The fifteenth day of the first lunar month is the Lantern Festival. The custom of eating tangyuan during the Lantern Festival has been preserved to this day. Because tangyuan is eaten on the evening of the Shangyuan Festival, people have come to call tangyuan "Yuanxiao."
During the Lantern Festival, food stalls and pastry shops, and even vendors on both sides of the street, set up stalls to sell tangyuan. Every household eats a bowl of steaming hot tangyuan on this day. How much people cherish the customs left by our ancestors!
Tangyuan is not only a traditional food but also has medicinal value for nourishing and health care.
The glutinous rice used to make tangyuan is neutral in nature, sweet in taste, nourishing deficiency, regulating blood, strengthening the spleen and whetting the appetite, benefiting qi and stopping diarrhea, and has the functions of warming the middle, promoting fluid production, and moistening dryness. The "Ben Jing Shu" records that glutinous rice "is the grain that tonifies the spleen and stomach, and benefits lung qi. When the spleen and stomach are nourished, the middle jiao becomes warm, and the stool becomes firm. Warmth can nourish qi; when qi is abundant, the body will naturally be warmer."
Furthermore, the conventional fillings for various types of tangyuan are mainly fruits and dried fruits, including sesame, walnuts, and peanuts. Adding vegetable oil further enhances their nutritional value. Therefore, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has always regarded Yuanxiao as a food that can tonify deficiency, regulate blood, strengthen the spleen, and whet the appetite. Modern nutritionists also highly recommend the health benefits of Yuanxiao.
Recommended Recipe 1: Laozao Tangyuan
Laozao tangyuan is a traditional Chinese snack with a long history, widely popular in the Yangtze River region, such as in Sichuan, Hunan, and Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. Laozao is mixed with water and brought to a boil. Tangyuan (usually small, unfilled ones) are added. Once the tangyuan float, a small amount of osmanthus is added. Laozao tangyuan is fragrant, refreshing, and has a light wine flavor. Additionally, egg flower can be added when the water boils for better nutrition and taste.
As a Chinese medicinal herb, glutinous rice is sweet and warm in nature, and enters the spleen, kidney, and lung meridians. It has the effects of warming the stomach and strengthening the spleen, benefiting qi and stopping diarrhea, and promoting fluid production and stopping sweat. When made into Laozao tangyuan, its tonic functions are enhanced, and it also gains the effect of activating blood circulation and unblocking collaterals. For example, it can promote gastric juice secretion, increase appetite, and aid digestion in patients with chronic atrophic gastritis and indigestion; it can help activate blood circulation, unblock collaterals, and relieve pain for patients with chronic arthritis; for patients recovering from serious illness, weakness, anemia, or after surgery, it can serve as a supplementary treatment.
Recommended Recipe 2: Chinese Yam Tangyuan
150 grams of fresh Chinese yam, washed, steamed, peeled, and placed in a large bowl. Add 150 grams of sugar and a pinch of pepper. Mash and mix into a paste for the filling. Mix 250 grams of glutinous rice flour with an appropriate amount of water to form a soft dough. Wrap the Chinese yam filling into tangyuan, which can be boiled or pan-fried. It has the effect of tonifying the kidneys and nourishing yin.
Recommended Recipe 3: Pearl Tangyuan
0.3 grams of pearl powder, 50 grams of jujube paste, and an appropriate amount of sugar are mixed and wrapped in glutinous rice flour to make tangyuan. Take 10 pieces at a time as a morning snack. Regular consumption has a certain effect on insomnia caused by neurasthenia.
Recommended Recipe 4: Bran and Meat Tangyuan
250 grams of glutinous rice is soaked in water for two days, washed clean, ground into a paste with water, filtered through a white cloth, and sun-dried into flour. 60 grams of wheat bran is stir-fried until yellow. Minced pork is mixed with chopped green onions and ginger, and seasoned with an appropriate amount of salt, MSG, and water to form a filling. Use the processed glutinous rice flour to wrap the filling into tangyuan, which can be cooked and eaten in boiling water. It has the effect of astringent sweat and can treat children's night sweats.
Reminder: Nutritious but not to be eaten in excess
Although glutinous rice can whet the appetite and nourish deficiency, when made into cakes like tangyuan, its fine texture makes it difficult for the stomach and intestines to digest. The "Compendium of Materia Medica" has long recorded that glutinous rice is sticky and difficult to digest. The "Ben Cao Feng Yuan" also states that if glutinous rice is made into sticky cakes, its nature is difficult to process, and patients should not eat it. Therefore, TCM suggests that the elderly, children, and those recovering from serious illness should eat less tangyuan. Additionally, glutinous rice has a certain astringent effect. If eating it causes constipation, drinking some radish soup can help alleviate it.