I am a native of Ningbo, and I have known since I was a child that the solstice in winter is a very important festival. My grandmother and parents always say, don't quarrel with others on the solstice of winter, don't swear; After the winter solstice, the child will be one year older, and so on. In winter solstice, Ningbo people also have the custom of eating sweet soup and fruit, or wrapping jiaozi with wine and soaking rice with sweet potatoes.
The old foundation is called "Worship the Winter Solstice Day". According to the custom of old Ningbo, it is necessary to cook soup and rice on the Winter Solstice Day. On the morning of winter solstice, I must eat a bowl of sweet potato soup, which is one year older. It means all the bad luck before "turning over" Eating a few jiaozi and jiaozi on this day means a happy reunion. Old Ningbo people also want to make baked rice cakes, pinning their good wishes of "getting taller every year" and "baking loudly". Let's take a look at Ningbo's winter solstice eating customs with me:
? One of Ningbo's winter solstice eating customs: sweet potato soup and fruit?
In the traditional customs of Ningbo, sweet potato soup is one of the must-eat foods in winter solstice. "Fan" and "Fan" are homophones. In Ningbo people's understanding, eating sweet potatoes on the solstice in winter is to "turn over" all the bad luck of the past year.
Tang Guo is a must-eat food for Ningbo people in winter solstice. People in Ningbo have a saying that eating soup makes you one year older. Tang Guo is similar to dumplings, meaning "reunion" and "perfection", but Tang Guo is smaller and there is no stuffing in it.
People in Ningbo celebrate the winter solstice. In the old society, every family rubbed jiaozi with reed powder, which was called reed soup fruit. Later, it was gradually changed to glutinous rice balls, and sweet potato granules were added, which was called sweet potato soup fruit. Kitchen God first, then the whole family. Commonly known as "Winter Night to the New Year's Eve", slang "Winter Night to the Sun is as big as a year, and the emperor wants Xie Nian". On this day, the elders tell the children not to cry, and adults should not beat and scold the children or throw things, otherwise it will be considered unlucky.
? The second dietary custom of Ningbo from winter solstice: turnip rice cake?
On the day before the winter solstice, Ningbo people generally don't go out. On the morning of winter solstice, the whole family has the custom of eating radish and baking rice cakes. The turnip rice cake is a simple traditional food in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province. Around the winter solstice, the daughter or daughter-in-law of Ningbo people will cook a radish baked rice cake to welcome this occasion, which indicates a better life. Baked rice cakes with kohlrabi are more common, and soy sauce, sugar and salt can be used! When cooking turnip baked rice cakes and vegetables, you can make this delicious rice cake by the way!
On the eve of winter solstice, every family bakes kohlrabi, and the fire in the big stove is very prosperous. Wash kohlrabi, peel and cut into pieces, and don't waste leaves. Cut off the potholes on the surface and put them in a wok. Cut the slices thicker, otherwise they will be easy to cook and chopsticks will not hold them. First put the kohlrabi in, then enlarge the rice cake, turn it over, put some soy sauce, and then cover the burning firewood with grass ash. The firewood will burn in the dark all night and cook with slow fire. The kohlrabi will stew in the pot all night. The next morning, when the water will boil dry, add sugar and salt, and then pour a layer of vegetable oil into the wok, and the delicious radish baked rice cake will be ready!
The key to baking rice cakes with kohlrabi on the solstice in winter is that on the night of the solstice in winter, the stove fire will not go out, and every family will burn it and pass it on from generation to generation. A prosperous life is the most real and basic expectation of the people, and the rice cake means "high every year."
? Ningbo's third dietary custom from winter solstice: brewing jiaozi with wine?
According to the custom of old Ningbo, fermented jiaozi is one of the must-eat delicacies in winter solstice. Fermented zongzi is also a famous snack in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. It is a traditional snack in China that every household will make to entertain guests, and it is also a very popular dessert at hotel banquets.
Fermented glutinous rice balls are made of high-quality white glutinous rice, soaked in water and ground into glutinous rice flour. Knead the ground glutinous rice flour into small balls for later use. After the above white glutinous rice is steamed, it is mixed with yeast in a certain proportion, and it will become a fragrant, sweet and waxy wine in a few days. Boil the water and put it in a small round. When it floats to the surface, add the fermented grains, sugar and egg paste, and stir well to thicken. Put it in a bowl and sprinkle with osmanthus.
Fermented dumplings are one of the famous snacks in Ningbo and one of the representative snacks in China with a long history. According to legend, Tangyuan originated in the Song Dynasty. At that time, a novel food was popular all over the country, which was made of various fruit baits and kneaded into balls with glutinous rice flour outside. After cooking, it tastes sweet and delicious, which is very interesting. Because this kind of dumplings cooked in a pot will float and sink, it was originally called "floating Zi Yuan", and later it was renamed Yuanxiao in some areas. Different from northerners, Ningbo people hold family gatherings on the morning of the Spring Festival, and have the traditional custom of wrapping wine in jiaozi.
? The fourth dietary custom of Ningbo from winter solstice: frozen mutton?
In addition to glutinous rice balls and dried radish rice cakes in old Ningbo, it is also popular to eat "frozen mutton" in winter solstice, that is, buy fresh mutton, cut it into pieces, add soy sauce, fennel and other seasonings, cook it over high fire, put it in a basin, and then freeze it into "frozen mutton" when it is cool. When eating, put a piece of "frozen mutton" into a full rice, which is delicious.
In the words of traditional Chinese medicine, mutton is sweet but not greasy, warm but not dry. It has the effects of tonifying kidney and strengthening yang, warming the middle warmer and dispelling cold, warming qi and blood, appetizing and strengthening the spleen, and has always been regarded as a good product for strengthening yang. Therefore, on the solstice of winter, many people like to get together to eat mutton dinner and drink mutton soup, which can not only resist the cold, but also nourish the body. Compendium of Materia Medica records that mutton can benefit blood, liver and eyesight, and can tonify deficiency and dispel cold, warm qi and blood, benefit kidney qi, tonify physique, stimulate appetite, strengthen body constitution, nourish parturient, promote lactation, treat leucorrhea and help Yuanyang.
It is said that the custom of eating mutton on the solstice began in the Han Dynasty. According to legend, Liu Bang, Emperor Gaozu of Han Dynasty, ate dog meat cooked by Fan Kuai on the solstice in winter, which was particularly delicious and full of praise. Eating dog meat from winter solstice has been popular among the people since then, and then eating dog meat gradually changed into eating mutton and other tonics. It would be better if mutton could be accompanied by traditional Chinese medicine for dispelling wind and preventing cold. Therefore, the custom of eating mutton in winter solstice is widely spread in the southern region, and the tradition of eating mutton in winter solstice has formed among the people.
? The fifth dietary custom of Ningbo from winter solstice: red bean porridge?
Ningbo nursery rhymes: "Hey, sell sugar porridge. Three catties of walnuts and four catties of shells. Uncle Zhang asked Nong for a kitten and yellow dog. " Many people in Ningbo should have heard this nursery rhyme, but few people know that this "sugar porridge" is red bean porridge.
The custom of eating red bean porridge on the solstice in winter has existed for more than 600 years. It is said that this is to prevent the plague. In the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Liang Renzong said in the Chronicle of Jingchu: "* * * Gong's family was a gifted scholar, who died in winter as an epidemic, fearing red beans and pretending to have porridge in winter to avoid it."
This kind of red bean porridge is particularly delicate, because red beans and porridge are made separately. Red beans are ground into bean paste and poured on rice porridge, like red clouds covered with snow, with good color, fragrance and taste. In the past, there was a device selling sugar porridge in Ningbo called "Camel Bear", which could put all the cookers, dishes and food on the burden. The peddler knocked on the bamboo pole while picking things, making a "Benedict" sound. When the children heard the sound, they knew that the "sugar porridge seller" was coming. Eating red bean porridge is sweet but not greasy, thin but not thin, and extremely refreshing. In Ningbo, the custom of the whole family getting together to eat red bean porridge on the night of winter solstice has been passed down to this day.
The customs of winter solstice are different between the north and the south, but one thing is basically the same, that is, family reunion, visiting relatives and friends, visiting elders and so on. May we keep these customs full of affection and good wishes in mind and pass them on from generation to generation.