Xiwuqi butter

Xiwuqi butter

　　Butter is the essence of fresh milk, containing all the essential nutrients required by living organisms. It is the most precious and costly food, served to honored guests or during major festivals.

Butter, referred to by the ancients as "tihu," was listed among the "Eight Northern Delicacies" used in imperial cuisine during the Yuan Dynasty and considered a rare gourmet treasure. After tasting tihu, the renowned Tang Dynasty poet Du Fu spontaneously composed a poem titled "Praise for the Guest Room at Dazhi Temple," in which he praised: "Tihu fosters growth, and its nourishment surpasses that which revives the weak." Butter is not only a gourmet delicacy but also possesses certain medicinal properties and broad practical value. The Ming Dynasty physician Li Shizhen recorded in "Compendium of Materia Medica · Volume on Beasts I": "'Tihu,' citing Kou Zong, states: 'When making cheese, the first coagulated layer is called butter, and the oily layer above the butter is tihu. It is extracted by boiling, is hard to come by, and is extremely sweet and delicious.'" Butter has the functions of moistening the lungs, relieving coughs, and providing nourishment. Gu Kuang wrote in his poem "The Hardship of the Journey": "Little did they know that there is tihu for anointing the crown, which can bring coolness and soothe the head from heat." The phrase "tihu anointing the crown" may have originated from this. In Buddhism, "tihu anointing the crown" is often used as a metaphor for imparting wisdom, enabling profound enlightenment to reach the highest state of Buddhist teachings. Therefore, butter is also the finest offering used to worship the Buddha. In the daily lives of Mongolian residents, butter is an indispensable item.