1. Fermented rice balls

In the customs of old Ningbo, rice balls are one of the must-eat foods on the winter solstice. Fermented dumpling is a famous snack in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, and it is a traditional Chinese snack that every family will make to entertain guests. It is also a popular dessert with high order rate at hotel banquets.

Fermented glutinous rice balls are made of high-quality white glutinous rice, which is soaked in water and milled into glutinous rice flour, and then milled into small balls for later use. After the above white glutinous rice is steamed, it is mixed with yeast according to a certain proportion, and after a few days, it will become a fragrant, sweet and glutinous wine. Boil the water and put it into a small round. When it floats to the surface, add the fermented grains, white sugar and egg paste, stir well and thicken. Put it into a bowl and sprinkle with sweet osmanthus.

3. Frozen mutton

On the winter solstice, people in old Ningbo not only eat steamed dumplings, baked rice cakes with kohlrabi and sweet potato soup, but also eat "frozen mutton" on the winter solstice, that is, they buy fresh mutton, cut it into chunks, add seasonings such as soy sauce and fennel, cook it in a big fire, put it in a pot, and freeze it into "frozen mutton" when it cools down.

3. Sweet potato soup fruit

Soup fruit is a must-eat food for Ningbo people on the winter solstice. People in Ningbo have a saying that they are one year older after eating soup. Tangguo is similar to tangtuan, which means "reunion" and "perfection", but the tangguo is smaller and there is no stuffing in it. "Fan" and "Fan" are homonyms. In Ningbo people's understanding, eating sweet potatoes on the winter solstice means "turning over" all the bad luck of the past year.

Extended information:

Many places in southern China celebrate holidays on the winter solstice. The winter solstice is a traditional festival to worship the heavens and ancestors, and it is one of the eight festivals of the year. On this day, the people should pay God to worship their ancestors. There is a saying that "the winter festival is as big as a year, and you will never return to your ancestors." People who go out must go home to worship their ancestors on the winter solstice. Due to the different manners and customs in different places, the forms of ancestor worship are also different.

After the ceremony of offering sacrifices to the ancestors, there is usually a big banquet to entertain the clansmen who come to worship the ancestors, so that everyone can drink heartily and connect with each other after a long separation. Many places regard the winter solstice as a reunion festival.

In many parts of northern China, it is a custom to eat jiaozi on the winter solstice every year. As the saying goes, "On October 1st, when the winter solstice comes, every family eats dumplings." The northern part of China wants to eat jiaozi on this day because jiaozi has the meaning of "eliminating cold". So far, there is a folk proverb that "jiaozi Bowl is improper in the winter solstice, and nobody cares if you freeze your ears".