Traditional Diet
Editor
The winter solstice is a good time to maintain health, mainly because "qi begins at the winter solstice." Because starting from winter, life activities begin to change from decline to prosperity, from stillness to rotation. At this time, scientific health maintenance can help ensure strong energy, prevent premature aging, and achieve the purpose of prolonging life. During the winter solstice, the diet should be diverse, with a reasonable mix of grains, fruits, meats, and vegetables, and appropriate selection of high-calcium foods.
Every place has different customs during the Winter Solstice. Most places in northern China have the custom of eating dumplings during the Winter Solstice. After thousands of years of development, the Winter Solstice has formed a unique seasonal food culture. Eating dumplings has become a custom during the Winter Solstice for most Chinese people. Of course, there are exceptions. For example, in Tengzhou City, Shandong Province, the custom of drinking mutton soup on the winter solstice is popular, which means to drive away the cold.
The ancients celebrated the Winter Solstice. Although many people today do not regard it as a festival, the Winter Festival is one of the "eight festivals of the year" no matter how you say it. Foodies will still not miss this winter solstice special delicacy. Festivals: such as northern dumplings, Chaoshan glutinous rice balls, southeastern mochi, Taizhou Leiyuan, Hefei pumpkin cakes, Ningbo sweet potato soup, Tengzhou mutton soup, Jiangnan rice, Suzhou wine, etc.
Dumplings are commonly eaten in the north
Every year on the winter solstice of the lunar calendar, dumplings are an essential holiday meal for rich and poor alike. Proverb
It goes: "On October 1st, when the winter solstice arrives, every household eats dumplings."
This custom was left in memory of the "Medical Saint" Zhang Zhongjing who gave up medicine during the winter solstice.
Shandong Tengzhou Mutton Soup
The custom of eating mutton during the Winter Solstice is said to have started in the Han Dynasty. According to legend, Liu Bang, the emperor of the Han Dynasty, ate the mutton cooked by Fan Kuai on
Tengzhou Mutton Soup
on the winter solstice. He thought it tasted particularly delicious and praised it profusely. Since then, the folk custom of eating mutton during the Winter Solstice has been formed. People eat mutton and various nutritious foods on the day of the winter solstice in order to have a good omen in the coming year. In the area of ??Tengzhou, Shandong Province, this day is called Shujiu. Before the festival, gifts such as mutton will be given to the elders. Every household on Shujiu will drink mutton soup, which bodes well for the individual, the elders and the family.
Tengzhou mutton soup mainly puts the mutton bones into a large pot to make the soup, and then puts the fresh mutton cut into weights and the cleaned haggis into the soup pot to cook. After cooking, take it out and drain it, then cut it into thin slices and put it in boiling water for a while, then pour it into a soup bowl, pour in the boiling white mutton soup, sprinkle with green chopped green onion, and you will have a steaming bowl full of aroma. The mutton soup is ready. Mix it with chili oil, peppercorns, salt, MSG, etc. to make mutton soup.
Jiangnan Rice
In the Jiangnan water towns, there is a custom of the whole family gathering together to eat red bean glutinous rice on the night of the winter solstice.
According to legend, there was an untalented man of the Gong clan of Jiangxi who committed many evil deeds and died on the winter solstice. After his death, he turned into a plague ghost and continued to harm the people. However, this plague ghost is most afraid of red beans, so people cook and eat red bean rice on the winter solstice to ward off plague ghosts and prevent disasters and diseases.
Sweet potato soup
In Ningbo’s traditional customs, sweet potato soup is one of the must-eat delicacies during the winter solstice.
The words "fan" and "fan" have the same pronunciation. In the understanding of Ningbo people, eating sweet potatoes during the winter solstice means "turning over" all the bad luck in the past year.
Tangguo is similar to glutinous rice balls, but much smaller and has no filling inside. Tangguo is also called Yuanzi, which means "reunion" and "completeness". There is also a saying in old Ningbo that "eating Tang Guo makes you one year older".
Ningbo people are accustomed to adding fermented rice wine when making sweet potato soup. In Ningbo dialect, Jiu Niang is also called "pulp board", and "pulp" has the same pronunciation as "rose" in Ningbo dialect, which means "rising wealth" and "rising blessings". [9]?
Taiwanese Glutinous Cake
In Taiwan, we still have the tradition of using nine-layer cakes to worship ancestors during the Winter Solstice.
Knead chickens with glutinous rice flour , ducks, turtles, pigs, cows, sheep and other animals that symbolize auspiciousness, happiness, wealth and longevity are then steamed in layers in a steamer to worship ancestors to show that they do not forget their ancestors. People with the same surname and the same clan gather in the ancestral temple in order of age and worship their ancestors one by one at the winter solstice or an early date agreed before or after. This is commonly known as "ancestral worship". After the ceremony, a grand banquet will be held to entertain the clan members who come to worship their ancestors. Everyone drinks happily and connects with each other after long separation, which is called "eating ancestors." The ancestors of the Winter Solstice Festival have been passed down from generation to generation in Taiwan to show that they do not forget their "roots." Radish, green vegetables, tofu, fungus, etc.
Leiyuan in Taizhou, Zhejiang
People in Taizhou, Zhejiang love delicious food. The winter solstice is an important solar term in the year. On this day, we should make special dishes and food. First, we should pay homage to our ancestors and pray for them. Wish the whole family all the best in the coming year. Then the whole family happily gathers together to drink and eat. Among them, eating "Winter Solstice Yuan" (Leiyuan, also called Hard Leyuan or Fan rough Yuan) is an old tradition in Taizhou. Leiyuan means roundness and reunion.
Yuan making is the highlight of the Winter Solstice. "Yuan" means "reunion" and "completeness". Compared with the glutinous rice balls eaten on weekdays, Linhai people's winter solstice dumplings are not only rich in content and different forms, but also have different meanings. profound. Leiyuan is made of glutinous rice flour. First knead the glutinous rice flour and warm water into a dough, then cut it into balls the size of a vinegar saucer and roll them into a round shape. After they are cooked, they are rolled in bean yellow powder and mixed. This process is called "Leiyuan" in Linhai dialect. ”, so the winter solstice round is named “Leiyuan”, while bean yellow powder is made from fried soybeans, ground into powder and then mixed with brown sugar. Take a round ball filled with soy flour and take a bite while it's hot. It's fragrant, sweet, warm and soft, and a feeling of happiness arises spontaneously. In addition to the classic sweet dumplings, there are also winter solstice dumplings that many families like to eat salty. Salty dumplings are stuffings placed in glutinous rice balls, stuffed with diced pork, dried tofu, winter bamboo shoots, shiitake mushrooms, carrots, white radish, etc. They can be steamed or boiled. Fresh and juicy, with a special flavor.
Brew-making in Suzhou, Jiangsu
The Suzhou area attaches great importance to the winter solstice. There is a saying in the Suzhou area: "The winter solstice is like a new year." Traditional Gusu people drink Dongjiujiu on the night of the winter solstice. Dongjiujiu is a kind of rice wine brewed with sweet-scented osmanthus and has a pleasant aroma. People in Suzhou drink winter wine on the night of the winter solstice, along with various braised dishes such as braised beef and braised mutton. In the cold winter, winter wine can not only ward off the cold, but also embody the beautiful wishes of Suzhou people for life.
Jiangxi Mo Ci
Mo Ci is a specialty of Zhejiang and Jiangxi. It is also a traditional snack of Fujian people and an offering for Fujian people during sacrifices. Mochi can be dried in the shade and then steamed, pan-fried, grilled or stir-fried.
Mo Ci is also a famous snack in southern Fujian, among which Nan'an Yingdu is the most famous. Its raw materials are high-quality glutinous rice, lard, sesame, peanuts, rock sugar, etc. Mochi is sweet and delicious, and it resists hunger after eating. It has a sweet and smooth texture, and is soft, tough and slightly icy. The finished product is bright white in color, smooth, tough and transparent.
Eating Winter Solstice Noodles in Hefei, Anhui
“Eating Winter Solstice Noodles will make you grow taller every day.” In Hefei, Anhui Province, the custom of eating noodles during the winter solstice is related to solar terms, climate, and farming. After the winter solstice, it is time to count the nine cold days, and count to nine every nine days. In the harsh winter when dripping water turns into ice, eating a bowl of hot egg noodles is a perfect way to celebrate the winter solstice.
Tangyuan in Chaoshan and southern Fujian areas
The folk proverbs of the Han people in Chaoshan area go like this: "The winter festival is as big as the new year" and "the ancestors will not return to the winter festival". It means that people who go out must rush home to worship their ancestors on the winter solstice, otherwise they have no concept of ancestral family. Compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait attach great importance to the winter solstice and regard it as a reunion festival.
After people in Chaoshan eat the Winter Festival Yuan, they stick two Winter Festival Yuan on conspicuous places such as doors, windows, tables, cupboards, ladders, beds, etc. in their homes, and even on the bows of fishermen’s boats, farmers The horns of plowing cattle and the fruit trees planted by fruit farmers are no exception.
The famous modern Taiwanese scholar Lin Zaifu described in the book "Minnan People" that on the day of Taiwan's Winter Festival (the winter solstice is called the Winter Festival in Hokkien) "every household will use the Winter Solstice Yuanzi to worship their ancestors early in the morning... … From the main door, small door, window door, barn door, bed, cabinet, table, well, toilet, cowshed, pig house, one or two winter solstice balls are placed on them as a sacrifice, in order to protect the safety of the whole family." .
Four-style glutinous rice balls
First boil or steam mung beans, red beans, sugared winter melon, and taro respectively, peel them, and add sugar, sesame, cooked lard and other condiments. For the four kinds of sweet fillings, wrap the glutinous rice balls into four different fillings and mark them. Boil four kinds of glutinous rice balls in water with sugar. Each bowl contains one glutinous rice ball with different fillings.
Longan-roasted eggs in Jiaxing, Zhejiang
The winter solstice was a major festival in ancient times, and Jiaxing emphasized the winter solstice. As the saying goes, "the winter solstice is as big as the new year", it retains the ancient custom. According to "Jiaxing Prefecture Chronicles" (Volume 34·Customs): "Winter Solstice sacrifices are made to the ancestors, and crowns and covers are used to congratulate each other, just like New Year's Day rituals." Folks advocate winter solstice tonics, such as red bean glutinous rice, ginseng soup, white fungus, walnut kernels stewed in wine, longan boiled eggs, etc.
[10]?
To this day, Jiaxing still inherits the custom of eating "roasted eggs with longan" during the Winter Solstice. The old people say that because the winter solstice is the longest night of the year, if you don't eat it, you will be cold all night and have stomachache in the middle of the night. Hungry.
Preparation of roasted eggs with red dates and longan
Ingredients: dried longan, red dates (optional), eggs, water, brown sugar/rock sugar (optional).
Method:
Rinse the peeled dried longan (and red dates) quickly, put it into a cooking pot, and add appropriate amount of water.
Bring the longan (red dates) water to a boil over high heat, then turn to the minimum heat and simmer slowly for 15 minutes.
After 15 minutes, it can be seen that the longan (red dates) has been soaked and swollen as shown in the picture.
Crack the eggs directly into the longan and red date soup, boil the eggs over medium heat for one minute, then reduce the heat to low and simmer the eggs for another 1 to 3 minutes
Pour the soup in Just go out.
Hefei Pumpkin Cake
After the winter solstice, people in Hefei will eat pumpkin cakes during the winter solstice. The streets and alleys are filled with the fragrance of pumpkin cakes, and there is a proverb called " "Eating Winter Solstice noodles will make you grow taller every day." It means that after the Winter Solstice, the nights will become shorter and the days will become longer.
1. Prepare all the ingredients. Mix glutinous rice flour and sticky rice flour.
Peel the pumpkin, remove seeds, cut into thin slices and place in a bowl.
Cover the lid, put the pumpkin bowl in the microwave, and turn it in batches for about 8 minutes, until the pumpkin is soft and mushy.
Take the pumpkin bowl out of the microwave, add white sugar while it is hot, and stir evenly.
Use a spoon to mash the pumpkin into puree.
Pour the pumpkin puree into the glutinous rice and rice flour basin.
Use chopsticks to stir the pumpkin and flour into snowflakes. If it is too dry, add a little milk or water.
Knead the batter with your hands into a smooth dough, then roll it into long strips and divide it into balls of similar size.
Put the blank in your hands and flatten it.
Put in an appropriate amount of red bean paste.
Tighten the dough with red bean paste and gently press it into a cake shape on the cutting board.
Dip both sides of the pumpkin pie in bread crumbs.
Pour an appropriate amount of vegetable oil into the pot, add the pumpkin cake, and fry over low heat until both sides are golden brown.
After the pumpkin pie is out of the pan, place it on a kitchen napkin to absorb the excess oil and then serve on a plate.