The rice used to make zongzi should be salted, 1-2 tablespoons per kilogram of rice is enough.

Glutinous rice needs to be soaked for a period of time before making rice dumplings. You can soak it in water at 30°C for about 40 minutes, then drain it for about half an hour, or you can soak the glutinous rice in clean water, but the time should be at least Guaranteed 3 hours.

During the process of soaking the rice dumplings, water will enter the rice dumplings through the cells. The longer the soaking time, the more water will enter the cells of the glutinous rice, which will burst the cell walls of the glutinous rice. Completely release the stickiness of glutinous rice, making the rice dumplings more sticky. Then add an appropriate amount of alkali and salt and mix well before wrapping.

The best soaking time for glutinous rice for making zongzi is: draining time for 30 minutes, soaking time for 40 minutes, the ratio of rice to water is one to two, and the soaking water temperature is about 30 degrees. The glutinous rice soaked in this way will be made into rice dumplings that are white and shiny in color, have a unique aroma of rice dumplings, have a moderate taste and viscosity, and are refined but not rotten.

Types of Zongzi

1. Beijing Zongzi: Beijing Zongzi is larger and is oblique square or triangular. Most of what is available on the market is glutinous rice dumplings. In rural areas, it is still customary to eat rhubarb rice dumplings. Sticky, tough and fragrant, with a unique flavor, Beijing rice dumplings are mostly filled with red dates and bean paste, and a few also use preserved fruit as filling.

2. Huzhou rice dumplings: Huzhou rice dumplings have a unique long strip shape, shaped like a pillow, so they are called "pillow rice dumplings": because of their long and thin body shape, concave middle, and upturned ends, they have beautiful lines. It is small and elegant, so some people jokingly call it "Beauty Rice Dumpling". Huzhou rice dumplings are basically handmade and very exquisite; they use a variety of ingredients, such as soy sauce, fresh meat, bean paste, egg yolk, etc.

3. Cantonese rice dumplings: Cantonese rice dumplings are smaller in size, with a square (pyramid) front and a sharp corner protruding from the back, shaped like an awl. There are many varieties, in addition to fresh meat rice dumplings and bean paste rice dumplings, there are also egg yolk rice dumplings made with salted egg yolk, as well as assorted rice dumplings filled with diced chicken, duck meat, roasted pork, mushrooms, mung beans, etc., which have a better flavor.

4. Jiangnan rice dumplings: Jiangnan rice dumplings are the most famous, and the preparation is also complicated, especially the fillings, which are varied. A major difference from northern rice dumplings is that the glutinous rice raw material of Jiangnan rice dumplings is often soaked in straw ash soup in advance and steamed with meat fillings, giving it a fragrant aroma. Zongzi in the north are mostly made of glutinous rice and eaten dipped in white or brown sugar.