What does hawthorn flower smell like? Friends who have smelled it will smile knowingly

If you ask, what flower symbolizes love? Everyone will think of roses (although the roses you buy are a kind of Chinese rose).

You may also think of the lily, which symbolizes a happy marriage. Anything else?

Image from: Movie Under the Hawthorn Tree

Yes, that's hawthorn flower.

Have you read "Under the Hawthorn Tree"? Have you been moved by the pure love between Lao San and Jing Qiu? Or have you read Haizi's "The Hawthorn Tree":

The fiery red hawthorn tree,

Like a tall goddess' bicycle

Like a girl, afraid of the mountains

Standing at the door

She won't tell me

Run

Flower of love

I didn’t understand what Haizi was trying to say...that was naturally because I was poorly educated and lacked interest.

But literary critics tell us that Haizi used hawthorn to sing the praises of love.

Japanese animation "Noragami"

Their village is so praised

In the West, hawthorn has always symbolized love. Before the advent of electricity, the newlyweds' house was lit with torches made of hawthorn branches, and guests at wedding banquets had hawthorn branches on their heads. Even the "bouquet" at the wedding was hawthorn flowers. There was a famous Soviet song called "Hawthorn Flowers", which also sang about love and was popular in China during the communist Big Brother era. Later, someone who knew plants and Russian discovered that this was actually a translation error. The real name of the song was "The Rowan Tree in the Ural"...

In addition to love, hawthorn also symbolizes purity. It is always mentioned in fairy tales. It is said that the crown of thorns on Jesus' head when he was crucified was made of hawthorn branches. It is also said that once the Virgin Mary was caught in the rain, she hung her robe on a hawthorn branch to dry, and the white hawthorn flowers have since taken on a special fragrance.

So what kind of fragrance should hawthorn flowers have? Friends who are familiar with hawthorn flowers may smile knowingly - the smell of male (beep-)semen. Like chestnut flowers, hawthorn flowers use their scent to attract insects for pollination, and this smell is really hard to be called "fragrant". Either the person who wrote the story has no knowledge of botany, or the Virgin Mary caught a cold after being caught in the rain and can't smell it.

It’s a beautiful plant that symbolizes love, but all the stories about it are just nonsense, and it also tastes a bit dirty... Never mind, let’s just talk about eating it.

Delicious fruit

As a Beijing kid born in the early days of reform and opening up, my childhood was undoubtedly surrounded by hawthorns. At least one-third of my childhood snacks were made from hawthorns: hawthorn slices, hawthorn cakes, fruit jelly, stir-fried red fruit, red fruit popsicles, and the world-famous "Old Beijing Candied Haws".

Have you ever tried red fruit popsicles?

Later, these products began to evolve - the fruit leather changed from rolls to slices, the hawthorn slices changed from round to square, and there was even a "combination" of a layer of fruit leather and a layer of hawthorn slices, which was somewhat like cooking beans with bean pods.

In fact, when I was a child, few people in Beijing said hawthorn. Most people said red fruit, or mountain red, or sour red. Once when I was buying candied haws, I said I didn’t want the ones with yam or black dates, but the ones with mountain red. The old man selling candied haws said seriously that his candied haws were made from hawthorn, not mountain red.

I thought to myself, you are sick...

It was not until I learned about plants that this little story suddenly popped out of the garbage heap of my memory. It turns out that hawthorn and shanlihong are really not the same thing! ! Hawthorn is the original species, and shanlihong is a variant of hawthorn, with a larger fruit. Most of the "hawthorns" we buy are actually shanlihong.

Later, I casually flipped through the Qing Dynasty's "The Imperial Capital's Annual Records", which said: "There are two kinds of candied haws grown in the mountains. The ones produced in Beijing are small and sweet, while those from outside are large and sour." It turns out that the grandfather at that time emphasized that his candied haws were made from "old Beijing hawthorns" and tasted sweet, which was not comparable to the sour mountain hawthorns. There are really masters among the people. If it were now, he would probably be named an intangible cultural heritage inheritor, right? Oh no, this is a tangible cultural heritage...

In addition to being the main ingredient, hawthorn is also a very good auxiliary ingredient. **Hawthorn contains lipase and hawthorn acid.** Adding some when stewing meat can make the meat easier to cook and remove the fishy smell.

Hawthorn Braised Pork

Image from: Food World

Here I want to tell you a little trick, which can also be said to be a talk of experience, that is, when stewing meat, it is better to put hawthorn in a little rather than too much. If you put too much, the meat will be sour...

I don’t tell ordinary people because I’m afraid they will laugh at me.

Sweet and sour medicine

Nowadays, the term "plant medicine" or "Chinese herbal medicine" seems to be politically incorrect, but it is not necessary. We just want to criticize those who make subjective assumptions or cheat. Moreover, hawthorn is both a medicine and a food, non-toxic and harmless, and is a very good plant medicine.

Not only in our country, but also all over the world, it is extremely common to use hawthorn as medicine - European hawthorn is still an important medicinal material, but they use the flowers as medicine to nourish the heart and calm the nerves.

We mainly use fruits. The first function is to stimulate appetite. Hawthorn contains a variety of organic acids, which can promote gastric juice secretion and increase appetite. This effect can be said to be immediate and can even produce psychological hints. For example, I am very hungry now as I write this.

Hawthorn has some proven effects such as softening blood vessels and stabilizing blood pressure. However, according to the daily consumption, it is only an auxiliary. Do not take hawthorn as a blood pressure medicine, which is very dangerous.

Although hawthorn is non-toxic, it is not completely without side effects. Because it contains a lot of tannic acid, eating a lot of hawthorn may cause stones . In addition, the acid in hawthorn is irritating to people with weak spleen and stomach . If you eat hawthorn and feel uncomfortable in your stomach, stop eating immediately. If it is more serious, you may need to see a doctor.

Written by: Xin Fuchen

Some pictures are from: Tuchong Creative

WeChat Editor: Happy

Source: Museum