Food In the cold and windy wax moon, the footsteps of the Spring Festival are getting closer and closer. Every home is immersed in a busy and festive atmosphere, ready to welcome the new year. And on such days, there is a smell that fills the air with memories, and that is the "smell of the year".
The taste of the year is the sweetness of sugar melon, the legend of the king of the stove, and the aroma of fried food in every household. In the northern wax moon, sugar melons have become an indispensable part. This dessert made of caramel has a deep sweetness in your mouth. And this sweetness is not only because of the sweetness of the sugar melon itself, but also because of the flavor and memories of the year it carries.
When I was a child, every twenty-third day of the lunar month, the adults in the family began to get busy. They set up a cauldron and prepared to fry all kinds of foodstuffs. Glutinous rice flour made of fried dumplings, oil horns, and various kinds of meat are indispensable. Whenever the pan heats up and the food comes out of the pan, the whole kitchen is filled with an enticing aroma. That kind of aroma makes people can't help but swallow saliva, and it also makes people feel the atmosphere of the New Year.
In addition to fried food, the custom of sacrificing to the king of the stove is also part of the New Year's flavor. Legend has it that the twenty-third day of the twelfth lunar month is the day when the Lord of the Stove returns to Heaven to report the situation of each family to the Jade Emperor. In order to ask for good luck, every family uses sugar melons to sacrifice to the king of the stove, hoping that he can be sweet and sweet in his mouth and only say good things. And this custom has also become a unique cultural symbol of the northern Xiaonian.
At this time, the adults will divide the sugar among the children. Although the sugar melon is very sweet to eat, it is very sticky to the teeth when biting and eating. The moral of this is nothing more than the hope that children will be able to "stick" good luck and good eloquence in the new year and make their lives sweeter.
In addition to sugar melons, rice cakes are also part of the New Year's flavor. Whether it is a rice cake from the north or a rice cake from the south, they all have a beautiful meaning. The sound of rice cake is the same as "Nian Gao", which means that life is getting better and better year by year. And the process of making rice cakes is also full of rituals. In ancient times, rice cakes were something that could only be eaten during the New Year's Festival. And now, although we can eat rice cakes at any time, the atmosphere and sense of ritual of the New Year will never disappear.
Different regions also have different production methods and flavors. Rice cakes in the north are generally made from millet rice, while rice cakes in the south are made by steaming glutinous rice flour and beating it. No matter what kind of rice cakes they are, they all have a soft and glutinous taste and a beautiful meaning.
In addition to sugar melons and rice cakes, each family will prepare their own special food during the Chinese New Year, which is also an important part of the New Year's flavor. In the south, fried dumplings, oil horns, and a variety of fried meats are essential. Fried dumplings are a deep-fried food made with glutinous rice flour and sugar, with a crispy skin and a soft and glutinous inside. Oil horn is a fried food with sesame peanut filling wrapped in glutinous rice flour skin, which has a sweet and delicious taste. In addition, families in the south also make a variety of fried meats such as fried fish, fried chicken, fried meat, etc., which are mouth-watering.
In the north, fried tofu, meatballs, crispy meat, etc. are also indispensable specialty foods. Deep-fried tofu is a food made by cutting tofu into small pieces and deep-frying, with a crispy skin and a tender inside, and is one of the must-have delicacies for the Chinese New Year in the north. Meatballs and vegetarian meatballs are made from meat or vegetables and then deep-fried, and they have a delicious taste. Crispy pork is a deep-fried food made from pork or chicken, which has a crispy and delicious taste.
Although our lives have changed a lot over time, those traditional customs and culture have been passed down. They are not only our memories of the past, but also our expectations and visions for the future. In the new year, let us taste the taste of the year in those memories and feel the deep happiness and warmth.