Tangyuan: Besides sweet, there are salty ones, both filled and filled.

Yuanxiao: The biggest feature is sweetness. There are relatively few kinds of fillings, mainly black sesame seeds, five kernels, bean paste, etc., plus some sugar.

Second, the fillings are different:

Tangyuan: Black sesame seeds, red bean paste, walnut kernels, nuts and jujube paste were the earliest. Nowadays, people's tastes are becoming more and more picky. Recently, there have been fruits, coffee, matcha and other flavors.

Yuanxiao: At the earliest, assorted stuffing and jujube paste were the main stuffing. Assorted stuffing is actually a mixture of white sugar, rose, sesame, red bean paste, yellow cinnamon, walnut kernel and nuts, which feels like the five-kernel stuffing in moon cakes.

Third, the production process is different:

Tangyuan: The process of making tangyuan is like wrapping jiaozi. You need to make up the glutinous rice noodles first and wake up thoroughly; Then make stuffing, the water content in the stuffing is more than that in the dumpling stuffing, which can be scattered like dumpling stuffing or kneaded into small balls; Finally, grab a piece of noodles, knead them into pieces, wrap the stuffing inside, and knead them into balls.

Yuanxiao: It is mainly filled with stuffing. First, the stuffing is made and cut into small pieces. Then, the stuffing is placed in a large basket filled with glutinous rice noodles and shaken back and forth (now by machine) until a thick glutinous rice coat is rolled on the outside of the stuffing.

Fourth, the taste is different:

Tangyuan: The skin is strong and the stuffing is chewy. The boiled soup will be sticky, which is a bit like drinking rice soup.

Yuanxiao: The skin is smooth and the taste is delicate. Because there is a lot of water in the stuffing, the stuffing will flow out like quicksand at the moment when the dumplings are bitten. Besides, the soup cooked with glutinous rice balls is clearer than Yuanxiao.