On the fifteenth day of the first month, people’s unique memories of the Lantern Festival, such as enjoying the moon, burning lanterns, setting off flames, solve riddles on the lanterns and eating Yuanxiao, have continued from ancient times to the present. At this moment, whether you are reunited with your relatives in your hometown or you are working hard outside, are you ready to celebrate the Lantern Festival?
Why do you eat Yuanxiao on the fifteenth day of the first month?
On the evening of the fifteenth day of the first month, it is the most ceremonial moment for the whole family to sit around a table and taste the Yuanxiao/Tangyuan that has just been cooked. In fact, the custom of eating Yuanxiao/Tangyuan on the fifteenth day of the first month was first recorded in the Song Dynasty. At that time, Yuanxiao was called "Floating Yuanzi" and later called "Yuanxiao". Yuanxiao symbolizes family reunion, and eating Yuanxiao means family happiness and all the best in the new year.
What’s the difference between Yuanxiao and Tangyuan?
Yuanxiao is rolled in the north and glutinous rice balls are wrapped in the south. The wrapped dumplings are called dumplings, which are more common in the southern region centered on Jiangsu and Zhejiang; Yuanxiao, which is made by shaking, is more common in the northern region centered on Beijing.
What are the tastes of Yuanxiao?
Traditional Yuanxiao is usually filled with white sugar, rose, sesame, red bean paste, yellow cinnamon, walnut kernel, five kernels and jujube paste. Nowadays, with the diversification of diet and the emergence of new consumer demand, Yuanxiao supplied in the market is richer in stuffing, taste and eating method. In addition to chocolate and hawthorn, there are innovative flavors such as rose, fresh durian, peanut calcium milk, and even a new way to eat fried bean noodles wrapped in Yuanxiao.
How to buy Yuanxiao food?
Facing the dazzling array of Yuanxiao products in the market, how should consumers choose and eat them scientifically? Chinese institute of food science and technology once made the following consumption tips.
1, the label information should be complete "9+" elements are indispensable.
Consumers should buy Yuanxiao in supermarkets and other regular food sales places or channels, and carefully check whether the food labels on the packages are complete. According to the requirements of relevant national standards, prepackaged foods labels provided directly to consumers should include nine items such as food name, ingredient list, net content and specifications, name, address and contact information of producers and/or distributors, production date and shelf life, storage conditions, food production license number, product standard code, and other contents that need to be marked. Don’t buy or eat Lantern Festival without labels or labels with incomplete information and unclear contents, and cover up, reprint or tamper with the labels.
2. Pay attention to sensitization information in the order of ingredients, and don’t miss it.
According to the requirements of relevant national food safety standards, any substances (including food additives) used in food manufacturing or processing and existing in products need to be marked one by one in the food ingredient list. The ingredients added in an amount of more than 2% shall be arranged from high to low when making or processing food. Therefore, when consumers buy Yuanxiao, they can check the ingredients list first, and then decide which product to buy.
If the ingredients contain food and its products that may cause allergies, such as gluten-containing grains and their products, peanuts and their products, manufacturers will generally use recognizable names in the ingredient list or give a prompt in the vicinity of the ingredient list; The above-mentioned food or its products may be brought in during the processing, and it is also appropriate to prompt them near the ingredient list. Therefore, allergic people should pay attention to carefully check the ingredient list when choosing or eating Yuanxiao, and whether there is any prompt information near the ingredient list.
3. Look carefully at the instructions for storage and cooking on the two dates.
The production date and shelf life on the product label should be highlighted. When buying Yuanxiao, it is recommended to buy products with stable quality within the shelf life, not products that have passed the shelf life.
According to the regulatory requirements, the storage conditions are marked on the labels in prepackaged foods. For example, the quick-frozen Yuanxiao is generally required to be stored at -18℃. No matter when purchasing products or after purchasing, the products should be stored under the storage conditions marked on the label.
In addition, usually on the packaging label of Yuanxiao, manufacturers will generally give reasonable cooking suggestions, which consumers can refer to to to get the best taste.
4. It is more appropriate to read the nutrition label carefully and refer to the purchase.
According to the requirements of relevant national standards, nutrition labels will also be provided on the Lantern Festival labels. Nutrition labels mainly include: table of nutrients, nutrition claim to explain the level of nutrients and nutrition function claim to explain the health function. Among them, the nutrient composition table should indicate the contents of at least five elements (energy, protein, fat, carbohydrate and sodium) and their percentages in nutrient reference values (NRV). Consumers can choose to eat according to nutrient reference values and their own situation.
How to eat delicious Yuanxiao healthily?
Mou Ying, MD, a nutritionist at the 302nd Hospital of the People’s Liberation Army, reminded everyone that Yuanxiao is a high-calorie and high-sugar food, and it also contains oil. Therefore, eating Yuanxiao must reduce the number of staple foods accordingly. If you eat too much, it will easily increase the burden on the gastrointestinal tract and cause discomfort such as bloating and heartburn. At the same time, avoid frying, which will make Yuanxiao more calorie. When eating Yuanxiao, you can match some foods that are helpful for digestion, such as celery, hawthorn, barley wort, dried tangerine peel, raw radish, etc. Raw radish contains crude fiber, which can promote gastrointestinal peristalsis and reduce the absorption of oil.
Pay attention to eating Yuanxiao. To sum up, there are several principles to follow when eating Yuanxiao healthily: breakfast is not suitable for eating; One or two per meal is enough; Drink some original soup to promote digestion; Do not eat hot; You can’t stutter; Do not fry and eat; Can be eaten with hawthorn, dried tangerine peel and raw radish; Try to eat it all at once, and the rest should be frozen for a long time.
Which people should not eat Yuanxiao?
Old people and children should eat under supervision. Yuanxiao is made of glutinous rice. When glutinous rice is made into porridge, it is very suitable for the elderly, but when it is made into Yuanxiao, glutinous rice balls and rice cakes, it is not easy to digest. Older people generally do not exceed one or two (4-5 capsules) per meal. Children should try to choose small grains when eating Yuanxiao, and don’t swallow them in one gulp, so as not to burn the esophagus or choke. Hot glutinous rice balls have just come out of the pot, and the temperature is very high, especially when they are filled with high-fat stuffing. If you swallow them in one gulp, it is easy to burn your esophagus. Don’t talk or distract your attention when eating Yuanxiao, so as not to swallow Yuanxiao into the airway by mistake.
People with gastrointestinal and digestive diseases should eat in moderation. Under normal circumstances, it is advisable for normal adults to eat Yuanxiao every meal with 2 Liang (8-10 capsules). But for people with gastrointestinal diseases or weak digestive function, Yuanxiao should be eaten less. Glutinous rice contains more amylopectin, which is sticky and difficult to digest, which will increase gastric peristalsis. Therefore, patients with digestive system diseases should be careful to eat it. If you need to cook Yuanxiao for a while, make it as soft as possible.
People with diabetes should avoid eating. Patients with diabetes should avoid eating items containing sugar as much as possible in their diet. Sweet Yuanxiao is needless to say, and salty Yuanxiao is also avoided as much as possible. Yuanxiao skin is made of glutinous rice flour, which contains a lot of starch, which belongs to polysaccharide; Although the stuffing is salty, it contains oil. Therefore, to be on the safe side, it is recommended that diabetics should not eat Yuanxiao. If you want to feel the festive atmosphere, you should try to eat it with meals. Eating Yuanxiao on an empty stomach will stimulate insulin secretion and cause blood sugar instability in the body. Eating after meals will lead to excessive total calories, and eating Yuanxiao with meals can avoid these two situations. When eating Yuanxiao, the rice intake can be appropriately reduced. Generally speaking, the glutinous rice flour used in three Yuanxiao is equivalent to about 1 liang (half bowl) of rice, so eating three Yuanxiao can halve the bowl of rice.
People with asthma should not eat five kernels stuffing. Peanut is one of the main ingredients in the five-kernel-filled Yuanxiao, and some allergic asthma patients may be allergic to peanuts, which is easy to induce asthma, so we must pay special attention before buying and eating.
People with liver cirrhosis should eat carefully. Because most people with liver cirrhosis will be accompanied by varicose veins of different degrees, Yuanxiao is not easy to digest, especially fried Yuanxiao, which is more likely to induce varicose blood vessels to rupture and cause massive bleeding in the digestive tract, leading to life-threatening, so patients with liver cirrhosis should not eat Yuanxiao.
Lantern and solve riddles on the lanterns are more fun.
Lantern Festival is also called Shangyuan Festival, Spring Lantern Festival and Yuanxi. The fifteenth day of the first month is the first full moon night in a year. Besides eating Yuanxiao, there are also folk customs such as hanging lanterns, lighting lanterns and watching lanterns.
Solve riddles on the lanterns is a word game derived from Lantern Festival, also called Lantern Tiger. Putting riddles on lanterns for people to guess has formed a unique folk culture. This year, People’s Daily specially prepared a health popular science lantern riddle for everyone, sending happiness as well as health wishes to everyone.
(Source: People’s Daily, China Consumer Network, Beijing Daily)
