[It is said that eating glutinous rice balls is the end of the year, and the sweet and salty parties of glutinous rice balls in the south and north are about to arrive at the "battlefield"! Do you like sweet or salty dumplings? 】
Today is the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first month, and it is also the first holiday after the New Year. On this day, people enjoy lanterns and solve riddles on the lanterns, and at least eat Yuanxiao or Tangyuan.
Sweet or salty?
Seeing that everyone is immersed in the joy of the festival, it is peaceful, but the network is already boiling. The opening drama "Is the glutinous rice balls sweet or salty?" The sweet and salty party has begun to quarrel.
Salted dumplings and sweet dumplings
Generally speaking, Yuanxiao/Tangyuan in the north are mostly sweet fillings, including white sugar, bean paste, sesame and hawthorn, while those in the south are sweet, salty, meaty and vegetarian. So when it comes to salty Yuanxiao/Tangyuan, many people will think that it is unique to the south.
Sweet party:
Echowusmiles: What? Tangyuan and salty? Are you sure it’s not wrapped fish balls?Xixi: Is there a difference between sweet and salty dumplings? I have eaten for more than 20 years and have never heard of glutinous rice balls and salty ones.Mr__Pen9uin: Salted dumplings … I’d rather eat Lainiao Niuwan.Wang Ziyu _Prince: When I first ate it, I really felt like a dark cook.Dong Ge Fei Dong Ge: Northerners say they have never seen salty dumplings. You southerners really know how to play.
Salty party:
Yumo tutu: Salted dumplings are normal. My hometown often makes green vegetable buns in winter, which are also salty.Silly child: Those who have no meat and are unhappy should eat meat when they eat glutinous rice balls.You Xing _: Love salty dumplings! The kind wrapped in diced pickles, bamboo shoots and tofu minced meat.Small PP invincible forward: glutinous rice balls stuffed with shredded radish, delicious, you can try it when you have a chance.The spirit comes like a cloud _: There are always salty dumplings at home, without stuffing. When cooking, put chicken, radish, sausage, salted vegetables, fish paste, onion and coriander, and sprinkle some pepper when eating.Wen sihou: Chongqing people, grandma likes to wrap salty dumplings with diced bacon and tofu, as well as salted vegetables and minced meat.
Salted dumplings baked by netizens from Weibo.
"Black Sesame" is the most popular taste.
When everyone is still struggling to eat sweet or salty, in fact, the taste of glutinous rice balls is beyond your imagination.
In the past, the taste of glutinous rice balls was relatively simple, mostly traditional flavors such as bean paste, peanuts, black sesame seeds, five kernels and fresh meat. With the constant change of people’s tastes, there are various tastes of glutinous rice balls in the market, such as red dates, durian, oranges, coconut milk, strawberries, mangoes, durian, blueberries and other fruit-flavored glutinous rice balls are popular in the market, and there are even new scented teas such as osmanthus, roses, lilies, chrysanthemums and jasmine flowers, which firmly grasp everyone’s psychology of early adopters.
According to big data from JD.COM, the sales amount of Yuanxiao/Tangyuan increased by more than 110% in the first half of the Lantern Festival this year. On February 26th, JD.COM Yuanxiao/Tangyuan Super Single Product Day, nearly 180 tons of Tangyuan were sold, 20 times as much as last year’s Lantern Festival.
In terms of regions, the top ten regions in terms of sales amount are Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Liaoning, Sichuan, Tianjin, Shandong, Zhejiang and Hebei.
There are so many choices of flavors, which flavor is the most popular? The data shows that the black sesame stuffing on the eve of the Lantern Festival can be called "popularity", and the sales volume is the first. Followed by mixed flavors, peanut stuffing, fresh meat stuffing and bean paste stuffing. Among them, bean paste stuffing is also a proper "potential stock". In terms of sales amount, the sales of black sesame and bean paste stuffing both increased by more than 140% month-on-month.
The preferences of people of different sexes and ages can also be seen in the choice of the taste of glutinous rice balls/Yuanxiao. In the choice of many flavors, women prefer mixed flavors, fruit stuffing and peanut stuffing, and male users choose fresh meat stuffing, bean paste stuffing and black sesame stuffing.
From the age point of view, mixed flavor, fruit stuffing and peanut stuffing are the relatively preferred stuffing flavors of post-80s, while post-90s prefer fruit stuffing, mixed flavor and fresh meat stuffing, while bean paste stuffing, black sesame stuffing and peanut stuffing are deeply favored by post-70s, and traditional flavors such as bean paste stuffing, fresh meat stuffing and black sesame stuffing are still the favorites of post-60s.
Although many consumers are used to eating finished dumplings online, this year’s data also shows that netizens’ enthusiasm for making dumplings is not low. Even users in Beishangguang, who have a fast pace of life, are still willing to sit down and make dumplings/Yuanxiao before the Lantern Festival.
Yuanxiao = Tangyuan?
Seeing this, many people will have questions. We always discuss Yuanxiao and Tangyuan together. Are Yuanxiao and Tangyuan the same?
In fact, the two are not the same. The main difference between them is in technology. Generally, dumplings are eaten in the south and Yuanxiao is eaten in the north. Yuanxiao is "rolled" and the dumplings are "wrapped".
The stuffing of Yuanxiao should be made into four squares with uniform size in advance, and then wrapped with flour and rolled back and forth on the laundry basket. "Dip in water for three times and roll for three times before forming." Making glutinous rice balls is just like wrapping jiaozi. Just add water to glutinous rice flour and make it into balls. After "waking up", pinch a small ball and squeeze it into a round shape. Then put the stuffing in and knead it to shape.
Generally speaking, Yuanxiao in the north is handmade, which is more chewy and sold in street stalls. Tangyuan can be mechanically operated. Because of its convenient storage and delicate and soft taste, it is spread all over shopping malls and supermarkets. Because of the fast pace of life of modern people, the tastes of Yuanxiao and Tangyuan are similar, and people gradually confuse them.
I don’t know when, the market of Yuanxiao has gradually become smaller, and dumplings have long been "unified", so that in the eyes of young people, Yuanxiao has always been dumplings.
However, whether you mean to eat Yuanxiao or Tangyuan today, I guess someone will definitely answer: Northerners eat jiaozi no matter what festivals they have!
So, northerners, do you want to eat jiaozi or glutinous rice balls/Yuanxiao today?
Editor of this issue: Li Huilin
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