Seasoning of the dumpling filling: salted pork dumplings should be first fresh pork with a little monosodium glutamate, sugar, wine, salt, soy sauce mixing repeated rubbing until the seasoning seeped into the pork before wrapping.

The bundling of dumplings: bean paste dumplings should not be bundled too tightly to prevent the rice grains squeezed into the bean paste, if the cooking is not through the phenomenon of entrapment will occur. Salted pork dumplings if you use fat pork should not be tied tightly, moderately loose can be. If you use lean pork should be tied tight, because the lean meat will shrink after cooking, dumplings fat juice will leak into the water, can not keep the dumplings fat sticky.

The cooking of the dumplings: boiled dumplings must be water rolled before falling dumplings, the water should be dipped over the surface of the dumplings, to be re-rolled up and then after a high fire to cook for about 3 hours. Do not add raw water in the process of cooking rice dumplings. Be careful not to add raw water to the rice dumplings during the cooking process, and pay attention to the fact that the rice dumplings should not be cooked with other rice dumplings. After cooking, take out the dumplings while they are still hot. Eat when you open the rice dumplings, rice dumplings fragrant nose, the entrance oil is not greasy, glutinous and not sticky, salty and sweet moderate, tender and fresh is the best.

The zongzhi materials: zongzhi leaves package zongzhi leaves in different regions, there are regional disparities from place to place, the south more Ruo leaves bamboo, or reed leaves, Hainan Island region of China will also use a Lingnan endemic plant "Shuu leaf" as a zongzhi wrapped in the shape of the zongzhi leaves, the shape is usually triangular, angular conical or square cone-shaped. In the Central Plains, the leaves used for wrapping zongzi are mostly mistletoe leaves, which are wrapped in a rectangular shape.

Ruo leaf

Guangdong people pack zongzi mostly use Ruo leaf, choose the surface of the smooth soft and tough better. Shantou people pack zongzi mostly use bamboo leaves, zongzi have bamboo leaf flavor, but to cook soft and then use. Shanghai and other places to use every year from Anhui Huangshan Ruo leaves, containing a special flavor, commonly known as "Huizhou Ruo".

Shuusei

Hainan wrapped zongzi leaves in Hainan name is called eggplant Shuusei (Hainan Shuusei, sometimes also use the less flower Shuusei). The Southern Herbaceous and Tree-like called "winter leaves", "Modern Chinese Dictionary" called "Shuusei"? [12]?

Eggplant Shuusei is the largest leaf in the leaves of Zongzi, with a few fingers as big as the Mushroom leaves, Ruo leaves, reed leaves, compared to the eggplant Shuusei is considered to be the "big brother". However, many people don't know that eggplant and Shuusei leaves are used to make rice dumplings. The reason is that the area where the eggplant is grown is limited. Eggplant Shuusei only grows in Guangdong, Hainan, Guangxi and other provinces in the south of the mountain, therefore, only Hainan province and Guangdong, Guangxi and other few places use Eggplant Shuusei to make rice dumplings. In the north of Wuling, there are no eggplant and Shuusei leaves, most of the people don't know and recognize eggplant and Shuusei leaves, and due to the lack of recognition, many people who see Shuusei leaves with similar shape and banana leaves will be called banana leaves as a matter of course.

The use of Shuusei leaves to wrap zongzi in Hainan and Guangdong was popular in ancient times. In the Qing Dynasty, Qu Dajun said in "Cantonese New Words", "Guangzhou Bamboo Poem: Selling Shuusei leaves on the street in May, rolled up into pieces like banana."

Culm of Ruo leaf bamboo

Culm of Ruo leaf bamboo 1-3m high, 0.5-1cm in diameter, internodes 10-15cm long, glabrous or covered with small prickly hairs when young, infra-nodal covered with light brown carpet of trichomes; culm sheaths brownish-green when fresh, 10-12cm long, abaxially affixed with brown prickly hairs in the middle and lower portion of the back; culm sheath auricles well-developed, extending to both sides, falcate, attempting to hairs most brown, undulate; culm sheath ligule truncate flat or slightly hinged curve 1-2mm high, or slightly hinged curve 1-2mm high. margins fringed with brown hairs; culm sheath leaves erect, long triangular or oblong. Apices acuminate, base rounded. Leaf blade large, 10-35 cm long, 2-5 m wide, abaxially hirsute.

Reed leaves

Northern areas used most. Northern reed leaves leaves fresh, make dumplings fragrant, people in the north can be locally sourced, inexpensive, the disadvantage is that the leaves are narrower, wrapped up dumplings to slightly more difficult. And the south of the bamboo leaves leaves are wider, pack up to save trouble, more suitable for beginners pack rice dumplings with.

Dumplings (festive food)