Major Cold Food

A folk saying goes, “小寒大寒，无风自寒.” In Guangdong, Guangxi, and other parts of southern China, there is a traditional custom of eating glutinous rice during Major Cold to drive away the chill. Glutinous rice contains more sugar than ordinary rice, and eating it leaves the whole body feeling warm, helping to resist the cold. Traditional Chinese medicine considers glutinous rice warm in nature and sweet in flavor, entering the spleen, stomach, and lung meridians, with the traditional functions of replenishing the center and qi, strengthening the spleen and nourishing the stomach, and reducing sweating caused by weakness.

On the day of Major Cold, people in Guangdong cook a fragrant pot of glutinous rice with cured pork, Chinese sausage, peanuts, dried shrimp, and other ingredients, filling the air with rich aromas. In parts of Guangxi, glutinous rice is also an important food during Major Cold. People believe that eating it can help resist the severe cold, strengthen the constitution, and carry the body safely through the coldest period of the year.

Glutinous rice carries the dual meanings of driving away the cold and warming the body, and rewarding oneself at the year’s end. For people in Guangdong, eating glutinous rice during Major Cold is not only a way of maintaining health against the bitter cold, but also a warm reward after a year of hard work. In a steaming bowl of glutinous rice, the savory fragrance of cured meats melts into the soft, glutinous grains—one of the most reassuring forms of warmth during Major Cold.

In Jiangnan, there is a custom of eating Eight-Treasure Rice during Major Cold. It is a traditional sweet dish made with glutinous rice, red bean paste, red dates, lotus seeds, longan, walnuts, melon seeds, raisins, and other ingredients. Colorful, fragrant, sweet, and glutinous, a bowl of Eight-Treasure Rice steamed during Major Cold and shared by the whole family is both a pleasure of taste and a feast for the eyes.

Because of its abundant ingredients and the name “Eight Treasures,” it is regarded as a symbol of auspiciousness and abundance. It is also commonly served as the final dessert of the New Year’s Eve reunion dinner. From Major Cold through the Spring Festival, a bowl of Eight-Treasure Rice links together the entire season of transition between the old year and the new.

The “Eight Treasures” themselves carry rich meanings: red dates symbolize prosperity and sweetness; lotus seeds signify the wish for successive generations of children; longan represents reunion and completeness; walnuts suggest intelligence and health. In Chinese culture, the number eight is associated with “发”, prosperity and flourishing, expressing hopes that the coming year will be successful and prosperous.

Eight-Treasure Rice carries the auspicious wishes of the blessings of the Eight Treasures, reunion, and fulfillment. The name “Eight Treasures” represents both the abundance of ingredients and people’s hopes for a prosperous and beautiful year ahead. A bowl of Eight-Treasure Rice brings together color, fragrance, and flavor; it is sweet on the tongue and warm in the heart. It is not merely a seasonal food, but also an auspicious presence on the festival table.

People in Nanjing have the tradition “一九一只鸡”—one chicken for every nine-day period. Beginning from the Winter Solstice, one chicken is eaten every nine days until the end of “九九.” Major Cold falls around the fourth and fifth nine-day periods, making it a crucial time for eating chicken as winter nourishment.

In Nanjing, chicken soup is usually made with an old hen, simmered slowly for several hours until the broth turns golden and the meat becomes tender enough to fall apart. Chicken soup is considered highly nourishing and traditionally associated with warming the center, replenishing qi, nourishing essence, and enriching marrow. After a bowl of hot chicken soup, the blood seems to flow freely through the entire body, and even the bitter cold appears less frightening.

Soup made from an old hen represents the most serious attitude Nanjing people take toward “winter nourishment.” Even when household finances were tight, families would still find a way to simmer a pot on this day.

Chicken soup carries the seasonal dietary wisdom of “one chicken for every nine-day period, nourishing the body through all nine periods of winter.” From the Winter Solstice to Major Cold and then the Beginning of Spring, one chicken after another links together the entire course of winter nourishment. A bowl of crystal-clear chicken soup condenses a full year of labor and the hope for health in the year ahead; it is also one of the most tangible forms of care people give themselves in the coldest winter months.

Major Cold falls during the coldest time of the year, and mutton remains a central food on northern tables. In Beijing, people place particular importance on eating sliced mutton hotpot on this day: a copper pot over charcoal, mutton cooked in clear broth, served with sesame sauce and sweet pickled garlic, until the whole body breaks into a sweat.

In Shandong, Henan, and other regions, mutton soup is preferred. Around Zaozhuang in Shandong, there is even a custom of drinking mutton soup during Major Cold, with the belief that it can dispel the chill accumulated through the winter. In northwestern China, hand-grabbed mutton and cumin mutton are also especially popular at this time.

The 《本草纲目》 records of mutton: “暖中补虚，补中益气，开胃健力，治虚劳寒冷，五劳七伤.” In the understanding of the ancients, mutton was one of the first choices for resisting severe cold and nourishing the body.

Mutton embodies the health wisdom of warming the center, replenishing deficiency, and resisting extreme cold. Major Cold is the point of “寒气之逆极”, when the cold reaches its greatest intensity. Eating mutton at this time warms the body and drives away the chill, fitting perfectly with the health saying “大寒大寒，防风御寒.” A steaming meal of sliced mutton hotpot or a bowl of milky-white mutton soup is the most robust northern response to Major Cold.

During Major Cold, old Beijing had the custom of eating “消寒糕.” Xiaohan Cake is a type of nian gao, steamed from glutinous rice flour together with walnuts, red dates, osmanthus, and other ingredients. It has a soft, glutinous texture and a fragrant, sweet taste.

Old Beijing residents regarded Major Cold as the coldest period of the year and believed that eating Xiaohan Cake could dispel the cold accumulated through the year, hence the name “消寒.” Because “糕” and “高” are homophones, eating it also expresses the auspicious wishes of “rising higher year after year” and “rising step by step.”

Every year during Major Cold, long-established Beijing brands such as Daoxiangcun offer Xiaohan Cake. Buying a piece is both a way of observing the season and seeking good fortune. The custom connects Major Cold with the growing atmosphere of the approaching Spring Festival—once the Xiaohan Cake has been eaten, it is time to begin preparing for the New Year.

Xiaohan Cake carries the dual meanings of dispelling severe cold and rising step by step. The words “消寒” express people’s farewell to the bitter cold at the end of the year, when the chill is at its strongest; the homophony of “糕” and “高” carries hopes of rising ever higher in the year ahead. Eating a piece of Xiaohan Cake makes it seem as though even the harsh cold can melt into its soft, glutinous sweetness.

Major Cold usually falls close to the Laba Festival, and because the two are near each other in time, Laba porridge is also commonly eaten during Major Cold. It is simmered from assorted grains together with peanuts, red dates, lotus seeds, and other ingredients. It both warms and nourishes the body and symbolizes harvest and auspiciousness.

On a cold winter day, a bowl of steaming Laba porridge not only drives away the chill but also brings the warmth of knowing that the year’s end is approaching. The custom is particularly widespread in the north. In Beijing, Hebei, Shanxi, and other places, households often cook a large pot around the time of Major Cold.

Laba porridge carries the dual meanings of warming the body against the cold and praying for blessings while welcoming the New Year. A single bowl links the two seasonal moments of Major Cold and Laba, while also symbolizing the closing of a year of hard work and the opening of the coming Spring Festival. On a bitterly cold Major Cold morning, after one bowl of hot porridge, the warmth of life begins to rise from within.

Although Major Cold is extremely cold, the diet should not become excessively greasy or heavy. Folk tradition includes eating winter melon and radish during Major Cold. Winter melon is considered cool in nature and traditionally associated with promoting urination, reducing phlegm, clearing heat, and detoxifying. Because people tend to eat more rich and nourishing foods during Major Cold, internal heat can easily accumulate; winter melon is therefore used to clear heat and promote fluid metabolism, helping balance this internal warmth.

White radish has long been known as “小人参,” the “little ginseng.” Eating it during Major Cold is traditionally considered helpful for digestion, regulating qi, and easing food stagnation, reducing the burden placed on the stomach and intestines by rich winter foods.

In some parts of southern China, winter melon is stewed with old duck during Major Cold, producing a clear, fresh broth that is gentle and nourishing. In the north, radish is often stewed with mutton or made into shredded-radish soup, light, sweet, and refreshing. Folk tradition also has the saying “大寒吃萝卜，不用医生开药方.” Radishes at this time have passed through frost and snow, making them especially sweet, crisp, tender, and juicy; they are suitable raw, cold-dressed, or simmered in soup.

Winter melon and radish embody the health wisdom of “clear before nourishing.” During Major Cold, diets tend to be rich and heavy, making stagnation and internal heat more likely. Winter melon clears heat and promotes fluid metabolism, while radish regulates qi and aids digestion. Clearing first and nourishing afterward is considered the proper way to maintain health during Major Cold. A bite of sweet winter melon or crisp radish is the “cleaner” of the winter table.

Although Major Cold still falls in the depths of winter, it is the final one of the Twenty-Four Solar Terms, and after Major Cold comes the Beginning of Spring. For this reason, the atmosphere of welcoming spring can already be faintly sensed during Major Cold.

In some northern regions, people eat spring pancakes during Major Cold to welcome the approaching spring. Although the Beginning of Spring has not yet arrived, the heart is already turned toward it. Spring pancakes are made from flour and wrapped around various vegetables and meats, symbolizing abundant harvests and a prosperous life.

In some southern regions, people prefer fried spring rolls, golden and crisp; with one bite, it is almost possible to hear the footsteps of spring.

This custom of “抢春”, reaching for spring in advance, expresses the Chinese people’s positive hopes for future life—at the coldest moment, the tongue senses the coming of spring before the season itself arrives.

Spring pancakes and spring rolls carry the beautiful hope of welcoming spring and receiving blessings. Eating spring pancakes during Major Cold signifies bidding farewell to the old, welcoming the new, and receiving the arrival of spring. Though snow and ice may still fill the world outside the window, after one bite of a spring pancake, the heart is already filled with spring warmth and blooming flowers.

During Major Cold, there is a folk custom of “祭灶,” offering sacrifice to the Kitchen God. This is a traditional custom with broad and lasting influence in Chinese folk life. In earlier times, almost every household kitchen contained a shrine to the Kitchen God. People also called him “司命菩萨” or “灶君司命.” According to legend, he was appointed by the Jade Emperor as “九天东厨司命灶王府君,” responsible for overseeing the household hearth and worshipped as a protective deity of the family.

The Kitchen God was believed to remain in the household from the previous New Year’s Eve until the twenty-third or twenty-fourth day of the twelfth lunar month, when he would ascend to Heaven to report the family’s good and bad deeds to the Jade Emperor. Based on this report, the Jade Emperor would then entrust to the Kitchen God the fortune or misfortune that the family should receive in the new year. His report was therefore regarded as a matter of considerable importance to the household.

The ceremony for sending off the Kitchen God is called “送灶” or “辞灶.” Families prepare offerings for him, the most important of which is sugar melon. Made from malt sugar, it is both sweet and sticky, with the intention of sticking the Kitchen God’s mouth shut so that he will “上天言好事，下界保平安.” This custom of “bribing” the Kitchen God is filled with folk wisdom and humor.

Sugar melon carries the beautiful wish of praying for blessings through sweetness. “上天言好事，回宫降吉祥”—using sticky sugar to seal the Kitchen God’s mouth so that he speaks only of good things and not bad ones is a simple, almost “bribe-like” form of folk belief. One piece of sugar melon sweetens the Kitchen God’s mouth and warms the hearts of ordinary people below; even the cold of Major Cold seems to find a place to settle.