Wuhan eats dumplings during the Winter Solstice.

The south has a warm climate and rich products. Dumpling fillings include three delicacies, shrimps, crab roe, sea cucumbers, fish, etc., with different tastes. There are also differences in the wrapping methods of dumplings. The southern "pinch" In the north, one is smart and small, and the other is bold and honest. When making dumplings in the south, you need to put the meat filling inside the dumpling wrapper, and then use pinching methods to seal the two sides of the dumpling. The wrapper is thin and thin, and the filling inside is clearly visible.

Winter Solstice is a very important solar term in China. Winter Solstice is one of the traditional festivals of the Han nationality. It originated in the Han Dynasty and flourished in the Tang and Song Dynasties. It has been used throughout the ages. The Winter Solstice is commonly known as "Winter Festival", "Long Solstice Festival", "Ya Sui" and so on. As early as the Spring and Autumn Period more than 2,500 years ago, China had used Tugui to observe the sun and determine the winter solstice. It was the earliest one of the twenty-four solar terms to be established, and the time was in December of the solar calendar every year. Between the 21st and the 23rd, this day is the shortest day and the longest night in the whole year in the northern hemisphere.

The legend of eating dumplings during the Winter Solstice

The Winter Solstice is the severe winter season. People use food to stay warm and treat illnesses. After thousands of years of development, unique seasonal food traditions have gradually formed, such as wontons. , dumplings, glutinous rice balls, red bean porridge, dog and mutton, etc. are all regarded as winter solstice seasonal foods. Along with the food customs of the Winter Solstice, there are also many Han folklores.

Henan people have the custom of eating dumplings during the Winter Solstice, which is called eating "pinched frozen ears". There is also a legend: It is said that Zhang Zhongjing, the medical sage of Nanyang, was originally a medical officer. It was a snowy winter when he retired and returned home. He saw that the folks in Nanyang were suffering from cold and hunger, and many people's ears were rotten by the cold.

So he asked his disciples to set up a medical tent in Guandong, Nanyang, put mutton, chili peppers and some cold-repelling medicinal materials in a pot and cook them, take them out and chop them into pieces, and use dough wrappers to shape them into ears. Then put it in the pot and cook it, and make it into "cold-repelling ear-correcting soup" and give it to the villagers. After the villagers took it, the frozen ears were cured. Later, every winter solstice, people would imitate this kind of "pinching frozen ears" "Eat, it is said that eating dumplings during the Winter Solstice will not freeze you up."