There was a scholar named Shang Lu in Jhejiang Province in the Ming Dynasty. One day he had a dream that he kneeled down in the Wen Chang Temple and saw there were the four treasures of the study, a pan of peanut and some sugar on the altar. Wen Chang Di Jun looked at him and smiled without saying any words. Suddenly he waved his hand toward the altar and the peanuts were shelled and flied into the sugar nearby. They peanuts changed into a group of cattle rushing toward him. Shang Lu was so scared that he awaked immediately. After the day break, he asked someone for oneiromancy. The dream interpreter told him, the stationery and the peanut on the altar implied a gifted pen and the cattle were connected to ox hair, which stood for wisdom. Hearing this, Shang Lu left his home for the capital to join the imperial examination and successfully passed it. After he succeeded in the examination and became an officer, Shang Lu asked his family to, as described in the dream, mix flour, maltose and peanut and make cattle-shaped candies. He offered the candies as sacrifice to Wen Chang Di Jun and sent to the neighborhood. It became popular thanks to the delicious taste and later was named Niou-Ga-Tang (nougat).
The shape of nougat today
Modern nougat is sold in sealed packages for ensured food health
