The origin of zongzi is not only Qu Yuan
Qu Yuan, a doctor of the state of Chu, faced the pain of losing his country, and on May 5, he threw a big stone into the Miluo River with a big stone in his arms. After Qu Yuan’s death, the people of Chu were extremely sad. In order to express the reverence and nostalgia for Qu Yuan, every day, people use bamboo tubes to pack rice and throw them into the river to pay tribute, which is the origin of China’s zongzi – “tube zongzi”.
But Qu Yuan’s story is just a legend, in fact, eating rice dumplings during the Dragon Boat Festival is a traditional custom of the Chinese people. Zongzi, also called “horn millet”, “tube zongzi”, has a long history and a variety of patterns.
According to records, as early as the Spring and Autumn Period, the corn was wrapped with white leaves to form a horn, which was called “horned millet”; Rice packed in a bamboo tube is sealed and baked, called “tube dumplings”. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, soak millet rice in grass and wood ash water, because the water contains alkali, wrap millet rice with mushroom leaves into a quadrangular shape, cook, called alkaline water dumplings. In the Jin Dynasty, zongzi was officially designated as the food of the Dragon Boat Festival. At this time, in addition to glutinous rice, the raw materials for wrapping zongzi will also be mixed with poultry and animal meat, chestnuts, red dates, red beans, etc., and the varieties will increase. Since then, zongzi has formed its own system and stepped onto the stage of history.
Zongzi all over the country, do you have the taste of your hometown?
Jiaxing fresh meat dumplings: the characteristics are glutinous but not pasty, fat but not greasy, salty and sweet. The ingredients are very simple, using only dried rice dumpling leaves, round glutinous rice and fresh local pork. Because Jiaxing is not rich in fresh dumpling leaves, every household is accustomed to using dried dumpling leaves. The firm dried rice dumpling leaves have to be soaked overnight to be green and stretched.
Jinzhong Yellow Rice Dumplings: Sweet rice dumplings are popular in the north, and the yellow rice dumplings in the Jinzhong area of Shanxi are the representatives of sweet rice dumplings, and millet rice, also known as yellow rice, is the oldest staple food of the Chinese.
Quanzhou Roast Pork Dumplings: The filling of Quanzhou Roast Pork Dumplings is luxurious, in addition to glutinous rice, it will also be packed with delicacies from the mountains and seas, lotus seeds, shiitake mushrooms and dried shrimp are the most basic ingredients. The meat needs to be marinated before stir-fried, and the glutinous rice should also be fried with shallots and marinade before it can be used.
Chaozhou Shuangpin Zongqiu: On China’s vast zongzi territory, Chaozhou-style zongzi is unique, it can skillfully combine salty and sweet flavors in one zongzi, but there is no conflict in the slightest. Because the glutinous rice has been fried in advance, the wrapped zongzi only need to be boiled for thirty or forty minutes before they can be cooked. When you bite into it, the sweetness is salty, and the salty is sweet, blending with each other!
Zhaoqing steamed zongzi: the steamed zongzi is called steamed and steamed, but it is cooked, the firewood is also made of cinnamon branch wood produced in the local mountain, and the water for cooking zongzi is authentic with the spring water of the local famous mountain Dinghu Mountain. Locals believe that the rice dumplings cooked in this way have no peculiar smell and have a natural sweetness.
Hainan Miao five-color dumplings: The white in the five colors comes from the color of the glutinous rice itself, and the dyes of the other four colors are naturally extracted from local plants. The pork is made of the local famous five-legged pig of Wuzhi Mountain, and only the fat and thin five-legged part is used.
Nowadays, all kinds of zongzi gift boxes are emerging in an endless stream, making people have more choices. Handmade zongzi seem to be getting farther and farther away from us. The three-energy zongzi mold “DS2090048”, making creative zongzi, turning feelings into delicious taste on the tip of the tongue, wrapping a strong heart, awakening the taste in memory.
