During the Spring Festival, many regions in our country pay attention to eating rice cakes. Nian Gao, also known as "Nian Nian Gao", is homophonic with "Nian Nian Gao", which means that people's work and life are improving year by year.
As a kind of food, rice cake has a long history in our country. In 1974, archaeologists discovered rice seeds in the matrilineal clan social ruins of Hemudu, Yuyao, Zhejiang. This shows that our ancestors had begun planting rice as early as 7,000 years ago. People in the Han Dynasty used various names for rice cakes, such as "rice cake", "bait", and "獍". The ancients also had a development process in the production of rice cakes from rice cakes to powder cakes. The cookbook "Shici" from the sixth century AD contains the method of making rice cake "white cocoon sugar", "Cook the cooked rice and heat it in a pestle and mortar, then pound it into rice cakes. It must be cooked very well. Do not let it cook." There are rice grains..." After the glutinous rice is steamed, it is pounded into rice while it is hot, then cut into peach pit sizes, dried and fried, rolled in sugar and ready to eat. The method of grinding rice to make cakes is also very early. This can be proved from the "Essential Art of Qi Min" written by Jia Sixie of the Northern Wei Dynasty. The production method is to sift the glutinous rice flour with silk silk, add water and honey to make a harder dough, stick dates and chestnuts on the dough, wrap it with silkworm leaves and steam it. This kind of glutinous rice pastry is quite characteristic of the Central Plains.
New year cakes are mostly made from glutinous rice flour, which is a specialty of the south of the Yangtze River. In the north, there are sticky grains like glutinous rice. In ancient times, sticky millet (commonly known as small yellow rice) was the first choice. This kind of millet is shelled and ground into powder. After being steamed with water, it becomes yellow, sticky, and sweet. It is a delicacy for people in the Yellow River Basin to celebrate the harvest. The article "Scenery of the Imperial Capital" published during the Chongzhen period of the Ming Dynasty records that Beijingers at that time "ate millet cakes on New Year's Day, called New Year cakes." It is not difficult to see that "Nian Nian Gao" is a homophony of the "sticky cake" in the north.
There are many types of rice cakes. Representative ones include white cakes from the north, yellow rice cakes from farmers in Saibei, water-milled rice cakes from Jiangnan water towns, and red turtle cakes from Taiwan. Rice cakes have different flavors from the north to the south.
Northern rice cakes can be steamed or fried, both of which are sweet. In addition to steaming and deep-frying, southern rice cakes can also be fried in slices and boiled in soup, with both sweet and salty flavors. It is said that the earliest rice cakes were used to worship gods and ancestors on New Year's Eve, and later became a Spring Festival food. Rice cake is not only a holiday delicacy, but also brings new hope to people every year. As a poem from the late Qing Dynasty puts it: "People's hearts are so high that they make food with harmonious sounds, meaning that the year is better than the year, and they are used to pray for a good year."