Winter Solstice Diet

Shandong Tengzhou Mutton Soup

It is said that the custom of eating mutton on the winter solstice began in the Han Dynasty. According to legend, Liu Bang, the Emperor Gaozu, ate mutton cooked by Fan Kuai on the winter solstice, which made him feel particularly delicious and full of praise. Since then, the custom of eating mutton on the winter solstice has been formed among the people. On the winter solstice, people eat mutton and various nourishing foods one after another, in order to have a good omen for the coming year. Now in Tengzhou, Shandong Province, this day is called Jiujiu. Before the festival, gifts such as mutton will be given to elders, and every family will drink mutton soup, which is a good sign for individuals, elders and families.

Tengzhou mutton soup mainly puts sheep bones into a large pot to boil soup, and then puts the fresh mutton cut into pieces and the cleaned mutton offal into the soup pot to boil. After cooking, fish it up and drain it, then slice it and put it in boiling water, then pour it into a soup bowl, pour it into hot white sheep soup, sprinkle with green chopped green onion, and a bowl of steaming and fragrant mutton soup is made. With a mutton soup made of Chili oil, pepper noodles, salt and monosodium glutamate.

Jiangnan rice

In Jiangnan water town, it is a custom for the whole family to get together and eat red beans and glutinous rice on the night of the winter solstice.

According to legend, * * * Gong's family was a gifted scholar who did many evils and died on the winter solstice. After his death, he became an epidemic ghost and continued to harm the people. However, this epidemic ghost is most afraid of red beans, so people cook red bean rice on the winter solstice to ward off the epidemic ghost and prevent and cure diseases.

sweet potato soup

in the traditional customs of Ningbo, sweet potato soup is one of the must-eat delicacies on the winter solstice. "Fan" and "Fan" are homonyms. In Ningbo people's understanding, eating sweet potatoes on the winter solstice means "turning over" all the bad luck of the past year.

tangguo is similar to tangtuan, but it is much smaller and has no stuffing. Tangguo is also called a dumpling, which means "reunion" and "perfection". There is also a saying in old Ningbo that "you are one year older after eating soup".

Ningbo people are used to adding wine to make sweet potato soup. In Ningbo dialect, wine brewing is also called "pulp board", and "pulp" is homophonic with "rise" in Ningbo dialect, taking its good color of "high fortune" and "high happiness"

Taiwan Province glutinous cakes

In Taiwan Province, China, the tradition of using nine-layer cakes to worship ancestors in the winter solstice is still preserved. The glutinous rice flour is kneaded into animals symbolizing good luck and good luck, such as chickens, ducks, turtles, pigs, cows and sheep, and then steamed in layers in a steamer to worship ancestors to show that they will not forget their ancestors. On the winter solstice or at the early date agreed before and after, people with the same surname and the same clan gather in the ancestral temple to worship their ancestors one by one in the order of seniority, commonly known as "ancestor worship." After the ceremony, there will be a big banquet to entertain the clansmen who come to worship their ancestors. Everyone drinks heartily and connects with each other after a long separation, which is called "food ancestor." The ancestors of the Winter Solstice Festival have been handed down from generation to generation in Taiwan Province to show that they have never forgotten their roots. Radish, vegetables, tofu, fungus, etc.

Leiyuan, Taizhou, Zhejiang

People in Taizhou, Zhejiang enjoy delicious food. The winter solstice is an important solar term in a year. To make some special dishes and food on this day, we should first pay homage to our ancestors and pray that they will bless the whole family with peace and happiness in the coming year. Then the whole family got together happily to drink and eat vegetables. Among them, it is an old tradition in Taizhou to eat "Winter Solstice Round" (also called hard round and rough round), which means round, smooth and reunion.

Rolling round is the highlight of the winter solstice, and "round" means "reunion" and "perfection". Compared with the dumplings eaten on weekdays, the winter solstice round of Linhai people is not only rich in content, different in forms, but also meaningful. Rolling round is made of glutinous rice flour. First, the glutinous rice flour and warm water are kneaded into dough, and then the dough is picked into vinegar dish-sized balls. After being cooked, they are rolled and mixed in bean curd powder. Because this process is called "rolling" in the dialect near the sea, the winter solstice round is named "rolling round", while the bean curd powder is fried with soybeans and ground into powder, and then mixed with brown sugar. It tastes sweet and rich, and with the delicate glutinous rice round, it makes people have a great appetite. Sandwiched with a rolled round covered with bean powder, I took a bite while it was hot. It was delicious, sweet, warm and soft, and a taste of happiness came to my mind. In addition to the classic sweet dumplings, there are also many families who like salty winter solstice dumplings. Salty dumplings are stuffed with glutinous rice balls, which are similar to pork, dried tofu, winter bamboo shoots, mushrooms, carrots and white radishes. They can be steamed and boiled, fresh and juicy, and have another taste.

Brewing in Suzhou, Jiangsu

Gusu region attaches great importance to the solar term of the winter solstice, and there is a saying in Gusu region that "the winter solstice is like a New Year". Traditional Gusu people will drink winter wine on the night of the winter solstice. Winter wine is a kind of rice wine, which is brewed with osmanthus flowers and has a pleasant aroma. People in Gusu will drink winter wine on the night of the winter solstice, and at the same time, they will also be served with all kinds of braised beef, braised mutton and so on. In the cold winter, winter brewing can not only drive away the cold, but also place a good wish for life on the people of Gusu.

Jiangxi Mazi

Mazi, a specialty of Zhejiang and Jiangxi, is also a traditional snack of Fujian people and a sacrifice of Fujian people. It is suitable for steaming, frying, roasting and sand frying after drying in the shade.

Masi is also a famous snack in southern Fujian, among which Nan 'an Yingdu is the most famous. Its raw materials are fine glutinous rice, lard, sesame, peanut kernel and rock sugar. The crispy rice is sweet and delicious, resistant to hunger after eating, sweet and smooth in taste, and soft, tough and slightly icy. The finished product is bright white, smooth, tough and transparent.

Hui Hefei eats noodles on the winter solstice

"Eating noodles on the winter solstice makes a day grow longer". In Hefei, Anhui, the custom of eating noodles on the winter solstice is related to solar terms, climate and farming. After the winter solstice, there are nine cold days, and every nine days, there are nine. In the severe winter when dripping water turns into ice, eating a bowl of hot egg noodles is considered as a winter solstice.

Tangyuan in Chaoshan and Minnan areas

The Han folk proverb in Chaoshan area says, "The winter festival is as big as a year" and "The winter festival has not returned to our ancestors". It means that people who go out must go home to worship their ancestors anyway on the winter solstice, otherwise they will have no concept of ancestral home. Compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait attach great importance to the winter solstice and regard it as a reunion festival.

After people in Chaoshan eat winter festival dumplings, they have to stick two winter festival dumplings on the doors, windows, tables, cupboards, ladders, beds and other conspicuous places of their homes, even the bow of fishermen's boats, the horns of farmers' cattle and fruit trees planted by fruit farmers are no exception.

Boiled eggs with longan in Jiaxing, Zhejiang

The winter solstice was a big festival in ancient times, and Jiaxing emphasized the winter solstice. As the saying goes, "The winter solstice is as big as a year", the ancient style is preserved. According to the Records of Jiaxing Prefecture (Volume 34: Customs), "The winter solstice is celebrated first, and the crown is covered with greetings, like a New Year's Day instrument". Folk advocates winter solstice tonic, including red bean glutinous rice and ginseng soup; White fungus, walnut stew, longan boiled eggs, etc.

Up to now, Jiaxing still inherits the custom of eating "longan and burning eggs" on the winter solstice. Old people say that because the winter solstice is the longest night in a year, if you don't eat it, you will freeze all night and be hungry at midnight.