Kneel down! The history of Jiaxing traditional snacks! ! ! ! ! ! !

The Legend of Youzizi and Emperor Qianlong

There used to be a traditional custom in the countryside of Xiuzhou District, Jiaxing. In addition to making zongzi, you must also make oil cakes during the Dragon Boat Festival, which is also an important gift for guests during the Dragon Boat Festival.

Nowadays, oil cakes have long since disappeared from Jiaxing countryside, but in the past, this kind of oil cakes was really something that every household had to work hard to make before the Dragon Boat Festival. The main reason is that the weather turns hot during the Dragon Boat Festival, and food such as zongzi won't last long. Therefore, oil cake has become an ideal item to entertain guests during the Dragon Boat Festival.

It is difficult to verify when the custom of wrapping oil dumplings in Dragon Boat Festival originated in Xiuzhou District, Jiaxing. According to folklore, it is related to Emperor Qianlong's trip to the south of the Yangtze River. According to legend, Emperor Qianlong went down to the south of the Yangtze River earlier, and came all the way from Suzhou along the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal and arrived in Wangjiang, Jingjing. Suddenly, a long fragrance came to my face and made people drool, so Emperor Qianlong went ashore and strolled into a nun by the river. Antang is not very grand, but it is neat and elegant. Emperor Qianlong walked cheerfully in search of incense. But the original fragrance came from the den, and several aunts were busy making oil cakes. This kind of cake is milky yellow in color and looks like a bow, which is very attractive. However, to Emperor Qianlong's delight, there was a young aunt here, with a beautiful face and fair skin. Emperor Qianlong seemed to be attracted by the magnet, so he chatted with this aunt. I didn't expect this senior sister to be alive. Seeing the good looks of Emperor Qianlong, she had already lost her sense of proportion. She speaks softly like a zongzi, which is exactly what Emperor Qianlong wanted. The two of them had a good talk. When he left, Shigu gave him an oil cake gift. Emperor Qianlong also agreed to take Shigu to Beijing when he returned home. In order to find this place easily, the two met, and the aunt cooked oil cakes, and then she would smell the fragrance and look for beauty.

Unexpectedly, this nun was so happy that she told the elder sister of this agreement, and the elder sister passed it on to others. When Emperor Qianlong passed this section of Wang's river again, it was the Dragon Boat Festival in the lunar calendar, and I saw a fragrance attached to the shore. The snack cake in the temple has now entered the homes of ordinary people nearby. Where can he find the residence of a beautiful nun? Emperor Qianlong knew that this must be the secret of their meeting, so there were so many families cooking oil. Emperor Qianlong had no choice but to leave this Jiangnan town that worried him for several days.

Although the emperor's dragon boat is far away, cooking oil during the Dragon Boat Festival has become a custom in this area and has been passed down to this day. It is said that whoever cooks oil cakes on the Dragon Boat Festival will be safe for one year and bring good luck to the whole family. So every year, a few days before the Dragon Boat Festival, every farmer here has to grind rice, knead powder and boil oil. Making oil cakes is a kung fu job. The ratio of glutinous rice to stem rice should be appropriate, the amount of alcohol used for fermentation should be accurate, and the oil temperature should be just right, otherwise it will become stiff and not brittle.

After the oil cakes are made, the containers are also very particular, and they are usually placed in large steamer to avoid being broken. On the day of visiting relatives on the Dragon Boat Festival, I choose a pair of burdens, three layers of steamer before and after, and then hang some zongzi on the pole, which is a grand guest costume.

Of course, because of the complex technology and many technical essentials, few people have made it since the early 1980 s, so they replaced it with a large piece of cream cake. But now in the rural areas of Xiuzhou District, as long as you mention the oil cake of the Dragon Boat Festival, those elderly people will still show happy eyes and proudly tell you the color, smell, shape and the affair between Emperor Qianlong and the oil cake, which makes people admire.

Distribution area: rural areas of Jiaxing City.