The taste of Yuanxiao is relatively simple. The traditional Yuanxiao has only one kind of sweet taste. Generally, sesame, osmanthus and red bean paste are put into it when making Yuanxiao. Tangyuan is rich in taste. Common tastes of tangyuan include: sweet, salty, meat and vegetarian. Now, some people follow the trend and make fruit tangyuan and durian tangyuan. As long as the stuffing is chosen properly, it is a pot of unique tangyuan.

Southern dumplings are completely different from Yuanxiao, but they are a bit like jiaozi. First, stir the glutinous rice flour into a ball with water and leave it for a few hours to let it soak through. Then mix all the ingredients for stuffing and put them in a big bowl for use (you don't have to cut them into small pieces like Yuanxiao). The water content of dumpling stuffing is more than that of Yuanxiao, which is one of the differences between them.

The process of making dumplings is also like jiaozi's, but without a rolling pin. Wet glutinous rice flour is very sticky, so we have to pull a small group of wet noodles by hand and squeeze them into a round shape. Use chopsticks (or thin bamboo sheet tools) to pick a ball of stuffing and put it on the glutinous rice sheet, then turn and close it with both hands to make it into a ball and rub it into a circle. But the surface of the well-made dumplings is smooth and shiny, and some of them still have a tip, like a peach.

The skin of glutinous rice balls already contains enough water, which is very sticky and difficult to preserve. It is best to make and eat them now. In the 1990s, with the quick-freezing technology, glutinous rice balls appeared in stores and supermarkets.