1. Ningwu flat food

Ningwu dumplings are a specialty of ningwu county in Xinzhou City, Shanxi Province. Ningwu people call jiaozi "flat food", which is characterized by thin skin, big stuffing and round belly. In ningwu county, jiaozi has become a food for banquets, weddings, festive festivals and welcoming guests.

When being a jiaozi, Ningwu people paid special attention to the uniformity, delicacy, thinness and smoothness of the leather. They rubbed it lightly, pulled it flexibly, and shone it like jade, showing the image of sunlight. The stuffing is made of green goat, fat sheep, and high-quality mutton. The meat is full of fat, red and white, the fat film is removed, the bone is removed, the anvil is washed, and it is finely cut and chopped.

2. Glass jiaozi

Glass jiaozi is a unique skill of Datong women. The dumpling skin made is as exquisite as glass and crystal, and it tastes excellent. It is indeed a delicious local flavor. It is cooked with potatoes rich in Datong, peeled and rolled into mud, and it should be rolled repeatedly until the potatoes become paste.

The same weight of white flour is boiled with boiling water to make a mature dough, then mashed potatoes, white flour and potato starch with the same weight are kneaded together to form a smooth dough, and the dough is kneaded into long strips and divided into agents, rolled into dumpling skins, wrapped with meat stuffing or vegetarian stuffing, kneaded into jiaozi, and steamed in a pot.

3. You Mian jiaozi

You Mian jiaozi, also known as Yam jiaozi, uses two palms to pound the small dosage of You Mian into a corrugated oval skin, which is filled with shredded yam (yam here is actually potato, which is called yam egg in Shanxi dialect) or radish yingzi, and kneaded into jiaozi.

4. Wonton

Besides jiaozi, Shanxi people also have the custom of eating Wonton during the winter solstice. According to legend, in the northern Xiongnu tribe in the Han Dynasty, there were two leaders, Hun and Tun, who were very cruel. The people wrapped them into corners with meat stuffing, took the sound of Hun and Tun, called them wonton, and hated them. Because the wonton was originally made on the winter solstice, it became a custom.

5. Eat hot pot

In Yanbei, Datong and other places, on the Winter Solstice Day, the son-in-law pays a heavy visit to his parents-in-law, and his parents-in-law have to give a grand banquet to eat hot pot. In some mountain villages in northwestern Shanxi, the Winter Solstice Festival is still popular to entertain teachers, and it is customary to entertain teachers with stewed mutton.