Why do we eat glutinous rice balls during the Lantern Festival?
Speaking of the Lantern Festival, I believe everyone is familiar with it, but not everyone knows why we eat glutinous rice balls on the Lantern Festival. So, let’s take a look at why we eat glutinous rice balls on the Lantern Festival? After the Spring Festival, the various festivals in the first month of the lunar calendar will soon follow. Following the 2021 first month special topic of Shuimoxiansheng.com, let’s count how many important traditional festivals and customs there are in this month.Why do we eat glutinous rice balls during the Lantern Festival?Eating Yuanxiao or Tangyuan during the Lantern Festival expresses people's love for family reunion. In addition, the name of tangyuan is similar to the word "tuanyuan", which means reunion. It symbolizes the reunion of the whole family, harmony and happiness. People also use it to miss their separated relatives and express their good wishes for future life.Yuanxiao is eaten on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. As a food, "Yuanxiao" has a long history in my country. In the Song Dynasty, a novel food for the Lantern Festival became popular among the people. This kind of food was first called "Fuyuanzi" and later called "Yuanxiao". Businessmen also called it "Yuanbao". Yuanxiao, also known as "tangyuan", is filled with sugar, rose, sesame, bean paste, osmanthus, walnut kernels, nuts, jujube paste, etc. It is wrapped in glutinous rice flour into a round shape. It can be meat or vegetarian, with different flavors. It can be cooked in soup, fried, or steamed, symbolizing reunion and happiness. The glutinous rice balls in Shaanxi are not wrapped but "rolled" in glutinous rice flour and then boiled or fried. They are hot and round. At the same time, people also eat some festive food, such as rice porridge or bean porridge with meat and feces soup during the Southern and Northern Dynasties. But this food is mainly used for sacrificial offerings and cannot be considered a festival food. It was not until the Tang Dynasty that Zheng Wangzhi's "Records of the Chef" recorded: "People in Bianzhou practiced diet and had oil hammers on the Lantern Festival." The method of making oil hammer, according to the record of a "Shangshi Order" in "Lu's Miscellaneous Stories" quoted in "Taiping Guangji", is similar to the fried Yuanxiao of later generations. Some people also call it the "Pearl of Oil Painting". What is the difference between Yuanxiao and Tangyuan?No, glutinous rice balls and Yuanxiao are not the same thing.Difference in taste Glutinous Rice Balls: In addition to sweet, glutinous rice balls also come in savory flavors, with or without fillings. Among them, the salty glutinous rice balls basically have no filling in the middle, and rely on the soup to add saltiness; while the solid glutinous rice balls without fillings are very light, with only a small amount of white sugar added to the soup. They are not as greasy as those with sesame and peanut fillings, and are suitable for people who are afraid of oil. Yuanxiao: The biggest feature is that it is sweet. There are relatively few types of fillings, mainly black sesame, five nuts, red bean paste, etc., and some white sugar. The difference in fillings Glutinous Rice Balls: The earliest dumplings were made mainly of black sesame, red bean paste, walnut kernels, nuts, and jujube paste. Nowadays, people's tastes are becoming more and more picky. In order to cater to market demand, Yuanxiao and Tangyuan have broken the tradition and moved into fruit flavors. In the past two years, Western flavors such as coffee and matcha have also appeared, which makes the situation a bit confusing. Yuanxiao: The earliest Yuanxiao was filled with assorted fillings or jujube paste fillings. The assorted filling is actually a mixture of white sugar, rose, sesame, red bean paste, osmanthus, walnut kernels and nuts. It feels very similar to the five-nut filling in mooncakes. The difference in taste Glutinous Rice Balls: The skin is chewy and the filling is also chewy. The soup cooked from it is relatively thick, a bit like drinking rice soup. Yuanxiao: The skin is smooth and the taste is delicate. Because the filling contains a lot of water, the filling will flow out like quicksand when the glutinous rice balls are bitten. In addition, the soup made from glutinous rice balls is clearer than that of Yuanxiao. |
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