The practice of handmade clay dumplings

The making method of handmade clay zongzi is as follows:

1. Preparation materials: ultra-light clay, colored mud (optional), mold (optional), cutter, fine brush, colored pen, etc. Knead ultra-light clay: take out ultra-light clay and knead it quickly with your palm to make it soft and plastic. Make sure there are no lumps or bubbles.

2. Make the shape of zongzi: Divide the kneaded ultra-light clay into blocks of appropriate size and knead them gently into ellipses by hand. Or use a mold to press clay into the mold to make zongzi with a specific shape.

3. Wrap the leaves of zongzi: Rub a small piece of ultra-light clay with dark color into a strip, and then wrap it on the upper part of the shape of zongzi, imitating the real zongzi. Be sure to gently knead the two ends of the zongzi leaves together.

4. Add decoration: dip a small amount of water with a fine brush and smear it on the clay to make it moist. Then decorate with colored mud or colored pens, such as the patterns and details of zongzi or draw cute facial expressions.

5. Drying and curing: Put the prepared zongzi in a ventilated place and let it dry naturally. Depending on the thickness and size of ultra-light clay, the drying time may take several hours or even a whole day.

As follows:

Zongzi, a steamed food made by wrapping glutinous rice with Zongzi leaves, is one of the traditional festival foods in China. Zongzi, as one of the traditional foods with the deepest historical and cultural accumulation in China, is widely spread. The custom of eating zongzi on Dragon Boat Festival has been popular in China for thousands of years, and even spread to East Asian countries.

Zongzi, or Zongzi Zan, is made of glutinous rice and stuffing and wrapped with bamboo leaves (or Hiragi leaves, bamboo leaves, etc.). ) and has various shapes such as sharp corners and quadrangles. Zongzi has a long history, originally as a tribute to ancestors and gods. North and South have different names. Millet is produced in the north, and glutinous rice is made into zongzi, which is angular. In ancient north, it was called "corn millet". In terms of taste, zongzi can be divided into salty zongzi and sweet zongzi.

Because of the different eating habits in different places, zongzi has formed a north-south flavor; From the stuffing point of view, there are dates wrapped in jiaozi in the north; In the south, there are many kinds of fillings, such as mung bean, pork belly, red bean paste, eight treasures, ham, mushrooms, egg yolk and so on. Among them, Guangdong bacon zongzi and Zhejiang Jiaxing zongzi are the representatives.