The oldest temple in Shantou, Lao Ma Palace, is one of the earliest buildings before the opening of Shantou.
The Lao Ma Palace Opera Stage was built in the Qing Dynasty Jiaqing Period (1760-1820 AD) in shantou Lao Ma Palace opposite the open space, every 15th of the first month and the 23rd day of the lunar calendar March Mazu birthday and other major folk festivals to hold performance activities based on paper shadow plays, usually used in commercial markets, called "Ma Gong Qian".
In 1930, this place was built as shantou first market (also known as Shengping Market), according to historical records, there were 4 floors at that time, the first and second floors were farmers' markets, the third floor was Shengping Theater, in 1939 it was bombed by the Japanese army, only two floors remained, and the ornate Roman columns on the outer wall of the building quietly expressed the prosperity of that year. After liberation, Lao Ma Palace successively served as the office and business premises of the commercial market, the small commodity exchange and the municipal department store stationery company.
In 2016, the Lao Ma Palace Theater was included in the key content of the conservation and revitalization of the small park area, and became the Shantou Port Folk Culture Exhibition Hall, which began to be fully renovated. The second floor of the repaired opera stage is used as a place for traditional art performances and exchanges such as Chaozhou opera, puppet show, Chaozhou gong and drum, and the first floor is the Chaoshan Kung Fu Tea House, drinking tea while listening to the opera, sound and color, light and shadow, tasting tea and discussing the Tao, the great realm of life.
Night view of the old mother's palace stage
However, the diners who really make the name of Lao Ma Palace famous inside and outside Chaoshan are not because of the Lao Ma Palace opera stage with a deep Chao opera culture, but near the Lao Ma Palace, there is a small food shop specializing in Lao Ma Gong Dumpling Balls.
Some people may ask, is not it a rice dumpling ball, nothing unusual, all over the country, after all, rice dumpling ball is the traditional snack of the Chinese nation, with a long history, different local production methods, such as Quanzhou meat dumplings, Raoping gardenia dumplings, pearl river delta sweet dumplings, different flavors.
But Lao Ma Gong Zong Qiu is different, it is a well-known traditional Han Chinese snack in the Chaoshan region of Guangdong. With glutinous rice as the main ingredient, the shape is hexagonal ball, the production process is strict, and it is a kind of rice dumpling with a unique taste.
Lao Ma Gong Zong Ball Filling is more special, it is sweet and salty double mixed filling, that is to say, there are sweet and salty !!! The sweet filling part is black bean paste filling and crystal filling; the salty filling part is shiitake mushrooms, dried shrimp, sausage, lotus seeds, chestnuts and marinated southern milk mane meat, and then wrapped in bamboo leaves and salted grass to form a hexagonal ball.
You see, the simple filling is so exquisite, so rich.
Therefore, the old mother palace rice dumpling ball is eaten, the taste is rich in layers, and it is delicious and not greasy, and adults with a large amount of food can eat more than two. It is no exaggeration to say that compared with the rice dumplings in other regions, the deliciousness of the old mother's palace rice balls can be said to be in the forefront.
(ps: rice dumplings can only be stored for three days, foreign friends want to take away, you have to pay attention to the time!) ）
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >, even if you are a native of Shantou, you know that the rice dumplings in lao ma palace are delicious, and you don't know what kind of story is behind it? </h1>
There is a saying circulating in the Chaoshan region: "A small business will make a fortune, and the work will only be a life." But the original version of this saying is actually "The rice ball will be fine and prosperous, and the gray spoon is sharp and profitable." "Meaning, running a small rice ball will make a fortune, and learning to operate a sharp brick knife is only a means of barely making a living." Moreover, the source of this saying comes from the old mother's palace dumpling ball that we know well.
It is said that the first maker of Lao Ma Gong Zong Ball is called Zhang Qiangde, who created a different Zong Qiu ball from other parts of the country - a unique "double cooking Dumpling", each with two kinds of salty and sweet fillings, a large and beautiful appearance, and a six-sided and four-corner sphere.
In the early years of the Republic of China, Zhang Qiangde transferred the rice dumpling business to Shantou Port, lit lamps at night to make it at home, and during the day, with the help of his son Zhang Liangjie, moved to the corner of the old mother's palace on Shengping Road to set up stalls and sell.
At that time, Lao Ma Palace was a downtown in Shantou Port, the location was good, and the rice dumplings made by Zhang Qiangde were really big, most suitable for grass-roots people to eat, and the business was naturally hot.
But Zhang Qiangde believes that the business is not as good as those craftsmen with craftsmanship, so in his heart he has always been reluctant to let his children inherit their father's business. At that time, the old mother's palace was being repaired, so he decided to persuade his son to learn to embed porcelain, "Learn the work of the ash spoon, and you will not worry about starving to death." ”
However, Zhang Liangjie did not agree with his father's point of view, and also refused, "The rice dumpling ball will make a fortune if it is thin, and the gray spoon is only profitable." He believes that business can get rich, and craftsmen can't get rich by relying only on wages.
Later, after Zhang Qiangde's death, his son Zhang Liangjie made his business bigger, rented a shop in Xinguan Street opposite laoma palace, and opened a Zongqiu shop in Shunde, which hung a banner reading "Food Ding Zhengzhi".
But later, everyone knew that there were "Lao Ma Gong Zong Qiu" and "Food Ding Zheng Zhi", but few people knew "Shunde".
However, the current Lao Ma Gong ZongQiu is only famous and has no original taste, it is difficult to eat and very expensive, and the local people in Shantou rarely eat or mention the Lao Ma Gong ZongQiu and can't stop spitting a few words. The reason is that the brand of Lao Ma Gong ZongQiu was given to private contract management due to historical reform reasons, and the original old employees themselves founded the old Zongqiu in the small park and continued to maintain the original business model.
Therefore, if friends from other places want to eat authentic Chaoshan rice dumplings, they should not go to the old mother's palace rice dumplings to be pitted, and several nearby rice dumplings are better than his family!!!