Accurate identification of the pastry contained in a ceramic pot excavated from Jurou Li's grave from the Jin dynasty (1115–1234 ce) in Xi'an, Shaanxi, China

Abstract

In order to identify accurately the circular object contained in the ceramic pot excavated from Jurou Li's grave of the Jin dynasty (1115–1234 ce) in Xi'an, Shaanxi, China, mass spectrometry was applied to determine the amino acid sequences of the residual proteins extracted from the sample, after preliminary starch grain analysis. The sequences were searched against a standard protein sequence database. The proteins extracted were identified as originating from domesticated barley (Hordeum vulgare), soybean (Glycine max), and fermentative microorganisms (Kluyveromyces lactis, Lipomyces starkeyi, Wickerhamomyces ciferrii, Nadsonia fulvescens and Zygosaccharomyces rouxii). These findings indicate that the extremely degraded object in the ceramic pot was made from barley by fermentation with the addition of soy sauce, providing direct evidence of culinary culture in the Jin dynasty.