Qinhuai traditional snacks have a long history and a wide variety. Since the Six Dynasties, there have been more than 80 varieties, which are well-made, sweet and salty, and have different shapes.

Qinhuai snacks became famous in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. There is such a description in Wu's The Scholars:

Push a cup for a change. After lunch, Du ordered snacks, lard dumplings, duck steamed buns, goose oil cakes and soft fragrant cakes, which were served plate by plate. Everyone ate it. It was rain-fed Lu 'an Maojian tea, each with a bowl.

Qinhuai is one of the producing areas and birthplaces of China Four Seasons Tea. With the appearance of various seasonal customs in history, the traditional seasonal cakes and tea in Qinhuai are updated from time to time, and various tea shops and vendors are full of snacks, forming a dining area with the longest history and unique traditional characteristics in southeast China.

Qinhuai's cakes have always been famous for their fine craftsmanship, beautiful shape, exquisite selection of materials, moderate oil and sugar and unique flavor. Since the Qing Dynasty, Qinhuai has made almost all kinds of cakes, but mainly Yangli cakes, followed by Muslim cakes, Beijing cakes, Ningwei cakes, Cantonese cakes and Western cakes.

Suzhou-style cakes have the flavor of Suzhou and Yangzhou cakes, while Suzhou cakes absorb the essence of Yangzhou cakes and represent the pastry making skills in Jiangnan area, so they are also called "South-style" cakes.

There are many kinds of cakes in Nanpai, and cakes and cakes occupy an important position. Pastry is characterized by filling with sugar. Pine nuts, melon seeds, peach kernels, candied fruit, sesame seeds and sheep fat are widely used in material selection, supplemented by natural spices such as osmanthus flowers and roses. The finished product has sweet, soft, fat, waxy, loose, crisp, fragrant and crisp flavor characteristics.

The "Little Suzhou" and "Daoxiang Village" in Confucius Temple are both famous shops that operate Soviet-style cakes, and Yangzhou cakes are mostly operated in Qinhuai teahouses and restaurants.

On the Mid-Autumn Festival on August 15th, China people have the custom of eating moon cakes. The moon cakes in Qinhuai have a long reputation, and they are famous for their exquisiteness and variety.

Most of the moon cakes in Qinhuai come from Confucius Temple, and the number of each store is Guangbang, Subang and Tubang to attract customers. Their forms, material selection and preparation methods are different, but saccharin will not be used.

In terms of management style, the "three gangs" also have their own styles. Qinhuai Guangbang moon cakes mainly include ham, bacon, jujube paste and hibiscus flowers. Subang moon cakes are characterized by crisp and sweet, sweet but not greasy; Qinhuai local moon cakes mainly include meat stuffing, five kernels and plain salt and pepper, and later added jujube paste, bean paste, sausage and ham.

Crispy dough twist is a popular snack in Qinhuai area, with a long history and wide spread. It is sold almost everywhere along the Qinhuai River or in the streets and alleys.

In the Song Dynasty, Gu Tao recorded seven wonders in Qing Louis:

There are seven wonders in Jinling Scholar-bureaucrat's lair: face to face, wonton soup opposite inkstone, cakes reflecting characters, rice wiping the table, wet noodles knotting, vinegar persuading people, and cold chewing disturbing ten miles.

Horseshoe crab is chopped kimchi, which is smooth and bright and can show people's faces. Chaos soup can inject ink into ink; Pancakes are thin, tough and transparent, and can reflect the words on the back; Rice grains are oily and do not stick to the table; Noodles are soft and tough, and can be continuously punched and added; The mellow smell of vinegar can replace wine, and the crispy twist of prickly heat can "disturb people for ten miles", which shows how attractive its unique crispy taste is.

Qinhuai's sugar products can be said to be the symbol of China's traditional tea sugar point. Sugar goods, also known as "South Sugar", have a long history and can be traced back to the Zhou Dynasty. China's sugar products have always been famous for their exquisite materials, exquisite workmanship and delicious taste. There are two main types of sugar stalls in Qinhuai, one is ten scenic sugar goods; The second is to sing and sell pear toffee.

There are many varieties of Shijing candy, the most common ones are diamond peanut crisp candy, sesame peanut candy, peanut chip candy, peanut candy, Dong candy, sesame candy, rubber candy, crisp candy, caramel and various zongzi candy.

The pear paste sugar in Qinhuai Confucius Temple has a long reputation. Pear cream candy is square, semi-liquid, ready-made and sold. The stall owner is usually two people, one of whom plays the accordion and sings pear cream sugar minor. This unique way of management makes pear cream sugar famous all over the world and passed down from generation to generation.

Every year on the fifteenth day of the first month, southerners have the custom of eating Yuanxiao. Since the beginning of Ming Dynasty, Qinhuai Lantern Festival has been famous all over the country. Not only can Yuanxiao stalls be seen everywhere, but there are also many Yuanxiao shops. Lantern Festival is rich in colors and varieties, and its meals are also varied, including cooking, frying and frying.

Qinhuai's salty food industry is unique, and there are countless salty food stalls. The most common salty foods are spiced eggs, fried salted eggs, beef offal soup, mutton soup, chicken and duck blood sausage soup, etc. Later, these special snacks developed into the "Eight Musts of Qinhuai" and became more famous.

Spiced eggs and old marinated bean curd are very particular. The tofu made by shelling and pasting is the best, and the paste should be just right. If it is too thick, it will be astringent. If it is too light, the tofu will collapse and lack toughness after frying.

When taking the raw materials for stewed tea eggs, freshness is the most important, and the most important thing is to use "firstborn eggs". After the eggs are cooked and shelled, scratch them a few times to make them taste thoroughly. Add the ingredients to the pot and cook with slow fire.

The beef offal soup and mutton soup in Qinhuai have a unique flavor, which are mostly supplied in winter and are inexpensive. There is a cow's liver, heart and stomach in the beef offal soup, and lamb chops and radish balls in the mutton soup. Eating these two foods in winter can relieve hunger and enhance the ability to resist the cold. Qinhuai people especially like to eat them.

Qinhuai's chicken and duck blood sausage soup is very famous. The whole piece of chicken and duck blood is cut into small pieces half a centimeter square, and the intestines, hearts and livers of ducks are stewed with soup, and then chopped and mixed into chicken and duck blood clots. After cooking, the soup is crystal clear, tender and crisp.

In Qinhuai braised dishes, there is a famous duck gizzard, which has the reputation of "food for the gods". Nanjing is rich in Nanjing salted duck and salted duck, so there are a lot of duck gizzards.

The making of duck gizzards is not complicated. Cut and cleaned fresh duck gizzards are marinated in a jar for one day and night, then they can be taken out of the jar, then they are strung into a string of 10 with fine hemp rope, exposed to the sun for three or four days, and crushed by hand one by one every day until the bottom plate of the duck gizzards is blue, clean and brightly colored, and then they are collected and dried indoors.

The quality of duck gizzards is the best around the twelfth lunar month, which can be preserved for more than half a year without changing its true taste.

Besides general curing, there are many kinds of duck gizzards. Among the pickled and marinated dishes shops in Qinhuai, orchid duck gizzards, phoenix duck gizzards and pineapple duck gizzards are the best and very attractive.

The production method of Qinhuai duck gizzards is to draw a flaky pattern on the back of selected high-quality duck gizzards with a knife, and then marinate them in old brine prepared with various seasonings. Chicken-tailed duck gizzards must be added with spices such as Sichuan pepper and spicy.

The finished product has the flavor of Sichuan cuisine, then it is molded and air-dried, and then it is coated with sesame oil. The appearance is very similar to that of orchids and wind tails. It is dark and shiny, with rich fragrance. When eating, slice and steam in a bowl 15 to 20 minutes, or cut after cooking. It is delicious and meaningful, and it is a good accompaniment.

Pineapple duck gizzards are smoked and baked. Draw a cross pattern on the back of high-quality fresh preserved fruit with a knife, immerse it in the prepared marinade, hook it with a hook, smoke and bake it again, and repeat it several times.

The duck gizzard has shrunk, shaped like a pineapple, wrapped in marinade, like a big crystal grape, salty and sweet, and full of flavor.

The roasted seeds and nuts in Qinhuai are also unique traditional foods with various colors, such as spiced beans, cinnamon beans, fried broad beans and seasoning beans. Peanut is divided into five flavors, salt and pepper, rose, sugar coating and so on; There are black melon seeds, white melon seeds and sunflower seeds.

The roasted seeds and nuts in the Confucius Temple in Qinhuai have become a kind of tea that people can't live without their mouths in their leisure time. Qinhuai people come here to buy them every Spring Festival or festive day.