What food does Guangzhou eat on the solstice in winter?

It is a traditional custom in southern China to eat glutinous rice balls on the solstice in winter. Tangyuan, also known as jiaozi, is a round dessert made of glutinous rice flour, and "round" means "reunion" and "perfection", so eating tangyuan in winter solstice is also called "jiaozi in winter solstice".

Every morning from the winter solstice, in some areas of Guangdong where traditional customs are well maintained, every household will start grinding glutinous rice flour and make it into winter solstice balls, with sugar, meat, radish, fruit, beans and shredded radish as stuffing, which will not only be eaten by their own families, but also be given to relatives and friends as a symbol of blessing. An ancient poem said, "Every family beats rice to make glutinous rice balls, knowing that it is the winter solstice of the Ming Dynasty."

On the solstice of winter, the old Cantonese people pay the most attention to eating jiaozi, and their relatives will get together to taste the newly brewed sweet white wine, flower cakes and glutinous rice balls. The same is true in Guangzhou. Forty or fifty years ago in Guangzhou, every household needed to make their own cookies. Every winter solstice, Zhu Village's neighbors like to make sugar pills or fruit powder.

Step 2 Eat jiaozi

Although it is the custom of northerners to eat jiaozi, with the increase of new Cantonese and cultural exchanges, eating jiaozi from winter solstice is also popular in Guangdong. Besides, eating jiaozi can really keep warm and keep out the cold better than other foods. But you know, the proverb says, "On 10/day, when winter comes, every family eats jiaozi." This custom is also to commemorate Zhang Zhongjing, a "medical sage", who gave up medicine during the winter solstice.

In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Zhang Zhongjing was a magistrate in Changsha, visiting doctors and practicing medicine in the lobby. Later, he resolutely resigned and went back to his hometown to treat his neighbors. When he got home, it was already winter. Seeing that the villagers on both sides of the Baihe River were sallow and emaciated, hungry and cold, and many people's ears were frozen stiff, he asked his disciples to set up a medical shed and cauldron in Dongguan, Nanyang, and give alms to the people on the day of the winter solstice.

He boiled mutton, pepper and some herbs for dispelling cold in a pot, then took out mutton and medicine and chopped them into ear-shaped Joules with bread. After cooking, he gave everyone two Joules and a big bowl of broth. People ate "Joule" and drank "Quhan Decoction", and they were all hot, their ears were hot, and their frostbitten ears were cured. Later generations learned the appearance of Joule and packaged it into food, also called "jiaozi" or "flat food". Therefore, the custom of eating jiaozi's anti-freezing ears on the solstice in winter has been inherited.

Step 3 eat radishes in winter

Cantonese people often say that "radish on the winter solstice and ginger on the summer solstice should be eaten at the right time without pain", which means eating proper food in different seasons to achieve the purpose of health preservation. In winter, people are used to tonic, seldom exercise every day, and it is easy to produce hot phlegm in the body. Eating radish can relieve cough and thirst, promote the qi of viscera, and eating ginger in summer can increase appetite and promote digestion.

Some people think that although the folk proverbs about the winter solstice can't study their scientific basis, the ancients can guide their ancestors to live a better life to some extent by summing up the accumulated life and natural phenomena.

4. Edge furnace

On the night of winter solstice, Guangdong families must get together and enjoy the reunion dinner. What they want most is to burn the stove. This keeps the freshness and temperature of food while cooking and eating. Even if someone at home doesn't come back, it's still a hot "home-cooked meal" waiting for him. This ensures that he will "burst into tears" as soon as he enters the door.

However, there are different opinions about how the rather strange name "Side Furnace" came from. The notes of Ming people think that the side furnace is actually a "convenient furnace", which is convenient to take and use; "Qing barnyard grass" notes that "it is built from the side, so it is called the side furnace."

5.glutinous rice

Many Cantonese people can't remember the winter solstice when they were children without a bowl of glutinous rice. This bowl of rice is hard-won: usually, my mother cooks, buys bacon and pickled shad, and adds several materials such as shrimp skin, mushrooms and radishes to make a rooster-patterned "octagonal bowl" to make a delicious glutinous rice.

Eating a bowl of glutinous rice on the solstice in winter will warm the stomach, and glutinous rice has many benefits. Glutinous rice is sweet and warm, which can nourish the healthy qi and has the effect of warming the stomach and tonifying the middle energizer. After eating it, it will cause fever all over the body, which plays a role in keeping out the cold and nourishing. It is most suitable for a family to eat in cold winter.