This article**: The people**.
Zhang Guohua. People** 2024-02-10 Edition 05).
Steamed bread or steamed bread is a fermented noodle dish that began around the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty and is an indispensable staple food on the table of northerners. Flower bun is a flower steamed bun made of fermented dough through kneading, kneading, kneading, dialing, pressing and other steps, supplemented by red dates, beans and food coloring. It is mainly popular in Shanxi, Shandong, Henan, Shaanxi and other regions, and its names vary from region to region, and it is also known as "face flower", "face plastic", "wowo flower", "flower gluttony" and so on. On different occasions such as New Year's holidays, weddings and funerals, birthdays of the elderly, and full moons of children, different shapes of flower buns will be made according to customs.
In the development of the past thousand years, the raw materials for the production of flower buns in different regions have changed, among which the changes in the flour and ingredients used in flower buns are particularly obvious. Wheat flour is the main source of traditional steamed buns, but the processing characteristics of flour vary depending on the variety of wheat grown in different places. With the development of the times, the types of wheat flour have been continuously enriched, such as low-gluten flour, all-purpose flour and high-gluten flour. For example, Shanxi Wenxi Flower Bun will use flour made from high-quality wheat to maintain the shape of the flower bun while giving it a fragrant and chewy taste.
In terms of shape, the style of flower bun is gradually diversified. At first, rows of dots could be decorated with small combs on the rounded strips of noodles, interspersed with some jujube decorations between the dough blocks, and some were equipped with beans (which can be used as animal-shaped eyes), pepper and other accessories according to different taste preferences.
Later, the flower buns became more and more vivid in color, and the edible dyes used became healthier and more diverse. Some natural dyes are used in the production of flower buns, such as red and blue flowers, madder, comfrey and other plant juices. These natural dyes are safe to eat, but the color is not bright enough. Nowadays, the dyes used in modern flower buns are bright and diverse, which can meet the color needs of various shapes of flower buns. For example, fruit and vegetable juices such as spinach and purple potatoes are sometimes used, food coloring produced by microbial fermentation is sometimes used, and edible cuttlefish juice powder is used in the black color of flower buns.
During the Spring Festival, many regions in China will make flower buns to celebrate reunion and hope, and the shape of flower buns has its own characteristics. The shape of Shanxi flower bun is simple and elegant, the workmanship is fine, the details and colors are mostly painted with brushes, the lines are depicted clearly and realistically, the color pays attention to maintaining natural beauty, and there is more white space. Shandong flower bun shape is stocky, rough, pay attention to the likeness, gorgeous color, like a large area with red, green, yellow, etc. Shaanxi flower bun, the shape is exaggerated, public, the contrast technique is strong, the color is gorgeous, the purity is high, the contrast color is commonly used, the complementary color, etc., the color is as impactful and collisional as the Qin cavity. Gansu flower bun pays attention to the whole, less depicting details, the shape of the outline is concise, round and full, and the color usually changes the dough mixture dye into a colored dough before modeling.
As a treasure of traditional Chinese folk art, the flower bun not only showcases the outstanding skills of Chinese folk artists, but also inherits a wealth of historical and cultural information. It is a kind of food and a culture, which records the changes in people's lives and witnesses the changes of the times. Whether ancient or modern, flower buns have attracted people's attention with their unique charm and have become an indispensable part of Chinese folk art.
The author is a professor at the School of Life Sciences of Shanxi University and deputy chief expert of Shanxi Province's functional food industry technology system