Major Snow Food

There has long been a folk saying: “大雪节气吃羊肉，驱寒保暖又补肾.” In winter, the body’s yang qi is stored within, and eating mutton is believed to warm and nourish kidney yang and strengthen the constitution. Mutton is rich in protein and fat and can quickly provide the body with heat. Traditional Chinese medicine holds that mutton can strengthen the kidneys and yang, warm and nourish qi and blood, stimulate the appetite, and strengthen the spleen, and it has long been regarded as an important food for winter nourishment.

Among the foods eaten for nourishment during Major Snow, mutton is the most popular. As the saying goes, “冬天进补，开春打虎”—eating more warming foods such as mutton at this time is believed to help the body accumulate energy and withstand severe cold. “大雪到，羊肉俏”: the lower the temperature, the more appealing the aroma of mutton becomes. In northern China, people make a point of drinking mutton soup and eating sliced mutton hotpot during Major Snow; after a bowl of hot soup, warmth seems to circulate through the entire body.

Mutton is prepared differently in the north and south. In the north, people cook it in hotpot, make mutton soup, or stir-fry it with scallions; Inner Mongolia has a Major Snow tradition known as “卧羊”; people in Shaanxi favor mutton paomo and shuipen mutton; and in Beijing, sliced mutton hotpot is particularly valued. In the south, common preparations include red-braised mutton and plain-boiled sliced mutton. Cangshu mutton in Suzhou is famous for its white-broth mutton, with milky-white soup and tender meat, while mutton soup from Jianyang, Sichuan, is known for its numbing, spicy, fresh, and fragrant flavor.

Mutton carries the health wisdom of warming and nourishing kidney yang, resisting cold, and storing energy. During Major Snow, the weather is cold and the body requires more energy to maintain its temperature. Mutton is warm in nature; it can both warm and nourish yang qi and provide sufficient heat, making it an ideal food for severe cold. A steaming bowl of mutton soup, warming the body from the tip of the tongue to the toes, is the most reassuring kind of warmth during Major Snow.

A folk saying goes: “小雪腌菜，大雪腌肉.” As soon as Major Snow arrives, households become busy curing “咸货”, salted provisions, in preparation for the New Year. During Major Snow, temperatures fall sharply and the weather becomes dry, making it a good time to cure meat. Salt, Sichuan peppercorn, star anise, cinnamon, and other spices are toasted in a wok and rubbed repeatedly over the inside and outside of fish and meat. The pieces are then packed layer by layer into jars, pressed down with stones, cured for about half a month, taken out, and hung beneath sun-facing eaves to dry in preparation for the New Year.

The custom of curing meat during Major Snow is widespread. People in Nanjing have a tradition of “curing meat at Major Snow”, and households prepare salted pork at this time for the New Year. Older Nanjing residents often say, “未曾过年，先肥屋檐”—before the New Year arrives, the eaves grow fat first. During Major Snow, many households hang cured meat, sausages, and other salted foods by doorways and windowsills, creating a distinctive seasonal sight. Older Nanjing residents particularly favor mutton for nourishment during Major Snow, but “大雪腌肉” is even more importantly a household ritual for welcoming the New Year.

Cured meat carries the practical wisdom of preparing New Year provisions and looking forward to reunion. Meat cured during Major Snow spends nearly two months drying and maturing and is ready for the table by the Spring Festival. The strings of cured meat hanging beneath the eaves are not only winter food reserves, but also an eager expectation of reunion and abundance. Every piece of cured meat preserves the flavor of winter wind and sunlight.

In northern China, there is a custom of eating malt sugar during Major Snow. Malt sugar, also known as “糖稀”, is made by fermenting grains such as malt and glutinous rice. It has a thick, sticky texture and a golden color. The folk rhyme “二十三，糖瓜粘，灶君老爷要上天” refers to the tradition of offering malt sugar to the Kitchen God on the twenty-third day of the twelfth lunar month. Around Major Snow is also one of the best times to make malt sugar.

In earlier times, whenever Major Snow arrived, vendors selling malt sugar would appear on the streets of northern China, beating small gongs as they called out their wares. People held malt sugar in their mouths and let the sweetness slowly dissolve, as though the whole winter were wrapped in that sweetness. Children especially loved this season—a lump of malt sugar wound around a small wooden stick could be held in the mouth like a lollipop and remain sweet for a long time.

The making of malt sugar depends on careful fermentation and control of heat. Wheat is allowed to sprout and then ground into a slurry, which is mixed with steamed glutinous rice and fermented for several hours at a suitable temperature so that the starch is converted into sugar. The liquid is then filtered and slowly simmered over low heat until it thickens into golden malt sugar.

Malt sugar carries the auspicious meaning of passing the winter in sweetness. In the cold winter, a mouthful of sweet malt sugar not only provides energy but also comforts the heart. Eating malt sugar during Major Snow expresses the wish that the coming year will be sweeter than honey. This sweetness hidden within malt is one of the warmest winter memories of children in northern China.

In northern Shandong, there is a folk saying: “碌碡顶了门，光喝红黏粥.” It means that when the weather becomes cold, people stop visiting one another and simply stay at home drinking warm sweet potato porridge. During Major Snow, temperatures fall sharply and people spend less time outdoors. A bowl of hot sweet potato porridge both warms the body and provides plenty of energy. Sweet potato porridge is pleasantly sweet, and sweet potatoes are also a seasonal food.

Peel and wash the sweet potatoes, cut them into small pieces, and place them in a pot together with millet or rice. Add enough water, bring to a boil over high heat, then lower the heat and simmer slowly until the sweet potatoes are soft, the grains have opened, and the porridge has thickened. A bowl of hot sweet potato porridge is golden in color, fragrant, sweet, soft, and glutinous.

Sweet potato porridge carries the practical wisdom of warming the body, nourishing the stomach, and passing the winter in comfort. On a cold winter morning, a bowl of sweet potato porridge warms the whole body. It warms not only the body, but also the heart—it represents the simplest and most reassuring kind of happiness in winter.

In some parts of southern China, there is a custom of eating red date cake during Major Snow. Red dates are rich in protein, fat, sugars, carotene, B vitamins, vitamin C, vitamin P, calcium, phosphorus, iron, cyclic adenosine monophosphate, and other nutrients. Traditional Chinese medicine holds that red dates can replenish deficiency and qi, nourish the blood and calm the spirit, and strengthen the spleen and harmonize the stomach, making them a good food for winter nourishment.

Red date cake carries the auspicious meaning of nourishing blood and qi and passing the winter in sweetness. Its bright red color symbolizes flourishing days and a sweet life. A piece of soft, glutinous, fragrant red date cake is one of winter’s warmest comforts.

Around Major Snow, potherb mustard reaches its harvest season. Also known as “雪菜”, potherb mustard is traditionally regarded as having the effects of detoxifying and reducing swelling, stimulating the appetite and aiding digestion, warming the center, and promoting the movement of qi. It is warm in nature and sweet and pungent in flavor, and in winter it is traditionally used as an auxiliary treatment for sores and swelling, fullness and discomfort in the chest, cough, and excessive phlegm. Potherb mustard is also known as “春不老”, “spring that never grows old,” symbolizing vitality that remains even in the cold winter.

The most common way to eat potherb mustard is to pickle it and stir-fry it with shredded pork. Potherb mustard with shredded pork, potherb mustard with broad beans, and potherb mustard tofu soup are all familiar home-style dishes full of everyday winter warmth. Pickled potherb mustard has a bright yellow color and a salty, savory taste; it goes well with rice and can also be eaten with porridge. In northern China, it is an indispensable flavor on the winter table.

Potherb mustard carries the practical wisdom of “蓄以御冬,” storing provisions to withstand the winter. Its alternate name “春不老” expresses people’s hope for renewed vitality in the coming spring. A plate of potherb mustard stir-fried with shredded pork, savory and satisfying with rice, is one of the most homely forms of warmth during Major Snow.

Major Snow is considered a good time for nourishment, and folk tradition has long followed the principle “逢冬补黑”. Traditional Chinese medicine holds that black corresponds to the kidneys, and black soybeans are known as “肾之谷”, the “grain of the kidneys.” They are traditionally regarded as having the effects of nourishing the kidneys and strengthening the body, invigorating blood, promoting urination, and detoxifying. Eating more black foods during Major Snow is believed to help nourish the kidneys, resist the cold, and strengthen the body’s resistance. During Major Snow, black soybeans are commonly cooked into porridge or soup or made into black soybean milk.

Black soybeans can be made into soybean milk, cooked into black bean porridge, or simmered with pork ribs in soup. Black soybeans soaked in vinegar are also a common folk health food—the beans are first roasted, then soaked in aged vinegar for several days, and a few are eaten each day, traditionally believed to help darken the hair and nourish the kidneys.

Black soybeans carry the health wisdom of nourishing the kidneys, strengthening the body, and resisting the winter cold. During Major Snow, yin qi is believed to reach its height and kidney qi to be seasonally dominant. Eating black foods to nourish the kidneys is therefore an expression of “eating in accordance with the season.” A handful of black soybeans is one of the simplest forms of winter nourishment.

The weather is cold during Major Snow, and gathering around the hearth to eat hot pot becomes a preferred choice for many people. In earlier times, people valued “围炉取暖”, gathering around the hearth for warmth, which was both a way to resist the cold and a form of social activity. Hot pot offers a wide variety of ingredients that can be chosen according to personal taste. The steaming broth not only warms the body, but also brings people closer together.

Hot pot takes different forms across China—Chongqing’s mala hot pot leaves people sweating; Beijing’s copper-pot sliced mutton preserves the fresh flavor of the meat; Chaoshan beef hot pot in Guangdong emphasizes the freshness of the ingredients; and Yunnan mushroom hot pot carries the atmosphere of mountains and forests. Whatever the style, sitting around the hearth and sharing the warmth of one pot is a common winter ritual.

Hot pot carries the deeper meaning of gathering around the hearth, reuniting, and sharing warmth. During the snow-covered season of Major Snow, a few friends or an entire family sit around a steaming hot pot, cooking slices of meat and talking together. The cold is kept outside the window, while the warmth remains in the heart. This is not only food, but a form of winter affection—turning the coldest moments into the warmest memories.