In ancient times, the Winter Solstice was regarded as a relatively important festival, and there was a saying that "the Winter Solstice is as big as the New Year".
Custom foods eaten during the Winter Solstice include dumplings, glutinous rice balls, mutton soup, rice cakes, sweet potato soup, glutinous cakes, round balls, wine making, mochi, winter solstice noodles, winter festival balls, longan-roasted eggs, and pumpkin cakes. , fried snacks, etc. Among them, most places in the north have the custom of eating dumplings during the Winter Solstice, which later became the custom of most northern Chinese people during the Winter Solstice.
The custom of eating mutton during the Winter Solstice is said to have started in the Han Dynasty. 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. Now in Tengzhou, Shandong Province, this day is called Shujiu. Before the festival, gifts such as mutton are given to the elders, and every family on Shujiu drinks mutton soup.
In some areas south of the Yangtze River, it is more popular to eat glutinous rice balls, which means reunion. Every winter solstice morning, every household grinds glutinous rice flour, stuffs it with sugar, meat, vegetables, fruits, shredded radish, etc., and wraps it into winter solstice dumplings, which are not only eaten by their own family, but also given to relatives and friends as a token of blessing.
In Hangzhou, rice cake is a traditional food during the Winter Solstice and a seasonal food during the Lunar New Year. Nian gao is a steamed cake made from sticky glutinous rice or rice flour. Nian gao is eaten in many areas of my country during the Spring Festival and Winter Solstice. Rice cakes are available in strips, blocks, rounds, and rectangles, and can be eaten either sweet or salty. Salty rice cakes are generally made in Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas, and are cooked with vegetables, mushrooms, meat, etc. to make them salty. Some people like to dip the rice cakes in sugar and fry them. When eaten until slightly golden, it is salty and sweet, soft and waxy and sweet.
In Ningbo’s traditional customs, sweet potato soup is one of the must-eat delicacies during the Winter Solstice. "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 of the past year.
When eating Winter Solstice noodles, there is a saying in the north that "if you eat Winter Solstice noodles, you will grow taller every day". Instead of eating dumplings, you can eat noodles. Depending on the region, the method of cooking noodles is particular, and some use old hen soup. The soup bases include duck soup, mutton soup, beef soup and even donkey meat soup.
In the old traditional saying, noodles also have the meaning of longevity and longevity. Whether it is hand-made noodles, hand-rolled noodles, hollow noodles or solid noodles, you should pay attention when cooking noodles. If you want the noodles to be cooked elastic and not easy to stick to each other, the cooking time should be controlled well. The cooked noodles should be quickly immersed in cold water. , the noodles are less likely to stick and more elastic at the same time.