Introduction: A zongzi is equivalent to a bowl of rice. If you consider the meat, oil, and other ingredients inside, the calorie content of a zongzi is much higher than that of a bowl of rice. Therefore, it is recommended to pay attention to the size of the zongzi and appropriately reduce your intake of staple foods when eating them. Meat zongzi should not be eaten in large quantities at once.
I remember making zongzi at home during the Dragon Boat Festival when I was a child. First, it was a planned economy, so you couldn't buy zongzi in stores. Second, our income was low, so even if they were available, we couldn't afford them! Making zongzi at home was quite time-consuming and required a lot of firewood. Back then,粽叶 (zongzi leaves) weren't sold, so you had to go pick reed leaves yourself, selecting wide, long ones and picking them one by one. You would bring them home, wash them, and set them aside. You also had to soak the rice and prepare the red dates. When wrapping the zongzi, you would generally use two or three leaves to form a nice, angular shape, tie it with string, and different flavors of zongzi were tied with different colored string to distinguish them. After the zongzi were wrapped, they were placed in a large, eight-impression iron pot, covered with water, brought to a boil over high heat, and then slowly steamed on low heat, which took most of a day. After opening the pot, the pure aroma of glutinous rice, the sweet fragrance of the red dates, mixed with the fresh scent of the zongzi leaves, gradually filled the room. Soon, the whole house was filled with a delicious aroma, and before you even took a bite, your mouth would be watering. Haha, that's because you were馋 (chán - greedy/craving)! Usually, the zongzi were cooked the night before the festival and left in the pot, so by the next morning, they were perfectly cooled to the right temperature. For those who couldn't resist the temptation of the zongzi fragrance, before they had even cooled down, they would eagerly untie the string, peel back the leaves, take a whiff of the fragrant filling, and take a bite...
The zongzi leaves would continuously flip and shake in your hands, and when you finally got to the red date, it felt like a special bonus. After eating, you would wash the zongzi leaves to be used again. While commemorating Qu Yuan during the Dragon Boat Festival, the process of making and eating zongzi is also a kind of enjoyment. In the past, everyone made their own zongzi, but now, few people bother to spend the time and energy to do so. Supermarkets offer a dazzling variety of zongzi; you just pay money and get them, but it's hard to experience the fun of the making process anymore.
There are northern and southern styles of zongzi. The northern style is mainly sweet, with varieties like red date zongzi, red bean zongzi, candied fruit zongzi, bean paste zongzi, melon seed zongzi, and eight-treasure zongzi. The southern style is mainly savory, with varieties like pork zongzi, ham zongzi, salted egg yolk zongzi, sausage zongzi, shrimp zongzi, and diced meat zongzi. The main representatives of northern zongzi are Beijing zongzi and Shandong zongzi, while there are more southern varieties, including Guangdong zongzi, Minnan zongzi, Ningbo zongzi, Jiaxing zongzi, Suzhou zongzi, Sichuan zongzi, Hainan zongzi, and Taiwan zongzi. Shapes include triangles, squares, rectangles, and square pyramids.
Zongzi carry on our country's culinary culture, and while they bring us the pleasure of eating, we should also understand their nutritional characteristics. The main component of zongzi is glutinous rice. Every 100 grams of glutinous rice contains 348 kcal of energy. A bowl of 100g (2 liang) of rice has about 120 kcal, and a 100g (2 liang) steamed bun has 220 kcal. If a zongzi is made with 100g of glutinous rice, it contains 174 kcal of energy; for a meat zongzi, the energy content is even higher. Bean paste zongzi generally contain sugar, and the bean paste might be stir-fried with animal fat, so they are also high in energy. From these numbers, we can see that a zongzi is equivalent to a bowl of rice. If you consider the meat, oil, and other ingredients inside, the calorie content of a zongzi is much higher than that of a bowl of rice. Therefore, it is recommended to pay attention to the size of the zongzi and appropriately reduce your intake of staple foods when eating them. Meat zongzi should not be eaten in large quantities at once.
Accompany them with cold dishes and a light soup, such as winter melon soup, green vegetable soup, or loofah soup, to increase your intake of dietary fiber, minerals, and vitamins.
The elderly, children, and people with poor gastrointestinal function should not eat too many.
Glutinous rice causes blood sugar to rise faster than steamed buns and other types of rice. People with unstable blood sugar or diabetes should pay attention to this.
For those with high blood lipids, high blood pressure, or coronary heart disease, it is not advisable to eat meat zongzi, as these contain a significant amount of animal fat.