The best soaking time of rice dumplings wrapped in glutinous rice is: draining time 30 minutes, soaking time 40 minutes, rice-water ratio 1: 2, soaking temperature 30 degrees or so. The glutinous rice soaked in this way is white and shiny, with the unique fragrance of zongzi, moderate viscosity and fine but not rotten.
The stickier the glutinous rice, the more delicious jiaozi is. In other words, as long as the method of soaking rice is correct, the longer the rice wrapped in zongzi, the better, at least about 3 hours. The correct way is to soak glutinous rice with clear water, change the water 2 ~ 3 times a day, and then wrap zongzi after soaking for a few days. Because cells absorb water, the cell wall will rupture, and the sticky components will be released, which will make zongzi extremely sticky. As long as the water is changed every day, the glutinous rice will not go bad, but the amount of water should be sufficient, otherwise the rice will be pulverized when exposed to the air after absorbing enough water.
Extended data:
First, the north-south division of Zongzi:
Because bamboo is abundant in the south, local materials are used to wrap zongzi with bamboo leaves. Most people like to use fresh bamboo leaves, because zongzi tied with dried bamboo leaves will not have the fragrance of bamboo leaves after cooking.
Northerners, on the other hand, are used to tying zongzi with reed leaves. Reed leaves are slender and narrow, so two or three leaves should be used overlapping. The size of zongzi also varies widely, from giant pocket zongzi of one or two kilograms to small sweet zongzi less than two inches long.
As far as taste is concerned, zongzi in the north is mainly sweet, while zongzi in the south is less sweet and more salty.
Second, the types of zongzi:
1. Zongzi in southern Fujian can be divided into alkali Zongzi, meat Zongzi and bean Zongzi. Alkaline zongzi is steamed by adding lye to glutinous rice, which is sticky, soft and slippery. It is especially delicious to add honey or syrup after ice. Jiaozi's meat stuffing consists of braised pork, mushrooms, egg yolk, dried shrimps and dried bamboo shoots. The meat buns in Xiamen are the most famous. Bean zongzi is popular in Quanzhou. In September, beans are mixed with a little salt and wrapped in glutinous rice. When the beans are steamed, they smell delicious, and some people dip them in sugar.
There are about three kinds of zongzi in Beijing: one is white zongzi made of glutinous rice, steamed and eaten with sugar. The other is jujube zongzi, which is mainly filled with dates and preserved fruits. The third kind is red bean paste zongzi, which is relatively rare. There is also a kind of zongzi in North China, which uses yellow rice instead of glutinous rice and is filled with red dates. After steaming, I saw Huang Chengcheng's red dates embedded in sticky millet. Some people called it "agate wrapped in gold".
3. Zhejiang Huzhou Zongzi is fragrant and soft, which is divided into two kinds: salty and sweet. The salty ones are soaked in fresh pork with superior soy sauce, and each zongzi is filled with a piece of fat and a piece of lean meat. Sweet zongzi is filled with jujube paste or bean paste, with a piece of pig fat on it. Steamed lard mixed with bean paste is very smooth and palatable. The fillings are all specially selected, including eight-treasure dumplings, chicken dumplings, bean paste dumplings, fresh meat dumplings and so on, each with its own characteristics.