Practice of the Youth League

Firstly, tender wormwood and small thatch are put into a large pot, steamed with lime, bleached with lime water, kneaded into glutinous rice flour, and made into bright green dough embryo;

Pick each piece of dough weighing about 75 grams, knead it into long strips, flatten them one by one, wrap them with stuffing such as bean paste, knead them together, knead them into a ball, and form a green ball.

Spread a wet cloth in the cage, put the green balls into the pot, steam for about 15-20 minutes until cooked, and then rub some sesame oil on the green balls.

Youth League is a traditional snack in the south of the Yangtze River. It is blue, mixed with the juice of wormwood into glutinous rice flour, and then wrapped with bean paste or lotus paste. It is not sweet or greasy, and has a faint but long grass fragrance.

Qingyuan Festival is a traditional snack that people in the south of the Yangtze River eat in Tomb-Sweeping Day. According to textual research, the name of the Youth League has a history of 1000 years since the Tang Dynasty. When I was in Tomb-Sweeping Day, the youth league was almost steamed. In ancient times, people made Qing Tuan, which was mainly used for sacrifice. Although the Youth League has existed for thousands of years and its shape has not changed, its function as a sacrifice has gradually faded, but it has become a seasonal snack.

Now, green balls are made of wheat straw, wormwood juice, other green vegetable juice and glutinous rice flour, and then stuffed with bean paste. The function of Qing Tuan as a sacrifice is weakening day by day, and more people regard it as a spring outing snack.