and steam it over high heat for about 8 minutes.
After steaming, take out the ginger slices, place them in a bamboo basket ventilated up and down, and then put the bamboo basket outdoors to expose the ginger slices to the sun. If the weather conditions are good and the sun is abundant, it will take about 2 - 3 days for it to dry completely. However, if you are in a local area with high humidity, or if it is raining and you can't dry it naturally, you can also choose to bake the ginger slices in the oven at a low temperature. Set the temperature at 60 degrees and bake for about 8 hours, and you can basically dry the ginger slices.
Once the ginger slices are completely dry, you can place them directly in a kraft paper bag. This kraft paper bag is airy and breathable, and at the same time, it is able to absorb a certain amount of moisture, so that the ginger slices in the bag can be kept dry.
Of course, you can also put these sun-dried ginger slices into a wall breaker like me, beat them directly into ginger powder, and then store them in an airtight jar. Every morning, take some ginger powder and mix a cup and add some honey to it when drinking. Honey not only relieves the spicy taste of ginger, but also promotes better absorption by the body.
When eating ginger on dog days, there is also a certain amount of exquisiteness. First of all, in the choice of time to consume ginger, it is better to be sooner rather than later. As the saying goes: "Eat ginger sashi soup in the morning, and eat ginger sashi arsenic cream in the evening". That's because, if you consume ginger in the morning, it can increase your body's blood circulation, which makes your body's metabolism more active, which in turn makes you feel more energetic and energized for the rest of the day. However, if you choose to consume ginger at night, due to the characteristics of ginger, it will cause the body to feel hot, which will adversely affect sleep, making it difficult to fall asleep smoothly, and then affecting the quality of sleep.
In addition, the amount of ginger consumed also needs to be controlled. Although ginger is a treasure in summer, it should not be consumed in excess. Even though ginger has many benefits in the summer, eating too much of it can be a burden on the body.
At the same time, it should also be noted that when eating ginger, it is best to bring ginger skin with it. This is due to the special nature of ginger, which presents a characteristic of cold on the outside and hot on the inside, the ginger flesh inside is dry and hot, while the ginger skin is cold. When the two are eaten together, they can neutralize each other's attributes and achieve a state of balance that complements each other. In this way, it is not easy to cause fire when eating.
In addition, everyone's constitution is different. For those who are prone to physical irritation, it is more necessary to carefully control the intake of ginger when consuming it, and should eat as little as possible. And, when using ginger to make tea, you can pair it with some rock sugar or honey. Both rock sugar and honey have a certain moisturizing and flavoring effect, which can neutralize the spicy taste of ginger to a certain extent, making the taste sweeter. It should be noted that at this time, it is not advisable to add brown sugar, which is easy to make people angry, so as not to aggravate the heat and dryness in the body and cause adverse effects on the body.
In addition, the sun-dried ginger slices can also be used for daily cooking and stewing, or for foot bathing, or made into sachets for mosquito repellent and insect repellent.
In addition to eating some sun-dried ginger slices on dog days, we should also pay more attention to sunning ourselves, which is what I often refer to as sunning our backs. Back tanning is an easy yet effective way to get rid of dampness and cold. Drying your back can boost your body's blood circulation. The back is the area where the meridians and acupuncture points of the human body are concentrated, and when the energy of sunlight is transmitted to the back, it can dilate the blood vessels in the back and accelerate blood circulation. Blood circulates more smoothly in the body, delivering sufficient oxygen and nutrients to various organs and tissues, while taking away metabolic wastes, including the body's dampness and cold, in a timely manner, so that our body is full of vitality and mental state.
Getting a sun on your back can also help replenish vitamin D. When the sun's ultraviolet rays hit our skin, the body begins to synthesize vitamin D. Vitamin D is essential for maintaining healthy bones and promoting calcium absorption. Adequate vitamin D can prevent rickets in children and osteoporosis in adults, making our bones stronger and our posture taller.
By drying your back, you can also strengthen your body's immunity. When we sun our backs, these ultraviolet rays can penetrate the surface of clothing and skin, killing bacteria and viruses lurking on the surface of the body, helping the body build a strong line of defense against the invasion of diseases, so that we can have a healthy body during the change of seasons and epidemics.
In addition, sun exposure also has a positive effect on mood regulation and stress relief. Basking in the warm sun can stimulate the brain to secrete serotonin and other neurotransmitters, which are closely related to our emotional regulation, which can help us alleviate anxiety, depression and other bad emotions, make our mood more happy and relaxed, and let us face the challenges of life and work with a more positive attitude.