What is tea cuisine? In general, it is adding teas into food, thus making out new cuisine, like tea ice cream of Beijing, Mengding tea wine of Sichuan, Longjing Shrimp of Hangzhou and Yunwu meat of Anhui and etc.
The origin of Chinese tea cuisine
Tea was first made as food and medicine. According to “Shengnong’s Herbal Classic” record: After Shennong tasted hundreds of grass, he was poisoned. But he was saved when chewing teas. This means that tea has the function of detoxication.
When tea was popular as a drink, less people used the teas as medicine and food. But in some areas, they still kept the habit of eating teas. Like “Qingbei Leichao” said, ‘Hunan people not only drink the tea liquid, but also eat the tea leaves.’ Until today, Hunan people have the habit of eating the brewed tea leaves. Also the Yunnan Jinuo ethnic people retain the habit of eating tea salad.
The four methods of making Chinese tea cuisine
1. Bake or fry dishes with fresh tea leaves.
2. Stew or braise dished with tea liquid.
3. Add tea powder into dishes or make tea powder with flour into dessert.
4. Smoke food with the flavor of teas.
The development of Chinese tea cuisine
Since entering 80s, especially the 90s, with the development of tea culture and tea business, Chinese tea cuisine entered a new stage of development. Morning tea in Guangzhou is popular all around China. Taiwan is famous for tea jelly, tea egg, chicken roasted with Oolong tea, bubble tea and etc. Hang zhou has Lonng shrimp, Longjing duck and etc.
By adding tea into cuisine, it can not only retain teas' nutritional value and medicinal function, but also bring out the diverse exquisite dishes. Know the characteristics of teas and food, and then you can make more tea cuisine.
