The green group changes patterns Xiamen natives prefer rat qu mochi

Source: Taiwan Straits Network

Durian cheese stuffed "golden dough".

According to a report by Xiamen Daily on March 16, the Qingming rain is coming, and the spring is fragrant. Near the Qingming Festival, the seasonal traditional snack popular in Jiangnan, Qingtuan, has also recently become popular in Xiamen, and the taste of Qingtuan has also changed. In addition, the reporter also noticed that Xiamen also has a local version of the "Youth League" - Rat Qu Kueh, also known as Qingming Kueh, whose traditional taste is still the first choice of locals.

Yesterday, the reporter visited and found that a variety of youth groups were displayed on the shelves of many fresh supermarkets, chain restaurants and pastry shops. In addition to the traditional black sesame, red bean flavor of the green dough, as well as poplar nectar, strawberry and other flavors, KFC recently launched a special "golden dough", golden yellow glutinous rice skin wrapped in durian cheese flavor filling, attracting many young people to take photos and punch cards.

However, in Xiamen, the traditional taste of Qingming Kueh is still the first choice of locals.

"Every spring, our family will eat rat koji." Ms. Xie told reporters that unlike the red turtle koji, the rat koji is boiled with green rat koji grass (Note: rat koji grass, biennial herb, upright stem, yellow flowers, Chinese medicine whole herb into medicine, with expectorant and cough effect), it is crushed with sugar, then mixed with glutinous rice flour and kneaded, and finally added to the filling to flatten the molding.

"There are generally two flavors. The sweet filling is a mixture of peanuts, sesame seeds and sugar, while the salty filling is stir-fried with spring shoots and pork chopped. Ms. Chen, a local xiamen, told reporters that she had recently made rat koji for her family. To this end, she also consulted the elders of the family and wrote a handmade list.

"Making rat koji by hand is a very strenuous job. Sometimes there are not a few pounds of sage grass that has been picked for half a day. When it comes to the mashing link, it is necessary to use a wooden hammer to strike a mixture of rats and powder balls, the wooden hammer is very heavy, and after a few knocks, the physical strength is exhausted, and several people have to take turns. Mr. Zhang, who has participated in the ancient method of making rat qu, told reporters, "Now you can also buy ready-made ones on the market, but the family will insist on making them once a year." Doing it yourself is a very ritualistic thing. For some people, this is the best way to honor their ancestors and send their thoughts. Mr. Zhang said.

【Link】

Jiangnan Youth League

Similarities and differences with Xiamen Rat Qu Kun

Jiangnan's youth dough is quite popular in southern Jiangsu, southern Anhui, Shanghai, Zhejiang and other regions, mostly spherical, generally mixed with the juice of wormwood into glutinous rice flour, most of which are bean paste filling or lotus paste filling, or added to the Jiangnan region of Marantou, salted egg yolk characteristic salty filling.

The raw materials of rat koji include wormwood and rat koji grass, the taste is sweet and salty, the shape is made into a round, half-moon shape, and some will also use turtle prints to print the appearance of turtle koji.

Both are traditional foods of the Qingming Festival, and their current function as sacrifices is increasingly weakened, and they are more often used as spring snacks. In Xiamen, the Qingming Festival also eats special foods such as minced garlic sticks, mochi cheese, and pancakes.

(Text/Photo reporter Meng Jing)