Minor Snow Food

After Minor Snow, temperatures fall sharply and the weather becomes drier, making it an ideal time to prepare cured meat. Folk tradition has long followed the custom of “冬腊风腌，蓄以御冬”. During Minor Snow, households begin making sausages and cured pork, preserving surplus meat through traditional methods so that it will be ready to enjoy by the Spring Festival. In southern cities, cured meats are especially beloved.

Methods of curing meat vary widely from place to place. In Chengdu, Sichuan, Xinkaisi Street is affectionately known by locals as “香肠腊肉一条街,” the street of sausages and cured meats. People busily select cuts of pork, slice them into strips, season them, stuff the carefully prepared meat into sausage casings, and string them up with hemp cord. Rows of reddish “curtains of meat” hang along the street, while aromas of smoke, five-spice seasoning, and numbing chili mingle in the air.

Some people favor the deep cured aroma created by wood smoking; others prefer the fragrant heat produced when Sichuan peppercorn meets coarse pieces of meat. Every household recipe contains a flavor uniquely its own. In Hangzhou, people begin curing soy-sauce duck and preserved pork around Minor Snow. In Jiangling County and Echeng in Hubei, this period is likewise considered a prime season for curing meat.

Cured meat embodies the practical wisdom of storing food for winter and looking forward to reunion. Sausages and cured meats prepared at Minor Snow must mature with time and are ready to be eaten by the Spring Festival. The strings of preserved meat hanging beneath the eaves are not only winter provisions but also the “taste of home” carried in the memories of those who live far away. Every slice of meat and every peppercorn preserves both the chill of the season and the anticipation of reunion.

“吃刨汤,” eating paotang, is a traditional Tujia custom. Around Minor Snow, Tujia communities begin the annual folk activity of “杀年猪，迎新年,” slaughtering the New Year pig and welcoming the New Year. Dishes carefully prepared from exceptionally fresh pork, still retaining its warmth after slaughter, are collectively known as paotang.

Paotang is also referred to as eating freshly slaughtered pork and is found in Sichuan, Chongqing, Guizhou, northern Yunnan, western Hubei, western Hunan, and other regions. It is practiced principally among local Han, Miao, Yi, and Tujia communities.

The first paotang meal uses pork offal and pig’s blood as principal dishes, while a piece of cooked pork is cut off and offered in ancestral rites. Lean meat is prepared as stir-fries and soups; pork belly is fried into crispy pork or steamed as kou rou. A soup of coagulated pig’s blood is indispensable, symbolizing ever-greater prosperity the more one eats.

A large bowl of twice-cooked pork is equally essential, with slices sometimes more than a finger thick. The thicker and more generous the slices, the more they demonstrate the host’s hospitality.

Paotang carries the deep emotional meanings of bidding farewell to the old, welcoming the new, and strengthening bonds within the community. A pig may represent one of a household’s greatest assets and is slaughtered only once a year, making the occasion especially festive. When a family holds a paotang feast, guests fill the household.

Villagers eat and talk together, renewing friendships, exchanging news, and discussing plans for the coming year. A bowl of paotang offers fresh pork, but what it truly conveys is local fellowship and the wish for abundant grain and thriving livestock in the year ahead.

A folk saying goes: “十月朝，糍粑禄禄烧.” Around Minor Snow, there is a traditional custom of eating ciba. Ciba is made by steaming glutinous rice and pounding it into a soft mass. It was originally used by farmers as an offering to the Ox Deity.

Minor Snow usually falls in the tenth lunar month, around the same period as the Cold Clothes Festival, the Xiayuan Festival, and other traditional observances, and the custom of eating ciba has continued over time. In the Hakka regions of Fujian and Guangdong, people still observe the tradition of eating ciba during the lunar “tenth-month half.” In Suzhou and other places, eating ciba during Minor Snow is likewise an important local custom.

Ciba takes many forms and flavors across China. In Shishou, Jingzhou, Hubei, local people use distinctive varieties such as purple fragrant rice and purple glutinous rice to make “purple-rice ciba.” On Minor Snow, a large ciba festival attended by thousands of people is held there.

In Xupu County, Huaihua, Hunan, there is a variety known as “white-silk glutinous-rice ciba.” It can be pulled into strands like silk, is white as snow and soft as cotton, and is made from an old local variety of glutinous rice. Around Minor Snow, orders may already be booked through the New Year.

Villagers in Xinyu, Jiangxi, incorporate locally grown golden-thread imperial chrysanthemums into ciba to make “imperial-chrysanthemum ciba,” using a traditional food to celebrate the harvest. Millet, corn, and other grains may also be mixed into ciba. In some places it is shaped into rounds, while elsewhere it is formed into long strips.

The traditional method of making ciba is rustic yet meticulous. Glutinous rice is soaked in cool mountain spring water for twenty-four hours, drained, then steamed over high heat in a traditional steamer. It is transferred to a stone mortar and repeatedly pounded with wooden mallets until the grains completely merge into a soft, supple, and elastic mass.

Hand-pounding ciba requires considerable effort, but the result is exceptionally soft and delicate, with a fine flavor and a texture that can ultimately be stretched into long strands.

Ciba carries the auspicious meanings of reunion, abundance, and good fortune. People often shape it into rounds of varying sizes, symbolizing abundant harvests, longevity, and favorable fortune. Freshly made ciba, steaming hot from the pot, provides quick energy against the cold while also conveying wishes for reunion and sweetness in life.

During Minor Snow, a bite of warm, soft, fragrant ciba is both a ritual for welcoming winter and an expression of hope for a sweet and fulfilling life.

A folk saying goes: “小雪腌菜，大雪腌肉.” After Minor Snow, households begin pickling and air-drying various vegetables for winter. The Qing-dynasty 《真州竹枝词引》 records: “小雪后，人家腌菜，曰寒菜。”

The Minor Snow custom of preserving vegetables is especially associated with potherb mustard and sour cabbage in northern China. Another saying warns: “小雪不收菜，冻了莫要怪.” Vegetables left in the fields after Minor Snow may suffer frost damage, so families pickle part of the harvest while it is plentiful and save it for winter.

In the north, people pickle potherb mustard, Chinese cabbage, radish, and other vegetables. In Nanjing, a variety of vegetables, including cabbage and radish, are preserved.

In Nanchong, Sichuan, mustard greens are mixed with prepared spices, packed layer by layer into earthen jars, and sealed with yellow clay. The process involves six stages, including ingredient selection, kneading, salting, and removing bitter liquid, after which the vegetables ferment and dry for three years before the jar is opened.

In Fuzhou, local red and green wine lees are used to preserve mustard greens into “糟菜”. The aroma of wine lees and salt penetrates the vegetables throughout, producing a golden color and a dry yet intensely fragrant character.

Pickled vegetables embody the everyday wisdom of following the season and storing provisions for winter. Earthen jars quietly seal the chill of the solar term, the warmth of sunlight, and the freshness of mountain winds into crisp strands of vegetables.

To pickle vegetables at Minor Snow is to preserve more than produce. It expresses a Chinese philosophy of life captured in “晴耕雨读、春华秋实”—doing the right thing at the right season, allowing each stage of the year to fulfill its proper work.

Temperatures fall sharply during Minor Snow. Mutton is traditionally regarded as warm in nature and sweet in flavor, capable of replenishing qi and blood, driving out cold, and warming the body, in keeping with traditional Chinese medicine concepts of “winter nourishment” and warming yang for those who fear the cold.

Folk tradition has long placed importance on nourishing the body in winter, and Minor Snow is regarded as an especially suitable time. As the saying goes, “小雪飘，羊肉俏”—when Minor Snow arrives, mutton becomes one of the most sought-after foods on the winter table. In northern China, people believe that eating mutton helps keep the body warm and strengthen immunity; mutton is also traditionally associated with replenishing vital qi and dispelling cold and dampness.

Mutton is prepared in many different ways. In northern China, mutton hotpot and sliced mutton hotpot are popular. People in Shaanxi enjoy shuipen mutton and mutton paomo. In Inner Mongolia, there is a Minor Snow tradition known as “卧羊,” in which sheep are slaughtered and mutton is stored during this period.

In Anhui and other regions, people also eat mutton on Minor Snow. Red-braised mutton, mutton soup, mutton and radish casserole, and plain-cut mutton are all common preparations.

Mutton carries the seasonal health wisdom of driving out cold, warming the body, and nourishing oneself in winter. It is traditionally associated with strengthening the kidneys and yang, warming and replenishing qi and blood, stimulating the appetite, and strengthening the spleen. Eating mutton in winter is therefore considered both a means of resisting wind and cold and a way of nourishing the body.

During Minor Snow, a steaming bowl of mutton soup becomes one of winter’s warmest comforts.

A traditional saying goes: “逢冬补黑”—when winter arrives, nourish the body with black foods. Traditional Chinese medicine holds that the color black corresponds to the kidneys, and eating black foods during winter is believed to nourish kidney qi and improve resistance to cold.

During Minor Snow, consuming more black rice, black beans, black sesame, wood ear mushrooms, and other dark-colored foods is considered beneficial for nourishing the kidneys. Because winter weather is cold, such foods are regarded as particularly suitable for elderly people and women who are sensitive to cold, helping them pass through the winter more comfortably.

Black foods can be prepared in many ways. Black sesame may be made into sesame paste; black rice into cakes or porridge; black beans into soy milk; and wood ear mushrooms may be served cold or simmered in soup. Loach and eel are also considered foods that can quickly help restore bodily warmth.

Black foods embody the health wisdom of nourishing the kidneys and resisting the winter cold. During Minor Snow, yang qi draws inward and kidney qi is considered seasonally dominant. Eating black foods to nourish the kidneys is therefore viewed as an expression of eating in accordance with the season.

A bowl of black sesame paste or a cup of black soybean milk represents one of winter’s simplest forms of seasonal nourishment.

The 《诗经·国风》 records: “十月获稻，为此春酒，以介眉寿。” After Minor Snow, people in Changxing, Zhejiang, begin brewing a wine known as “小雪酒.” Made from newly harvested glutinous rice and stored until the following year, the wine becomes clear in color and crisp in flavor.

Minor Snow is chosen for brewing because temperatures are low. Before steaming, the glutinous rice must be soaked for a full day and night, and cool weather prevents the rice from spoiling easily while immersed in water.

Fujian likewise has a longstanding folk tradition of brewing wine around Minor Snow, as low temperatures help suppress microbial growth. Red-qu rice Huangjiu is a representative wine of the Fujian tradition, with a complex brewing process and a rich, mellow aroma. Bai Juyi wrote:

“绿蚁新醅酒，红泥小火炉”

Minor Snow wine embodies the traditional wisdom of following the rhythms of Heaven, brewing in winter, and drinking in spring. Rice wine brewed at low temperatures matures through the winter and becomes ready to enjoy when spring arrives the following year.

A cup of Minor Snow wine is gentle, warming, sweet, and mellow—both a source of winter warmth and an expression of anticipation for the spring to come.

During Minor Snow, fishermen in central and southern Taiwan begin drying fish and storing preserved foods. Schools of mullet enter the Taiwan Strait around this time, and local people take advantage of the season to dry fish for winter storage.

Coastal Fujian likewise has a Minor Snow custom of drying fish in preparation for the cold months. In the Fuzhou dialect, “fish” and “surplus” are homophones, so fish carries the auspicious meaning of abundance.

Dried fish conveys the auspicious wish of “年年有余,” may there be abundance year after year. It is not only a reserve of food for winter but also embodies hopes for sufficient provisions through the cold season and smooth fortune from year to year.

In times of scarcity, strings of dried fish represented one of the most tangible forms of winter security and plenty.

There is a longstanding folk proverb: “冬吃萝卜夏吃姜.” During Minor Snow, radish is in season and considered highly nutritious. Traditional Chinese medicine holds that eating white radish in winter can strengthen the spleen and stomach, benefit qi and essence, and help prevent illness.

In ancient times, radish was called 菜菔 and was also known as “土人参,” earth ginseng. Another folk saying declares: “十月萝卜赛人参,” radish in the tenth month rivals ginseng.

The weather during Minor Snow is dry, and people may experience dry mouth, dry tongue, or dry skin. The diet may therefore include more foods traditionally associated with nourishing yin and relieving dryness, such as honey, pears, white radish, and Chinese cabbage.

During Minor Snow, radish may be simmered in soups and is particularly suited to pairing with warming and nourishing foods such as beef and mutton. It may also be pickled or air-dried for winter storage.

In northern China, especially Shandong and Hebei, eating radish in winter is considered helpful for digestion and keeping the body warm.

Radish embodies the health wisdom of “clearing before nourishing.” Traditional Chinese medicine encourages eating an appropriate amount of radish during Minor Snow to clear the intestines, aid digestion and transform phlegm, allowing the nourishment that follows later in winter to be better absorbed and making internal heat less likely to develop.

A bite of crisp, sweet radish is therefore the “pathfinder” that clears the way for winter nourishment.