Historical records
The historical records of zongzi were first seen in Xu Shen's "Shuowen Jiezi" by the Han Dynasty. The word "zong" is called "wind". "Shuowen Xinfu·Rice" says "wind来", "wind来", which means "wind来," which wraps rice with reed leaves. According to rice, the sound of wind来." "wind来": "wind来," means that the birds restrain their legs and claws when flying. "Jiyun·Sending Rhyme": "The rice dumplings are like glutinous rice dumplings."
Zongzi is also known as "Jiaoshu". The earliest record is in "Fengtu Ji" by Zhou Chu of the Western Jin Dynasty: "Duanwu in midsummer, the square boasts are in harmony. Enjoy Jiaozu, and the turtle scales are Shunde. Note: Duan, the beginning, is called the fifth day of the fifth month. The fourth Zhong is Fangbo. The custom is on May 5, which is the same as the summer solstice. ● (Same as "Duck"), spring, and the spring is ateable to eat it when it reaches the summer solstice. First, these two festivals are one day, and then wrapped with pine leaves and mixed with millet, and cooked with pure and thick ash juice to make it cook. It is still eaten on the two festivals. ... The wrapped rice is called "silver" and "Jiaoshu", which is a sign that the yin and yang are still wrapped in buds and not dispersed."
In "Compendium of Materia Medica" in the Ming Dynasty, it is clearly stated that millet is wrapped with wild leaves and cooked into sharp corners or palm leaves-shaped food, so it is called "small millet" or "zongzi".
After the Ming and Qing Dynasties, zongzi was mostly wrapped in glutinous rice. At this time, it was not called jiaozu, but zongzi.
Folk legend
Since the Southern and Northern Dynasties, there have been zongzi among the people, which originated from the saying that the people pay homage to Qu Yuan.
Wu Jun (467-520) of the Liang Dynasty in the Southern Dynasty wrote in "Xu Qixie Ji": "On the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar, Qu Yuan threw himself into Miluo and died. The people of Chu mourned him. Every day, he stored rice in the bamboo tube and threw him to water to worship him. During the Han Dynasty, Ou Hui, Changsha, suddenly saw a man who called himself a Sanlu official and said, "You should see sacrifices, which is very good. But it is often left behind, and the bitter dragon stolen. If you have any favors now, you can put the leaves of the quartz on it and tie them with colorful silk. These two things are feared by the dragon. "According to his words, people in the world make rice dumplings and bring five-color silk and neem leaves, which are the legacy of Miluo."
Another saying is that the people are afraid that Qu Yuan's body will be eaten by the fish in the river, so they wrapped the rice dumplings and threw them into the river to feed the fish.
The statement that Zongzi and Qu Yuan are widely circulated because of their romantic color. Zongzi has appeared frequently in literati songs and essays.
Yuan Zhen wrote in his ten poems on the summer front: "Colorful wisps of green twigs are covered with fragrant white jade balls."
Yang Wujiu of the Song Dynasty wrote on the Dragon Boat Festival in Qitianle: "The sparse and sparse yellow plum rain. The special direction is again in the midday. The horns of millet are covered with gold, the calamus is covered with jade, and the scenery is still the same as Jingchu. The shirt is cut with mugwort. The hairpin is swaying red talismans, and the arms are wrapped with red wisps. The powder is filled with fragrance and cotton, and the wind is called the silk and the small window is filled with noon."
Rice dumpling history
During the Spring and Autumn Period: millet was wrapped with wild leaves (water rice leaves) into the shape of cow horns, which was called "small millet"; rice was sealed and roasted with bamboo tubes, which was called "small rice dumplings".
In the late Eastern Han Dynasty: Soaked millet in wood ash in water. Because the water contains alkali, millet is wrapped with leaf leaves to form a four-corner shape, and then cooked to form Guangdong alkaline water rice dumplings.
Jin Dynasty: Zongzi was officially designated as Dragon Boat Festival food. At this time, in addition to rice, the raw materials for making rice dumplings are also added with Chinese herbal medicines, and cooked rice dumplings are called "zhitongzong".
Southern and Northern Dynasties: Miscellaneous rice dumplings appeared. The variety has increased, and the rice is mixed with animal meat, chestnuts, red dates and red beans. The rice dumplings are also used as gifts for communication.
Tang Dynasty: The rice used in rice dumplings has become "white and jade", and the shape of the rice dumplings has cone and diamond shape. Japanese documents record "Tang Dynasty Zongzi".
Song Dynasty: There are "mixed rice dumplings" that "soaked with mugwort leaves and wrapped them with rice", and "candied rice dumplings", which shows Su Dongpo's poem "Seeing bayberry in the rice dumplings at the time". At this time, there were advertisements of piled up zongzi to form pavilions and pavilions, wooden carts and oxen and horses, indicating that eating zongzi in the Song Dynasty was very fashionable.
Yuan Dynasty: The wrapping material of rice dumplings has changed from pine leaves to bamboo leaves, breaking through the seasonal limitations of pine leaves.
Ming Dynasty: Zongzi wrapped in reed leaves appeared, and bean paste, pork, pine nuts, dates, and walnuts appeared in additional ingredients, making the varieties more colorful.
Qing Dynasty: "Ham zongzi" appeared.
Nowadays, there are hundreds of varieties of rice dumplings, and they are brilliant. Today, glutinous rice dumplings in various places are generally wrapped in bamboo shells, but their connotation and color are determined according to the specialties and customs of various places. The famous ones include longan rice dumplings, meat rice dumplings, crystal rice dumplings, lotus seedling rice dumplings, candied rice dumplings, chestnut rice dumplings, spicy rice dumplings, pickled vegetables dumplings, ham rice dumplings, salted egg rice dumplings, etc.
Interesting news about zongzi
The oldest zongzi: Honey cold rice dumplings from Xi'an, published in "Recipe" by Wei Juyuan of Tang. The characteristic is that only glutinous rice is used without filling, and it is allowed to cool after cooking. When eating, it is streaked into thin slices with silk thread and poured with honey and yellow cinnamon sauce - white sugar pickled osmanthus sauce.
The largest rice dumpling (normal consumption):Big meat rice dumplings are produced in Nanning, Guangxi. Each one weighs about two kilograms. They are made of fat pork and mung beans. They are fragrant, soft, sweet, and not greasy.
The largest rice dumpling (Guinness Record):
During the 2000 Nanning International Folk Song Art Festival and Guangxi (Nanning) Tourism and Food Festival, a huge rice dumpling cooked by a chef from the Mingyuan Xindu Hotel in Nanning was 3 meters long, 2.1 meters wide, and 1.2 meters high. After steaming and cooking, it reached more than 2,000 kilograms, breaking the record of Zhejiang Zongwang and becoming the new Guinness World Zongwang. The Zongwang used more than 20 large jars, 550 kilograms of glutinous rice, 150 kilograms of pork belly, 500 kilograms of mung beans, 150 kilograms of chestnuts, 10 kilograms of shrimps, 10 kilograms of mushrooms and 7.5 kilograms of rice dumpling sauce, and took 6 days to wrap and cook. In addition, in order to cook this giant rice dumpling, Nanning Chemical Group Machinery Factory specially made a giant pot with a length of 3.5 meters and a width of 2.6 meters. A total of more than 3,000 people tasted this rice dumpling.
The smallest rice dumpling: In Shanghai City God Temple, there are both Green Wave Corridor and Lake Center Pavilion. It is about an inch long and shaped like a pillow. It is made of ham and is small and fresh. It is considered to be a tea food on the pavilion in the center of the lake.
Zongzi school
The rice dumplings in the north are mostly simple white rice, or mixed with red beans and dates, and dipped in sugar.
The rice dumplings in Jiangnan are the most famous and the methods are complicated, especially the fillings, which are varied. A major difference from northern rice dumplings is that the glutinous rice ingredients of Jiangnan rice dumplings are mostly pre-soaked in soy sauce and steamed with the meat filling, which has a strong fragrance.
The most famous domestic rice dumplings are produced in Jiaxing, Jiangnan. Jiaxing Zongzi enjoyed a high reputation as early as the Qing Dynasty. The food book records the types and methods of Jiaxing zongzi: "Bamboo Leaf Zongzi": "Piece bamboo leaves and wrap them in white glutinous rice dumplings and cook them. The tip is like cutting the watermelon horns."
"Mitsui Zong": "Wash the glutinous rice, pick up dates, chestnuts, and mung beans, soak the rice with mugwort leaves, and cook in the pot."
"Minn fragrant rice dumplings": "Soak the rice in mint water and steam it softens first, mix it with foreign sugar, wrap it with bamboo to make small rice dumplings, and then cook it."
"Bean paste rice dumplings": "Book small rice dumplings with bean paste, sugar, and fat."
"Lotus seed rice dumplings": "Remove the skin, mix with foreign candy, and wrap small rice dumplings."
"Songren Zong": "Skinless rice dumplings are wrapped"
"Ham zongzi": "If you put ham pieces into rice dumplings, you need Jinhua to make ham, the fineness and fatness are even. Also, it is also OK to make rice dumplings with diced meat."
Among Jiaxing Zongzi, Wufangzhai is the most famous. Fresh meat dumplings from Wufangzhai in Jiaxing are served in four seasons. Use chopsticks to pick up four pieces of meat. They are fragrant and moist, crispy, tender and fresh, fat and glutinous but not greasy. The eldest daughters of Huzhou are good at washing sand and sweet rice dumplings. It is not rare to use bean paste and pork diced diced oil as fillings. What is rare is that the bean paste is washed sand - boil the red beans and remove the shells, then add sugar, cooked lard and rose juice to stir-fry until black and bright and vigorous. This kind of bean paste is fragrant, moist, fine and smooth.
In the Jiangnan area, the Dragon Boat Festival is quite grand. This festival with a strong folk atmosphere is also the time when all kinds of rice dumpling foods are on the market. I still remember that when I was young, on this festival, my grandmother would hang a string of playable miniature rice dumplings around my neck. The green rice dumpling leaves and the faint fragrance were the happy topics of friends when they gathered. As we grow older, we realize that the rice dumplings are delicious without cause. It turns out that the rice dumplings in Jiangnan are divided into Cantonese and Su styles, just like the classification of mooncakes. Cantonese, coconut rice dumplings, lotus paste rice dumplings, roast duck rice dumplings, lard soy paste rice dumplings, char siew egg yolk rice dumplings, etc. Su style includes white rice dumplings, red bean dumplings, fresh meat dumplings, ham dumplings, etc. Later, I went to Jiaxing, which is famous for producing rice dumplings, and I realized that the meat dumplings here are indeed extraordinary. They are fragrant and delicious, and they are still unparalleled.
More than 20 years ago, when I visited Shaoguan, Guangdong, and saw the giant rice dumplings produced, I was full of eyes. If you eat one of the big square rice dumplings, you can hold them to your stomach and make them full, but in terms of taste, it is still common.
The older generation said that the rice dumplings used to make rice dumplings are very particular. They are specially planted green reed leaves or bamboo bamboos that are particularly wide and long. When they are wrapped and cooked, they can make them fragrant and not easily turn bad.
As a traditional food, the rice dumplings produced in various places can be supplied in all seasons today. For example, the Jiaxing meat dumplings mentioned above, all Chinese and foreign tourists who visit Jiaxing today know how to taste the new ones and buy a few bunches to bring them back. In *, some shops specializing in Jiangnan food also offer homemade bacon and ham dumplings or fresh dumplings all year round. However, in terms of taste, they naturally cannot compete with local producers in Jiaxing.
The more famous rice dumplings are:
1 Wufangzhai Zongzi (Chinese famous brand, well-known Chinese trademark, Chinese time-honored brand)
2 Daoxiangcun Zongzi (founded in 1895 (21st year of Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty), a time-honored Chinese brand enterprise)
3 Holilai Zongzi (famous brand, large pastry chain enterprise)
4 Sanquan Zongzi (Chinese famous brand, national inspection-free product)
5. Missing Zongzi (Chinese famous brand, national inspection-free product)
6 Likou Fu Zongzi (famous brand, a company under Guangzhou Restaurant Enterprise Group)
7 Laobian Zongzi (founded in 1829, a time-honored catering enterprise in China)
8 Rice Flag Zongzi (1994 Xi'an, famous brand)
9 Jinleyuan Zongzi (Tianjin in 1996, well-known brand)
10 Gongdelin Zongzi (founded in Shanghai in 1922, a time-honored Chinese company)