Minnan immigrants to Beihai

The earliest food of the Dragon Boat Festival should belong to the "owl soup" of the Western Han Dynasty. Quoting Historical Records and Biography of Emperor Wudi, he said: "The Han Dynasty sent owls to Dong Jun, and on May 5th, officials were given owl soup. Eat it because of bad birds. " Probably because owls are difficult to catch, the custom of eating owl soup didn't last. Filing is the protagonist of the Dragon Boat Festival-Zongzi, which appeared after the Eastern Han Dynasty. It was not until the Jin Dynasty that zongzi became the festival food of the Dragon Boat Festival. "Local customs": "May 5, the summer of the same solstice, ... first celebrate these two festivals, then wrap them with glutinous rice leaves, mix them with millet, and cook them with pure ash juice. At the same time, there is a kind of Dragon Boat Festival food called "turtle", which was only a flash in the pan in the Jin Dynasty and then disappeared. Only Zongzi, called "Zongzi" in Local Conditions and Customs, has become the most popular Dragon Boat Festival food in Qu Yuan's legend for thousands of years.

According to the practice recorded in "Local Customs", the zongzi at that time was mainly millet, and no other fillings were added except millet. However, under the ingenious management of China people who pay attention to diet, the zongzi we see today has changed in shape and content.

First of all, as far as modeling is concerned, there are triangles, quadrangles, pillows, small towers, round sticks and so on. The material of zongzi leaves varies from place to place. Because bamboo is abundant in the south, local materials are used to wrap zongzi with bamboo leaves. Most people like to use fresh bamboo leaves, because zongzi tied with dried bamboo leaves have no fragrance of bamboo leaves after cooking. Northerners are used to tying zongzi with reed leaves. Reed leaves are slender and narrow, so two or three leaves should be used overlapping. The size of zongzi also varies widely, ranging from giant bean zongzi weighing two or three pounds to sweet zongzi that is small and exquisite and less than two inches long.

As far as taste is concerned, zongzi stuffing is both meat and vegetables, sweet and salty. Jiaozi in the north is mainly sweet, while jiaozi in the south is less sweet and more salty. The content of the material is the part that can best highlight the local characteristics.

There are about three kinds of zongzi in Beiping: one is white zongzi made of glutinous rice, steamed and eaten with sugar. The other is jujube zongzi, which is mainly filled with dates and preserved fruits. The third kind is red bean paste zongzi, which is relatively rare. There is also a kind of zongzi in North China, which uses yellow rice instead of glutinous rice and is filled with red dates. When steamed, I saw Huang Chengcheng's red dates embedded in sticky millet. Some people called them "agate wrapped in gold".

Zhejiang Huzhou Zongzi is fragrant and soft, and it is divided into two varieties: salty and sweet. Pickled with fresh pork and soaked in superior soy sauce. Each zongzi contains a piece of fat meat and a piece of lean meat. Tangyuan is filled with jujube paste or bean paste. Add a piece of pork suet on it. Steamed, lard mixed with bean paste is very smooth and palatable. Zongzi produced by Wufangzhai is especially famous. The fillings are all specially selected, including eight-treasure dumplings, chicken dumplings, bean paste dumplings, fresh meat dumplings and so on, each with its own characteristics.

Sichuan's pepper and salt beans jiaozi is also very distinctive. First, soak glutinous rice and red beans for half a day, add pepper noodles, Sichuan salt and a little diced bacon, and wrap them into four-corner dumplings. Boil for three hours, then put it on barbed wire and bake it with charcoal. It tastes crisp outside and tender inside, which is quite tasty.

Guangdong Zhongshan Ludou Zongzi is characterized by a round stick shape and a thick arm. There are also sweet and salty ingredients. Sweet ones are lotus seed paste, red bean paste, chestnut paste and jujube paste; Salty bacon, roast chicken, egg yolk, scallops, mushrooms, mung beans and barbecued pork.

Zongzi in southern Fujian is divided into alkali zongzi, meat zongzi and bean zongzi. Alkaline zongzi is steamed by adding lye to glutinous rice. It's sticky, soft and slippery. Ice with honey or syrup is especially delicious. Jiaozi's meat stuffing consists of braised pork, mushrooms, egg yolk, dried shrimps and dried bamboo shoots. The meat buns in Xiamen are the most famous. Bean buns are very popular in Quanzhou. They are made of September beans mixed with a little salt and wrapped in glutinous rice. When steamed, the beans smell sweet, and some people eat them with sugar.