Tangyuan is one of the famous snacks in Ningbo and one of the representative snacks in my country. It has a long history. It is said that glutinous rice balls originated in the Song Dynasty. At that time, a novel food became popular in various places, which was filled with various fruit baits, and the outside was rolled into balls with glutinous rice flour. After being cooked, it tasted sweet, delicious and interesting. Because this kind of glutinous rice ball floats and sinks when cooked in a pot, it was first called "Floating Yuanzi". Later, in some areas, "Floating Yuanzi" was renamed Yuanxiao. Different from northerners, Ningbo people have the traditional custom of gathering together with their families to eat glutinous rice balls on the Spring Festival morning.

Features: Ningbo glutinous rice balls are made from glutinous rice flour ground in white water as the skin, and lard, white sugar, and black sesame powder are used as fillings. The skin of the glutinous rice balls is thin and smooth, as white as mutton fat, shiny, smooth and delicious.

It is said that Lu Dongbin, one of the Eight Immortals, once transformed into an old man selling glutinous rice balls and hawked them by the West Lake in March. At this time, Xu Xian happened to walk by and asked for a bowl. By accident, a glutinous rice ball rolled down the West Lake and was swallowed by the white snake. So the white snake became an immortal, turned into a human, and married Xu Xian. Another legend says that in 1912, Yuan Shikai usurped the achievements of the revolution and became the president. He wanted to be the emperor, but he was afraid of the people's opposition, so he was always on tenterhooks. Because "Yuan" and "Yuan", "Xiao" and "Xiao" have the same pronunciation, "Yuan Xiao" is suspected of "Yuan Shikai being eliminated", so before the Lantern Festival in 1913, Yuan Shikai ordered that Yuanxiao be changed to glutinous rice balls. This is the origin of the legendary name of glutinous rice balls.

Poetry: "Poetry on Yuanxiao Boiled Rice Balls" written by Zhou Bi of the Song Dynasty: "What night do you know today? Reunion and things are the same. The Tang official is looking for the old taste, and the kitchen maid is surprised by the new achievements. The stars are shining, the dark clouds are wrapped, and the pearls are shining. In the turbid water, I compiled a miscellaneous chant at the age of 18, and attached this to tell the story of family tradition.

Ingredients: 500 grams of water-milled glutinous rice flour, 50 grams of black sesame seeds, 80 grams of pork suet. 100 grams of white sugar, 15 grams of sweet-scented osmanthus.

Preparation method:

1. Fry and grind black sesame seeds, remove the film from pork suet, mince and add sugar to make filling.

2. Grind the glutinous rice flour with water and knead it into a glutinous rice flour ball, add the ingredients and wrap it in the filling to make a glutinous rice ball.

3. Add water to the pot and bring to a boil, pour in the glutinous rice balls, cook over low heat, sprinkle with sugar osmanthus and put into a bowl.

Features: soft, waxy, sweet and fragrant.