What is the legend of rice cake?

Nian gao (rice cake) has become a must-have food for almost every family because of its pronunciation of the word "nian gao" and its many variations of flavors. There are square-shaped yellow and white rice cakes, symbolizing gold and silver, which are meant to make you rich in the New Year.

It is said that the ancient people of China began to grow rice more than 7,000 years ago. Since the Han Dynasty, it has been called "rice cake", "bait" and "mochi".

However, the real appearance of rice cakes was around the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. According to legend, during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, Wu Zixu, a doctor of the state of Wu, helped King Helu take over the throne of Wu, and helped him reorganize his army and strengthen his country, but later, when Helu became so proud of himself, he ordered Wu Zixu to build "Helu's Great Castle" to show his merit.

After the construction of the city was completed, the king of Wu hosted a feast to celebrate. The king's ministers were so happy that they thought they could rest on their laurels with the fortified city.

Wu Zixu, the prime minister of the state, was y worried. He called his personal attendant and told him, "All the officials now think that a high wall will keep the state of Wu in peace. While the walls can keep out the enemy soldiers, the people inside will be equally constrained if they want to get out. If the enemy surrounds but does not fight, will Wu not be cocooned in its own cocoon? Forgetfulness will lead to disaster. If anything should happen to me, and the kingdom of Wu is besieged, and food and provisions are in short supply, you may go and dig up a meter of ground under the city of Xiangmen to get food."

The attendant thought Wu Zixu was drunk and did not take him seriously. When King Helu of Wu died and Fu Chai succeeded to the throne, Wu Zixu was disliked and killed for his advice to the King of Wu to reject the peace offer of King Goujian of Yue.

After Wu Zixu cut his own throat, King Goujian of Yue raised an army to attack Wu and surrounded the capital city of Gusu. The Wu army was trapped in the city, with no food or cooking, and the cries of women and children in the streets and alleys were horrible to hear.

At this time, the Wu Zixu follower remembered the former instructions, they rushed to gather the neighbors together to dig for food outside the Xiangmen, when digging to a depth of one meter under the city wall, only to find that the city bricks are made of glutinous rice flour.

The people were so excited that they knelt down towards the city wall and thanked Wu Zixu. The glutinous rice powder had saved the people of the city. Under the auspices of Wu Zixu's family, the bricks made of glutinous rice flour were distributed to the starving people in the city, and everyone was able to survive the famine for a while.

Then, in order to honor Wu Zixu's patriotism and concern for the people, the people of Gusu City prepared rice cakes in the winter months to show their nostalgia for Wu Zixu, and to share them with their friends and relatives in the Spring Festival, which is a time of celebration of the past and the new. Therefore, the shape of the rice cakes in Suzhou City is similar to that of the city bricks, and they are not greasy after boiling, not cracked after drying, and not bad after being stored for a long time.

This legendary story, regardless of whether it is true or not, but this legend fully expresses the people's admiration for the loyal ministers and wise ministers.

During the Liao Dynasty, it was said that on the first day of the first month in Beijing, every family had the custom of eating rice cakes. By the time of the Ming and Qing dynasties, the rice cake had developed into a year-round supply of snacks on the market, and there is a difference between northern and southern flavors.

Nian gao is delicious, sweet and mellow, with a strong historical flavor. Beijing people like to eat river rice or yellow rice made of jujube rice cakes, fruit rice cakes and white rice cakes; Hebei people like to add jujubes, small red beans and mung beans in the rice cakes steamed together; Northwest Shanxi and Inner Mongolia, etc., New Year's Eve is used to eating yellow rice flour deep-fried rice cakes, some also wrapped with bean paste, jujube paste and other fillings; Shandong people with yellow rice, jujubes and steamed rice cakes.

Northern rice cakes are mainly sweet, either steamed or deep-fried, and some are simply dipped in sugar; southern rice cakes are both sweet and salty, such as those in Suzhou and Ningbo, where the raw material is round-grained japonica rice, which has a light flavor. In addition to steaming and deep-frying, they can also be sliced and stir-fried or boiled in soup. Sweet rice cakes are made of glutinous rice flour with sugar, lard, rose, osmanthus, mint and veggie paste, etc. They are well made and can be steamed directly or deep-fried with egg white.