The top ten must-eat delicacies during the Winter Solstice Festival are as follows: dumplings, glutinous rice balls, egg noodles, mutton soup, Leiyuan, mochi, winter wine, red bean glutinous rice, nine-layer cake, and sweet potato soup.

1. Dumplings Dumplings are one of the indispensable foods during the Winter Solstice.

Every year on the winter solstice of the lunar calendar, dumplings are an essential holiday meal for everyone, rich or poor.

A proverb goes: "On October 1st, when the winter solstice arrives, every household eats dumplings." This custom was left to commemorate the "medical sage" Zhang Zhongjing who gave up medicine during the winter solstice.

The dumplings look like gold ingots, which means good luck. There is a folk saying that "if you don't carry the dumpling bowl during the winter solstice, your ears will freeze off and no one will care."

2. Tangyuan In most areas of southern my country, there is a traditional custom of eating glutinous rice balls on the winter solstice, especially in Jiangnan. There is an ancient poem that goes, "Every family pounding rice to make glutinous rice balls knows that it is the winter solstice in the Ming Dynasty."

There is a folk saying that "eating glutinous rice balls makes you one year older".

Tangyuan is also called glutinous rice balls. Eating glutinous rice balls during the Winter Solstice is also called "winter solstice dumplings." Tangyuan can be used to worship ancestors and can be given to relatives and friends. It is a very auspicious food. Eating glutinous rice balls during the winter solstice also means that the family can reunite in the new year.

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3. Egg Noodles "If you eat Winter Solstice noodles, you will grow taller every day."

Eating Winter Solstice noodles is a custom during the Winter Solstice in northern Anhui.

"Winter Solstice Noodles", commonly known as "Dried Noodles", is one of the types of noodles and is traditionally handmade by local people.

The hand-made noodles are very particular in their production. They are made from high-quality wheat, and are supplemented with refined salt, eggs and other natural raw materials. They go through 8 processes including mixing, rising, plate, hanging and pulling, and take half a day to finally take shape.

In Hefei, Anhui Province, the custom of eating noodles during the winter solstice is related to solar terms, climate, and farming.

In the harsh winter when dripping water turns into ice, eating a bowl of hot egg noodles is a perfect way to celebrate the winter solstice.

4. Mutton soup During the winter solstice, in Sichuan and some parts of northern my country, there is a custom of eating mutton soup.

This custom began in the Han Dynasty.

According to legend, Liu Bang, the emperor of the Han Dynasty, ate the mutton cooked by Fan Kuai on the day of the winter solstice. He thought it tasted particularly delicious and was full of praise.

Since then, the folk custom of eating mutton during the Winter Solstice has been formed.

People eat mutton and other foods on the winter solstice in order to have a good omen in the coming year.

There is an old saying in Chengdu: "If you eat sheep intestines, you don't wear clothes; if you eat dog lungs, you don't wear cotton wool." 5. Leiyuan People in Taizhou, Zhejiang Province love delicious food. The winter solstice is an important solar term in the year, so you should do something on this day.

For special dishes and food, we must first pay homage to our ancestors and pray for them to bless the whole family with good luck in the coming year.

Then the whole family happily gathers together to drink and eat.

Among them, eating "Winter Solstice Yuan" (Leiyuan, also called Hard Leyuan or Fan rough Yuan) is an old tradition in Taizhou. Leiyuan means roundness and reunion.

6. Mochi Mochi is a specialty of Zhejiang and Jiangxi. Mochi is also a famous snack in southern Fujian, among which Nan'an Yingdu is the most famous. Its raw materials are fine glutinous rice, lard, sesame, peanut kernels, rock sugar, etc.

Mochi is sweet and delicious, and it resists hunger after eating. It has a sweet and smooth texture, and is soft, tough and slightly icy.

The finished product is bright white in color, smooth, tough and transparent.

7. Winter winemaking. The Suzhou area attaches great importance to the winter solstice. Therefore, the ancient city of Suzhou still has the custom of "the winter solstice is as big as the new year". The "menu" on the night of the winter solstice every year is even more exquisite, continuing the distant Wudi

The customs have formed a unique meaning that is different from other cities.

Traditional Gusu people drink Dongjiujiu on the night of the winter solstice. Dongjiujiu is a kind of rice wine brewed with sweet-scented osmanthus and has a pleasant aroma.

People in Suzhou drink winter wine on the night of the winter solstice, along with various braised dishes such as braised beef and braised mutton.

In the cold winter, drinking winter wine is a beautiful wish for life for Suzhou people.

8. Red bean and glutinous rice In the Jiangnan water towns, there is a custom of the whole family gathering together to eat red bean and glutinous rice on the night of the winter solstice.

According to legend, there was a man named Mr. Gong whose son was not successful and committed many evil deeds. He died on the winter solstice. After his death, he turned into a plague ghost and continued to harm the people.

However, this plague ghost is most afraid of red beans.

Therefore, people cooked and ate red bean rice on the winter solstice to ward off plague ghosts.

Glutinous rice is sweet and warm in nature, making it most suitable for consumption in winter.

9. Nine-layer cake Nine-layer cake is a sweet rice cake with exquisite workmanship.

The folk method is to soak white rice, grind it into gouache with a stone mill, stir it into a slurry, add sugar water, put a thin layer of gouache on a copper plate, heat and steam it, and then add powder layer by layer to nine layers.

The steamed nine-layer cake has distinct layers, is soft and delicious.

Some people also use food coloring to mix in, so each layer is red and white, which is very beautiful.

During the festival, people cut the steamed nine-layer cake into small diamond-shaped pieces, stack every four pieces into a plate, worship their ancestors first, and then share the cake with the whole family.

10. Sweet potato soup and fruit In the traditional custom of Ningbo, sweet potato soup and fruit is one of the must-eat delicacies during the winter solstice.

"Fan" and "fan" have the same pronunciation. In the understanding of Ningbo people, eating sweet potatoes during the winter solstice means "turning over" all the bad luck of the past year.

Tangguo is similar to gnocchi, but much smaller and has no filling inside.

Tangguo is also called Yuanzi, which means "reunion" and "completeness".

There is also a saying in old Ningbo that "eating Tang Guo makes you one year older".