Zongzi, steamed with glutinous rice wrapped in zongzi leaves, is one of the traditional festival foods of the Chinese nation. As one of the traditional foods with the deepest historical and cultural accumulation in China, Zongzi has spread far. The custom of eating zongzi on the Dragon Boat Festival has been popular in China for thousands of years, and spread to Korea, Japan and Southeast Asian countries.
Zongzi, commonly known as Zongzi, is mainly made of glutinous rice and stuffing, which is wrapped with Indocalamus leaves (or Hiragi leaves, bamboo leaves, etc.), and has various shapes, mainly pointed and quadrangular. Zongzi has a long history and was originally used as a tribute to ancestors and gods. In ancient times, it was called "horn millet" in the north, and it was produced in the north. The glutinous rice was used to make dumplings, which were angular and called "horn millet". Because of the different eating habits in different places, zongzi has formed a north-south flavor; In terms of taste, zongzi can be divided into salty zongzi and sweet zongzi.
According to folklore, Zongzi is eaten in memory of Qu Yuan, and it is said that Zongzi was passed down in memory of Qu Yuan who threw himself into the river. There are many kinds of zongzi. From the perspective of fillings, there are Beijing jujube zongzi wrapped with dates in the north. In the south, there are many kinds of fillings, such as mung bean, pork belly, red bean paste, eight treasures, ham, mushrooms, egg yolk, etc., among which Guangdong salted meat zongzi and Zhejiang Jiaxing zongzi are the representatives. 20 12 Zongzi was selected as one of the series of delicacies in the second episode of the documentary China on the tip of the tongue, The Story of Staple Food.
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Because of different regions, there are great differences in materials and even in the shape of "wrapping". For example, in the early days, people used horns to worship the sky, so in the Han and Jin Dynasties, zongzi were mostly made into horns as one of the products for ancestor worship. In addition, there are generally regular triangles, regular quadrangles, pointed triangles, squares, long shapes and so on.
Because of the different eating habits in different places, Zongzi has formed a North-South flavor, among which the more famous Zongzi are: the representative variety of Beijing Zongzi North Zongzi, which is a large, oblique quadrangle or triangle. Most of the products on the market are glutinous rice dumplings. In rural areas, people are still used to eating rice dumplings. Sticky, tough, fragrant and unique, Beijing Zongzi is mostly filled with red dates and red bean paste, and a few of them also use preserved fruit as stuffing.