Hakuga
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Hello, I was brought here by Saionji-hime's excellent site while looking for a way to make a sensu.
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Post by Hakuga on Dec 6, 2019 8:28:32 GMT -5
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Hakuga
New Member
Hello, I was brought here by Saionji-hime's excellent site while looking for a way to make a sensu.
Posts: 18
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Post by Hakuga on Dec 8, 2019 21:24:49 GMT -5
In other words... a small mountain of shaved ice with boiled down maple syrup, served in a gold or silver bowl...
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 12, 2019 23:29:56 GMT -5
In other words... a small mountain of shaved ice with boiled down maple syrup, served in a gold or silver bowl... Keep in mind that, historically speaking, ice in warmer areas during warmer seasons was something of a luxury item. Also, in some parts of the world, shaved ice with some kind of sweet syrup poured on it is still considered a coveted dessert item. |
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Hakuga
New Member
Hello, I was brought here by Saionji-hime's excellent site while looking for a way to make a sensu.
Posts: 18
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Post by Hakuga on Dec 13, 2019 23:30:59 GMT -5
Definitely-cutting the ice, transporting it and keeping it frozen from winter till summer is quite a feat in and of itself.
On the topic of ice-chilled and ice-based desserts, the Chinese author and translator Liang Shiqiu in his book "On Food" mentioned that in his childhood (1903-1915 ish), the ice used by dessert vendors to make "cold bowls" (a bowl of tender lotus roots, water chestnuts, lotus seeds, walnuts etc. stewed in syrup, served in a bowl packed with chips of natural ice) was dirty and full of sand, mud and twigs, and that the hygiene of the food was probably compromised by the ice. Would people in the Heian era have experienced the same problem with their shaved ice?
Granted, the ice is collected in the middle of winter, which reduces the risk of water-borne illnesses considerably, but they'd also be collected from natural bodies of water, and some contamination in the forms of twigs, leaves would probably be inevitable.
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Post by Bun'ami on Dec 16, 2019 11:51:54 GMT -5
Definitely-cutting the ice, transporting it and keeping it frozen from winter till summer is quite a feat in and of itself. Granted, the ice is collected in the middle of winter, which reduces the risk of water-borne illnesses considerably, but they'd also be collected from natural bodies of water, and some contamination in the forms of twigs, leaves would probably be inevitable. I haven't seen any evidence of ice houses used to store ice gathered in the winter, but that doesn't mean they could exist. Please remember, Japan is a mountainous region. It would be more likely that there was a simple expedition to one of the mountains to gather ice and bring it back. Mt. Fuji is covered in snow and ice year round. It can be climbed, ice gathered, then return to Tokyo within a day. |
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Saionji Shonagon
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One dreamed of becoming somebody. Another remained awake and became. (Found in a fortune cookie.)
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Post by Saionji Shonagon on Dec 17, 2019 14:30:44 GMT -5
Tokyo was not the capital during the Heian era.  |
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Hakuga
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Hello, I was brought here by Saionji-hime's excellent site while looking for a way to make a sensu.
Posts: 18
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Post by Hakuga on Dec 20, 2019 20:47:45 GMT -5
traditionalkyoto.com/eat/kakigorishaved-ice/Apparently they had ice-houses to store the ice back in the day, though we don't seem to have much information on how they were built. Presumably a deep subterranean cellar with very thick straw insulation padding all around? Also snow does not really make ice. Shaved ice is exactly that- slivers of ice shaved off a larger block with a very sharp blade. Snow, I think, would also be hard to gather. Blocks of ice, collected from Lake Biwa and carted off to the Capital in the dead of winter, is probably the easier of the two to get in sufficiently large quantities.
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