Millet is the food of choice for health enthusiasts. It can be consumed by those who are ill, postpartum, or have a weak constitution, as it nourishes yin and enriches the blood. It can be taken all year round. Millet porridge is famously known as "ginseng soup".
[Lu Xun was also a "millet enthusiast"]
Because they both loved Soviet literature, Cao Jinghua, who taught at Beiping University, became a close friend of Lu Xun. At the end of 1933, Cao Jinghua planned to visit Lu Xun in Shanghai. Among the gifts he prepared for Lu Xun, besides some Beijing specialties, there was also a bag of golden millet. Millet was originally a specialty of Cao Jinghua's hometown, Henan, and was considered a high-end health supplement at the time, mostly reserved for patients or postpartum women to nourish their bodies, which shows how precious this gift was.
When Lu Xun saw the millet Cao Jinghua brought, he asked with slight surprise, "How did you know I like to eat millet?" Cao Jinghua smiled and replied, "I read it in 'Letters from Two Places'." "Letters from Two Places" was originally a collection of letters exchanged between Lu Xun and his lover Xu Guangping. In it, Lu Xun had revealed his love for eating millet, which Cao Jinghua had carefully remembered. Deeply moved by his friend's profound kindness, Lu Xun did not keep this "high-end nutritional product" to himself. Instead, he shared the millet with three of his friends: Mao Dun, Uchiyama Kanzō, and his younger brother Zhou Jianren.
Shortly after returning to Beijing, Cao Jinghua learned that Lu Xun was unwell due to overwork. He then went to great lengths to have many nutritional supplements, including millet, delivered to Lu Xun, who was deeply touched.
[Nutrition King]
Millet is rich in various nutrients and trace elements and has a good blood-enriching effect. Additionally, because millet is not processed as finely as rice, it retains most of its nutrients, making its nutritional value much higher than that of rice, with its benefits to human health being self-evident.
1. Prevent indigestion: People with long-term stomach and spleen problems can often drink millet porridge to regulate various gastrointestinal disorders caused by different reasons.
2. Reduce bacterial growth: Eating more millet can reduce bacterial growth in the mouth and eliminate bad breath.
3. Freckle removal and beauty: Millet has the effects of reducing wrinkles, removing freckles, and reducing pigmentation.
4. Nourish the heart and calm the mind: Millet is rich in tryptophan, a substance that regulates sleep. Middle-aged and elderly people who often suffer from insomnia can drink a small amount of millet porridge before bed to help them sleep.
5. Kidney nourishment: All five grains have the effect of nourishing vital energy and strengthening the kidneys, and among them, millet has the strongest kidney-nourishing effect.
[Nutritious Ways to Eat Millet]
Although it is honored as the "King of Nutrition," one must pay attention to the method of consumption to maximize its nutritional value.
Mushroom and Celery Millet Porridge: Remove the leaves from the celery, wash it, blanch it in boiling water, then dice it and set aside. Remove the stems from the mushrooms, wash them, and dice them. Wash the millet and cook it. After the millet grains swell, add the mushrooms and celery and continue to cook until tender.
Millet and Pumpkin Porridge: Peel and dice the pumpkin. Wash the millet. Place both in a rice cooker and soak for half an hour, then cook until soft. Note: When washing millet, do not rub it with your hands, do not soak it for a long time, and do not wash it with hot water.
Steamed Pork Ribs with Fragrant Lotus Leaf Millet: Chop the ribs into small pieces, remove the blood water, and wash them. Chop the fermented black beans, ginger, and garlic. Soak the mushrooms, cut them into strips, and use the soaking water to soak the washed millet for a while. Heat a pan, add a little oil, put in the ginger and garlic, stir-fry until fragrant, then add the fermented black beans and stir-fry before removing from the heat. Mix the soaked millet, mushroom strips, and the cooled, stir-fried fermented black beans with the ginger and garlic. Add soy sauce, cooking wine, salt, sugar, and a little mushroom water, mix well, and marinate for two hours. Wash the fresh lotus leaf, spread it in a steamer, place all the marinated ingredients on it, wrap with the lotus leaf, and steam for 1 hour.
Mung Bean and Millet Milk: Put millet and mung beans in a soy milk maker in a 1:1 ratio, add an appropriate amount of water, and blend into a milk. You can add sugar or honey to taste when drinking.
Millet Steamed Pork with Rice Flour: Slice the pork and marinate with soy sauce, five-spice powder, and other seasonings for 12 hours. Soak the washed millet for half an hour. Evenly coat the marinated pork with rice flour, then mix in the millet. Wash and cut the potatoes, place them at the bottom of a container, and put the prepared pork on top. Place in a steamer and steam for 1 hours over cold water until steam appears.
Millet is rich in nutrition and has a variety of ways to be eaten. It is an expert in regulating the spleen and stomach. People with a weak constitution can take it long-term to nourish their frail bodies. People with a poor stomach can also take it persistently for a long time.