what does Tomb-Sweeping Day eat? Besides sweeping graves on Qingming Festival, "eating" occupies a large proportion in Tomb-Sweeping Day, Guangdong Province. So what do you eat in Tomb-Sweeping Day? Eleven kinds of delicious food, such as buckwheat, mugwort, steamed stuffed bun and pancakes, are must-eat in Qingming, Guangdong. The following small series introduces them to you.

what does Tomb-Sweeping Day eat?

The customs in Tomb-Sweeping Day, Guangdong Province, besides paying attention to a series of customs and sports activities, such as banning fire, sweeping graves, taking an outing and inserting willows, also have a large proportion of food customs. So what do you eat in Tomb-Sweeping Day? The following small series introduces you.

buckwheat dish

1. buckwheat dish

buckwheat dish is an indispensable seasonal vegetable on the dining table in Tomb-Sweeping Day, Guangdong Province. Because it has the same sound as "sedan chair", it means that the ancestors will go home in the sedan chair to avoid the pain of being warm and cold at first.

After the sacrifice in Guangzhou, it is not considered as a form of offering sacrifices. The family members will take the pork home and fry it with the vegetable "Qingming buckwheat dish" in the Qingming period. Others who don't bother to use this "Qingming buckwheat dish" with some shredded eggs to fry some spring rolls. Only after eating these dishes, can the task of "clearing the line" be completed this year.

2. Shepherd's purse

Shepherd's purse is a seasonal vegetable in the spring of March, and it is quite popular among the people because of its homophonic sound with "gathering wealth". There is a folklore about shepherd's purse. When Tomb-Sweeping Day worships his ancestors, with the help of the ancestors' gods and wealth, people will wash fresh shepherd's purse and bundle it into a small bundle, add eggs, red dates and balloons, add two or three slices of ginger, cook it in a big pot and eat a bowl for everyone, which will not only make a fortune, but also prevent headaches and dizziness. Over time, a kind of food has been formed. In addition, because "shepherd's purse" is homophonic with "auspicious", shepherd's purse is also called "auspicious dish".

"Don't forget to cook eggs with shepherd's purse on the third day of the third lunar month". Cooking eggs with shepherd's purse is the most common practice in Tomb-Sweeping Day. The specific method is actually very simple: first, wash the fresh shepherd's purse and bundle it into a small bundle, add eggs, red dates and balloons, and then add 2-3 slices of ginger, which can be cooked into a big pot for the whole family to eat.

3. Eggs

Because of its proximity to Shangsi Festival, Tomb-Sweeping Day also eats boiled eggs. Tomb-Sweeping Day eats an egg and has good health all year round. There are two kinds of Tomb-Sweeping Day eggs, one is "painting eggs" and the other is "carving eggs". The former is edible, while the latter is just for enjoyment.

Eating eggs originated from the ancient Festival of Sacrifice. People cooked all kinds of eggs, such as eggs, duck eggs and bird eggs, and painted them in various colors, which is called "multicolored eggs". They came to the river and threw the multicolored eggs into the river, washed them down with the water, and waited for people downstream to scramble for fish, peel and eat them, and then they could be pregnant. Now eating eggs in Tomb-Sweeping Day symbolizes fullness.

4. mugs

it is a traditional custom in Guangdong to eat mugs in Tomb-Sweeping Day. The mugwort in Tomb-Sweeping Day is called "Qingming Hairpin". On the eve of Tomb-Sweeping Day, citizens went to the wild to pick mugwort leaves, chopped them into pulp, made them into cakes with rice flour and sugar, and steamed them for everyone to eat. Because Artemisia argyi has the effect of eliminating dampness and strengthening the spleen and stomach, it is said that eating Qingming hairpin is strong.

To make mugwort, generally, mashed mugwort is mixed with glutinous rice flour, water and sugar, and then the dough is kneaded into a small ball, rounded and flattened, and the mashed peanuts, sesame seeds and other fillings are wrapped in the dough, then sealed and kneaded into oblate shapes, placed on banana leaves, put into a pot, and steamed for about 2 minutes, so as to obtain a fragrant mugwort.

5. Baked vegetables

In addition to paying homage to their ancestors and remembering their ancestors, Nanxiong Hakkas who lived in the mountainous area of northern Guangdong on the eve of Qingming Festival have been spreading the traditional custom of eating "baked vegetables". According to legend, eating Package Ci made of gardenia and sticky rice in Qingming Festival can not only ward off evil spirits, but also clear away heat and remove dampness.

The humble vegetable dumplings actually have a long history. According to legend, Caibao Restaurant was originally a snack for boat people in Nanxiong Zhenjiang area, so it is also called "Shipman Restaurant". Nanxiong Zhujixiang is a famous transit station for Guangfu people to move southward, and it is also a gathering place for Hakkas. It is said that the ancestors of the Central Plains who moved southward in the Tang and Song Dynasties used to use wheat to make flour to cook buns in spring and summer. After moving all the way south to Lingnan, due to the lack of wheat,

Pancakes

6. Zongzi

Eating Zongzi on the "Cold Food Festival" (the day before Qingming Festival), which is a folk custom, is much earlier than eating Zongzi on the Dragon Boat Festival. Nowadays, there are still many places where the folk custom of eating zongzi on the day before Qingming Festival and Qingming Festival is popular. According to the records of Guangning County, zongzi is essential in the local Qingming Festival to pay homage to ancestors. "Zongzi" is the homonym of "numerous sons", which means that people are prosperous.

The famous varieties of Cantonese-style zongzi are Suanshui Zongzi, Roasted Duck Zongzi, Lard Dousha Zongzi, Barbecued Egg Yolk Zongzi, Fresh Meat Egg Yolk Zongzi, Coconut Dumpling Zongzi, etc. The wrapping forms are "Four Corners Zongzi" and "Five Corners Zongzi", among which "Assorted Steamed Zongzi"

7. Snails

The Qingming Festival is the best season to eat snails. Because snails are the most fertile at this time, there is a saying that "a snail in Qingming is worth a goose". There are many ways to eat snails, which can be fried with onions, ginger, soy sauce, cooking wine and sugar. You can also cook and pick out snail meat, which can be mixed, drunk, bad, and simmered. If you eat properly, it can really be called "a snail is as interesting as a thousand things, and delicious wine is not as good as it is."

When people in Guangdong and Guangxi fry snails, they like to use garlic and fresh perilla leaves as ingredients, which not only makes the snail meat more delicious, but also has a certain bactericidal effect.

8. Pancakes

Qingming pancakes are very popular in Chaoshan, and almost every household is no exception. It is said that it evolved from the ancient custom of Cold Food Festival. Ming Guo Zizhang's Miscellaneous Notes in the Tide said: "The onion candy in the tide is extremely white and loose, and there is no dregs." It can be seen that Chaoshan had the custom of sugar and onion pancakes in the Ming Dynasty.

The pancake is divided into two parts: the skin and the stuffing. The skin is a round cooked dough, and the one as thin as paper is the best. There are two kinds of stuffing: salty and sweet. Salty ones are mainly made of eggs, fresh meat, bacon, etc., and chopped green onion can be mixed into the clinker made of mushrooms, bean sprouts, leeks, etc. If you make pancakes with sweet stuffing, they will be specially processed into' sugar onions', put them away when they are ready, and then roll them up with pancake skins to eat.

9. Puziguo

Puziguo is a kind of steamed product commonly used by hipsters to sweep graves during Qingming Festival. It is said that Yuan soldiers invaded the Chaoshan area before Qingming Festival, killing and plundering, and the people were in dire straits. The people were forced to hide in the mountains, and they were hungry, so they had to pick the leaves and fruit seeds to satisfy their hunger. Later generations remembered the deep hatred forever, so there was a folk proverb of "eating leaves at Qingming Festival". The influx of people has been passed down from generation to generation, and the custom of processing and steaming "Puzi Guo" in Tomb-Sweeping Day has been inherited to this day.

To make the Puzi Guo, firstly, the leaves and fruits (kernels) of Puzi Guo are mashed, mashed with rice into powder, then fermented and mixed with sugar, and finally steamed in a pottery model or a plum blossom model. Generally, there are two kinds of common seeds: plum blossom type and peach type, and there are also bowls of fermented peaches. The steamed seeds are grass green, and everyone smiles, which always gives people a beautiful feeling of spring.

roast suckling pig

1. Sugarcane

In Guangzhou, people call sweeping graves "worshipping the mountains" or "walking to clean up". After worshipping the mountain, share sugar cane, throw the eaten bagasse in front of the grave, and break the buns and scatter them in front of the grave. Sugarcane means higher and higher. Zhaoqing, Tomb-Sweeping Day also has the custom of eating sugar cane, which means happiness and sweetness. Adults will tell children to eat sugar cane from beginning to end and not to throw it away without eating it. It is said that only in this way can things be done from beginning to end.

there are three principles to pay attention to when selecting sugarcane. First, touch and test the softness and hardness of sugarcane; Second, see if the pulp of sugarcane changes color; The third is to smell and identify whether the sugarcane has any odor. Mildew sugarcane has a soft texture, and the pulp is slightly dark and light brown, and it smells slightly like distiller's grains. In addition to the appearance, you should pay attention to the center and epidermis of sugarcane when peeling. If it is a red heart, don't buy it. Some unscrupulous traders may squeeze moldy sugarcane into sugarcane juice, so it is recommended that you don't buy and drink sugarcane juice from unknown sources.

11. Roast suckling pig

In Guangdong, roast suckling pig is an indispensable sacrifice to ancestors in Qingming Festival, and Cantonese people have also given it some very kind names-"lucky strike" and "Red Skin and Red Strong", and presented the ancestors with crispy golden pigs, hoping to bless their descendants' health, family harmony and great future.

In Qi Min Yao Shu, Jia Sixie recorded the roast suckling pig in detail: "The color is the same as amber, and it is like real gold, but it disappears at the entrance. It is as strong as Ling Xue, with paste and moist, and it is unusual and common." According to the records, "Take the suckling piglets, kill them, wash them clean, remove the five internal organs, fill their stomachs with thatch, put them through with an oak stick, put them on the fire, slow down the fire and simmer for a while, and coat the skin of suckling pigs with wine. The skin is easy to develop color." Finally, the surface of the suckling pig turns amber, and you're done.