The food customary during the Winter Solstice in the South is rich and diverse, including sweet balls, nine-layer cakes, glutinous rice balls, barbecued meats, etc. During the winter solstice in the south, the whole family usually gathers together to enjoy the strong atmosphere of the solar term. Even in Guangzhou, there is a saying that the winter solstice is greater than the new year.
In the southwest, there is also the custom of drinking mutton soup during the winter solstice. The snow-white soup, mutton and haggis sold by the pound, were all poured into the soup. With the rising heat, it seemed that everyone had the courage to fight the cold.
Unlike northerners who generally eat dumplings on the Winter Solstice, southerners have a variety of diets, including glutinous rice balls, rice cakes, red beans and glutinous rice, winter wine, hot tofu, etc. Waiting for delicious food.
Eating glutinous rice balls during the Winter Solstice is particularly popular in Jiangnan, my country. There is an ancient poem that goes: "Every family pounding rice to make glutinous rice balls knows that it is the winter solstice in the Ming Dynasty." Eating glutinous rice balls during the Winter Solstice is also called "Winter Solstice Tuan", which means reunion.
In Taizhou, Zhejiang, people eat "leiyuan" on the winter solstice. This is a small round made of glutinous rice flour. After being cooked, it is mixed with brown sugar and soybean flour and rolled. Because this process is called "Lei" in the local dialect, the winter solstice round is also called "Lei Yuan". This takes the meaning of roundness and reunion.
Winter wine making is a must for Suzhou people to celebrate the winter solstice. There is an old saying in Suzhou, "If you don't drink winter wine during the winter solstice, you will freeze all night." Winter wine was originally called Dongyang wine, so named because the yang energy rises after the winter solstice. This is a kind of rice wine made from glutinous rice, which has been soaked, steamed, cooled, fermented, and secondary fermented, then pressed, cooled, filtered, and finally sugared osmanthus is added, giving it a strong osmanthus flavor and a slight sweetness.
Different regions prefer different foods during the Winter Solstice. In addition to the above mentioned, there are also many delicacies with regional characteristics, such as Hangzhou people eating rice cakes during the Winter Solstice, Xiamen people eating ginger duck, and Nanchang people eating Hot tofu, Changsha people eat winter bacon, etc.