Introduction: When it comes to what to eat during the festival, different places have different dietary customs, such as eating green dumplings in Jiangnan, Hakkas eating AI cakes, and Xiamen eating pancakes... What exactly do you eat during the festival? I will introduce you to 18 kinds of solar term delicacies, you might as well come and take a look at them.

What to eat during Qingming Festival?

1. Qingtuanzi

During the Qingming Festival, there is a custom of eating Qingtuanzi in the south of the Yangtze River. Green dumplings are made by pounding a wild plant called "wheat straw" and squeezing out the juice. The juice is then mixed and kneaded with the dried pure glutinous rice flour, and then the dumplings are made. The filling center of the dumplings is made of fine sugar bean paste. When filling, a small piece of sugar lard is added. After the dumplings are made, put them into a basket and steam them. When they come out of the basket, use a brush to evenly brush the cooked vegetable oil on the surface of the dumplings, and you're done.

2. Ai Cong

There is an old saying among the Hakka people, which is "eating moxa sticks before and after the Qingming Festival will not produce food all year round". Ai cake is a must-have snack for Hakka people during Qingming Festival. First, wash the picked fresh mugwort, put it in a pot and cook it, then remove it and drain the water. The water used to cook the mugwort should be reserved for later use. Then chop the cooked mugwort into grass paste. The finer and more pulpy the grass paste is, the better. After mincing the wormwood puree, use the water in which the wormwood was boiled, add glutinous rice flour and mix it into a dough. Then wrap the prepared sesame, eyebrow beans, peanuts and other fillings into the dough, seal it and shape it into a round or long shape, put it in a pot and steam it for 15-20 minutes before taking it out of the oven.

3. Warm mushroom buns

Warm mushroom buns are Taining’s specialty snacks. The scientific name of the raw material of warm mushroom is sage grass, also known as Buddha's ear grass. The local people call it warm mushroom grass. Every year on the eve of the Qingming Festival, the fields are covered with sage grass, which is fluffy, fresh and tender. It is a good time for picking, and it is also a good season for making warm mushroom buns. In Taining, there are some differences in making northern and southern slices of warm mushroom buns. The southern piece is made from freshly picked mushrooms, which are shaped like a full moon, similar to steamed buns; the northern piece is made from warm mushroom powder, and is shaped like a crescent moon, more like dumplings. The southern ones are usually eaten on the eve of the Qingming Festival. They are for fresh taste and don’t have too many rules.

4. Sanzi

There is a custom of eating Sanzi during the Qingming Festival in the north and south of my country. "Sanzi" is a fried food, crispy and delicious, and was called "Han Ju" in ancient times. The custom of prohibiting fire and cold food during the Cold Food Festival is no longer popular in most parts of our country, but the Sanzi related to this festival is deeply loved by the world. The Sanzi that is now popular in Han areas has differences between the North and the South: the Northern Sanzi is generous and free-spirited, with wheat noodles as the main ingredient; the Southern Sanzi is exquisite and delicate, mostly with rice noodles as the main ingredient.

5. Eggs

Folk custom believes that if you eat an egg during the Qingming Festival, you will have good health throughout the year. The origin of eating eggs during Qingming Festival is the custom of banning fire in some areas during the pre-Qin Dynasty. Fire and cold food were banned for many days. Boiled eggs are the best food reserve to spend this period. On Qingming Festival, in addition to eating eggs, you can also play with them. They are roughly divided into two types, one is "painting eggs" and the other is "carving eggs". The colorfully painted eggs can be eaten; the "carved eggs" are only for viewing.

6. Zitui Mo

"Zitui Mo", also known as Lao Momo, is similar to the helmet of an ancient military commander and weighs about 250-500 grams. Eggs or dates are stuffed inside, and there is a topping on top. The top is surrounded by veneer flowers. Mianhua is a small steamed bun made of dough, in the shape of a swallow, insect, snake, rabbit or the Four Treasures of the Study. The round "Zitui Mo" is specially enjoyed by men. Married women eat strip-shaped steamed buns, while unmarried girls eat steamed buns. Children have noodle flowers such as swallows, snakes, rabbits, and tigers. "Big Tiger" is specially eaten by boys and is also their favorite.

What to eat during Qingming Festival? Next, I will continue to introduce you to 12 kinds of Qingming Festival delicacies from different places to see how they are different from what you eat at home.

7. Pancakes

Xiamen folk proverb says "eat pancakes during Qingming Festival", which means that the family will get together to make pancakes and eat them after sweeping the tomb during Qingming Festival. Today, most places in southern Fujian still retain such customs. When old Xiamen people roll pancakes, they generally like to put some crispy seaweed, fried egg shreds, or apply a little chili sauce in the pancake skin. After rolling, it will be more delicious when eaten hot. The various things included in it indicate that the seedlings will flourish and the livestock will thrive. In some areas, it is believed that eating pancakes wrapped with celery and leeks will make people work harder (celery) and live longer (leeks). The family business will be more prosperous.

8. Green onions and egg pancakes

During the Qingming Festival, many families in Qingdao eat green onions and egg pancakes, which symbolizes intelligence. This custom continues to this day. In addition, in the old days, some people in the Qingdao area also kneaded flour flowers, called "steamed Xiaoyan", and ate white flour chicks and eggs. It means that the little swallows are coming and the real spring has arrived. On the morning of Qingming Festival, the whole family must eat eggs and white-flour chickens. Many students bring eggs to their teachers to show their respect.

9. Pu Zi Kueh

To make Pu Zi Kueh, first mash the Pu Zi leaves and fruits (cores), grind them with rice into powder, then ferment and add sugar, and finally It is then steamed using pottery molds or plum blossom molds. Generally, there are two types of Pu Zi Kueh: plum blossom type and peach type, and some are also called Wan Yin Peach. The steamed hackberry seeds are green in color, and they all smile widely, always giving people a wonderful feeling of spring. The cake is light green in color and has a very sweet taste. It is said that eating it can relieve accumulated heat and relieve heat.

10. Mustard rice

During the Qingming Festival, most people in eastern Fujian, both in urban and rural areas, have the custom of eating mustard greens. It is said that eating "mustard rice" cooked with mustard greens and rice on February 2 every year can prevent scabies all year round. There is also a custom of cooking loach noodles to worship ancestors and give them away on March 3rd.

11. Date cake

Date cake is also called "Zitui cake". In some places in the north, fermented rice is used to make dough and steamed with dates. They also used to make jujube cakes in the shape of flying swallows, hang them on wicker sticks on the door, and eat them cold to commemorate Jie Zitui's noble character of not seeking fame or wealth. Cake is cereals. Cereals plus dates are in line with the purpose of maintaining health and increasing sweetness. It can increase the function of the spleen and limit the excessive expansion of liver qi.

12. Qingming rice

On the eve of Qingming Festival, every household collects various edible green herbs from the wild to make Qingming rice. Commonly used herbs include mugwort, linseed leaves, wormwood, Qingming vegetables (Bai Gong Weng), shepherd's purse, wolfberry leaves, etc. Wash the herbs to be used, remove the stems, cook them, mix them into the pre-soaked and drained glutinous rice (add an appropriate amount of rice), use a bowl to form rice balls, add brown sugar and knead evenly, then steam them into rice cubes and serve.

The following will continue to introduce you to 6 kinds of Qingming Festival foods that many people have never heard of. Friends who are interested must know a few things.

13. Zifu

The Shanxi area still retains the custom of banning fires on the day before Qingming. In many places, after completing the sacrificial ceremony, the sacrificial food is shared among the people. When people in southern Shanxi celebrate the Qingming Festival, they are accustomed to steaming big steamed buns with white flour, sandwiching walnuts, dates, and beans in the middle. The outside is coiled into a dragon shape, and an egg is stuck in the middle of the dragon body, which is called "Zifu". Steam a big "Zi Fu" to symbolize the family's reunion and happiness. When visiting the grave, the total "zifu" is dedicated to the ancestral spirit, and the whole family eats it after sweeping the grave.

14. Spinach cake

Around Qingming Festival, every household in Fuzhou will make spinach cake. Nowadays, "Mishi" cake shops on the street also sell spinach cake in large quantities. Spinach (a wild vegetable growing in the south, edible, sweet, cool in nature, mashed and pressed into a green-green juice) is squeezed into juice, soaked into rice milk and kneaded into rice cake skin, with date paste, bean paste, Shredded radish, etc. are kneaded for filling. The shape is relatively simple, and the green color of spinach gives the spinach a spring greenness.

15. Happy Tuan

In the Chengdu area of ??Sichuan, fried rice is used to make dough, threaded through it, big or small, and dyed in various colors, called "Happy Tuan". In the old days, they were sold all the way from the north gate of Chengdu to "Huanxi Temple". There is a poem in "Miancheng Bamboo Branch Ci" written by the Qing Dynasty: "There is a joyful group in front of Huanxi Nunnery, and people buy food in the spring suburbs. The village mash performance is more beautiful than gold, but many people are drunk in the footbath."

16 , Wunen rice

In addition, regarding Qingming food customs, we must mention the "Wunen rice" of the She family, because Eastern Fujian is where the She people live. Every year on the third day of March, every household of the She people cooks "Wunen rice" and gives it as a gift to Han relatives and friends. Over time, the local Han people also have the custom of eating "Wunen rice" during the Qingming Festival. In particular, the people of Kurong County must use "Wunen rice" to offer sacrifices every year. This shows that our country is a big family of ethnic groups living in harmony.

17. Pancake dishes

During the Qingming Festival, Quanzhou people have the custom of eating "moist pancake dishes". It is said that this is a legacy of the ancient cold food diet custom.

Quanzhou's "Run Pancake" is made from flour and rubbed into a thin crust. It is commonly known as "Run Pancake" or "Rubbing Pancake". When eating, roll out the pancake skin and roll in shredded carrots, shredded pork, fried oysters, turnips, etc. Pot dishes are simple to prepare and taste sweet and delicious.

18. Zongzi

The first time we eat zongzi is not the Dragon Boat Festival, but the cold food on the day before Qingming. Up to now, the custom of eating rice dumplings during Qingming Festival is still popular in Tangqi, Changxing and Wujiang areas. Nowadays, there are thousands of varieties of zongzi, which are brilliant and colorful. Nowadays, rice dumplings from all over the world are generally made of glutinous rice wrapped in Ruo shells, but the color of the connotation depends on the local specialties and customs. The famous ones include longan rice dumplings, meat rice dumplings, crystal rice dumplings, lotus paste rice dumplings, candied rice dumplings, chestnut rice dumplings, spicy rice dumplings, Pickled cabbage rice dumplings, ham rice dumplings, salted egg rice dumplings, etc.