Summer Solstice Food

“冬至饺子夏至面”—eating noodles on the Summer Solstice is one of the most widespread seasonal food customs in China. The origins of Summer Solstice noodles can be traced back to the Zhou dynasty. In terms of the agricultural calendar, the Yellow River basin was said to see “芒种三日见麦花,” followed by “宿麦既登,” meaning that by the Summer Solstice the new wheat harvest was ready to be enjoyed. Fresh wheat had just become available, and people prepared flour-based foods as offerings to the gods and in celebration of the harvest. 《周礼·春官》 records: “以夏日至，致地方物魈。” During the Zhou dynasty, rites were held on the Summer Solstice to worship the gods, with the purpose of warding off epidemics, failed harvests, famine, and death. This ritual tradition also laid the foundation for the custom of eating noodles at the Summer Solstice.

In old Beijing, the traditional food for the Summer Solstice was lengtao noodles, a type of chilled noodle dish. The Qing-dynasty work 《帝京岁时纪胜》 records: “家家俱食冷淘面，即俗说过水面是也，乃都门之美品。” “Passing through water” meant rinsing freshly cooked noodles in cold water, a process also known as “拔凉,” or cooling them down rapidly. Even today, noodles chilled in this way and mixed with zhajiang remain a favorite summer dish for many people. After the Ming dynasty, the custom gradually developed into a widespread practice of eating noodles in every household around the Summer Solstice. For earlier generations, eating noodles made from the new wheat harvest was a way to taste the season’s first grain, celebrate the harvest, follow the changing balance of yin and yang, and pray for health and peace.

Summer Solstice noodles take many different forms across China:

* Beijing: Zhajiangmian, chilled noodles with sesame paste, noodles with thick savory gravy
* Shandong: Guoshui noodles—cooked noodles rinsed once in cold water before eating; Jinan noodles with savory gravy, Linqing Shixiang noodles, Penglai Xiaomian, Ningjin Daliu noodles, Rizhao Haishazi noodles
* Shanxi: Chilled noodles, also known as Sanfu noodles; knife-cut noodles
* Shaanxi: Saozi noodles
* Lanzhou: Beef noodles
* Jiangsu and Zhejiang: Yangchun noodles, dry soup noodles, chilled noodles dressed with sesame oil

Southern China has Yangchun noodles, dry soup noodles, and chilled noodles dressed with sesame oil, while northern China has noodles with savory gravy, lao noodles, zhajiangmian, cold noodles, and many other varieties. The multitude of noodle dishes, each with its own flavor and character, reflects the culinary culture and customs of different regions.

Summer Solstice noodles carry the dual meanings of celebrating the harvest and finding relief from the summer heat. First, tasting the new harvest and honoring the gods. New wheat becomes available around the Summer Solstice, and people make noodles from the freshly milled flour, first offering them to the gods and ancestors before sharing them with the whole family as an expression of gratitude for the harvest. Second, cooling the body and stimulating the appetite. The Summer Solstice brings intense heat, and chilled noodles are considered both refreshing and appetizing without being so cold as to harm the body. Third, following the rhythm of Heaven. The folk saying “吃过夏至面，一天短一线” reflects an awareness of seasonal change. The Summer Solstice is the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, after which daylight gradually shortens; eating Summer Solstice noodles thus also carries an implicit recognition of, and adaptation to, the passage of time.

Once the summer harvest is complete and the new wheat reaches the market, people mix wheat flour into a batter, spread it into thin pancakes, and cook them before filling them with leafy greens, bean pods, tofu, cured pork, and other ingredients. These pancakes are first offered to the ancestors and then eaten, giving rise to the customary name “Summer Solstice Pancakes.” They are generally used first in ancestral rites, after which they are eaten by the family or distributed among relatives and friends. In Zhuji, Zhejiang, making wheat pancakes for the Summer Solstice is one of the most prominent local customs, expressed in the saying “夏至夏至，麦饼尽吃.”

Summer Solstice pancakes appear in different forms from region to region:

* Zhuji Summer Solstice Pancakes: These come in several shapes, including fan-shaped pancakes in green and white. The green version is made with mugwort gathered from the hills, washed, blanched, pounded, and mixed evenly into the flour. The dough is rolled into a round pancake, spread with red bean paste or minced meat filling, folded into a fan shape, pressed along the edge with the rim of a bowl, sprinkled with pale yellow pine pollen, and baked until cooked.
* Wheat Pancake Rolls: In late spring and early summer, wild greens flourish in the fields, and skilled home cooks gather a wild vegetable known locally as “孟菜.” The greens are washed, soaked in boiling water, and finally stir-fried. A piece of cured pork skin is rubbed across the iron pan, and the prepared batter is poured in and spread by hand into a clean white circle. The pancake is filled with wild greens and carefully rolled up—a taste of home wrapped in wheat.
* Southern Thin Pancakes: Wheat flour is mixed into a batter, spread into thin pancakes and cooked, then filled with leafy greens, bean sprouts, tofu, and other ingredients.

The central meaning of Summer Solstice pancakes is honoring the ancestors with gratitude and sharing the joy of the harvest. 《吴江县志》 records: “夏至日，作麦粽，祭先毕，则以相饷。” Summer Solstice pancakes are both offerings presented to the ancestors and a means of sharing the happiness of the harvest among relatives and friends. In each bite is the fragrance of new wheat, together with respect for one’s ancestors and gratitude for the harvest.

The custom of eating eggs at the Summer Solstice is especially popular in Hunan. Folk tradition holds that eating eggs on this day strengthens the body and stomach and gives a person greater strength when walking. There is even a saying: “夏至吃蛋，石板踩烂.”

Summer Solstice eggs are prepared differently from ordinary boiled eggs. Rather than simply cooking the eggs in water, they are often simmered in a soup with brown sugar, red dates, and sometimes Chinese angelica root, with the intention of maximizing their nourishing and restorative qualities. In southern Hunan, people may boil eggs on the morning of the Summer Solstice, dye the shells red with red paper or red coloring, place them in small netted pouches, and hang them over the chests of children and adolescents until noon or afternoon, when the shells are removed and the eggs are eaten. Another method is to boil the eggs in the morning, peel them, and simmer them together with red dates to make Summer Solstice eggs.

Summer Solstice eggs carry auspicious wishes for strength, health, and well-being. Folk tradition holds that eating eggs on this day strengthens the body and stomach and improves physical stamina. The red shell symbolizes good fortune and celebration, while hanging an egg at a child’s chest expresses the elders’ heartfelt wish for healthy growth. After the egg is eaten, children may also be weighed, in the hope that they have gained weight, grown stronger, become more resistant to the intense summer heat, and will fall ill less often.

“Summer Solstice Geng” refers to soup dumplings made by mixing glutinous rice flour with cudweed. In the Changsha region of Hunan there is a folk saying, “吃了夏至羹，麻石踩成坑,” meaning that after eating Summer Solstice Geng, a person would become so strong that even hard stone could be stamped into a hollow.

Summer Solstice Geng embodies the wish for greater physical strength and good health. Cudweed is a common wild green found in spring fields and is traditionally regarded as helping clear heat and dispel dampness. A bowl of Summer Solstice Geng represents both an ingenious use of seasonal ingredients and the hope for a healthy, energetic body. The idea that eating it could give someone enough strength to stamp a hole into hard stone is, of course, an exaggerated folk saying, but it vividly expresses people’s desire for vitality and their confidence in life.

Summer Solstice food customs vary considerably across Jiangnan, but one of the most distinctive seasonal dishes is “Summer Solstice Porridge.” It is generally prepared by simmering wheat and broad beans with rock sugar, while in some places glutinous rice, lotus seeds, oats, red dates, and other ingredients are added. The dish is usually based on mixed-grain porridge, wheat porridge, millet porridge, and other grain-based preparations.

In Wuxi, eating wheat porridge on the morning of the Summer Solstice is a long-established custom. In earlier times, wheat porridge was also presented as an offering at the family ancestral hall. Wuxi lies in southern China and has a relatively humid climate; around the Summer Solstice, people often experience a decline in appetite. Local tradition holds that wheat porridge strengthens the spleen and nourishes the stomach, helping to relieve the poor appetite associated with the difficult summer season. In traditional Chinese medicine, it is also regarded as helping dispel dampness and promote urination.

Summer Solstice porridge embodies the seasonal health wisdom of strengthening the spleen, nourishing the stomach, dispelling dampness, and relieving summer heat. Fragrant and pleasant, it is considered effective in easing the loss of appetite associated with summer while also helping to remove dampness and promote urination, making it a particularly valued dish of the Summer Solstice. A bowl of Summer Solstice porridge is fragrant, mildly sweet, soft, and comforting—especially suited to cooling and refreshing the body in summer.

Zongzi are generally regarded as foods unique to the Dragon Boat Festival, but in northwestern China, they are also eaten on the Summer Solstice. 《吴江县志》 records: “夏至日，作麦粽，祭先毕，则以相饷。” People not only ate “麦粽” but also exchanged them as gifts.

Eating Zongzi on the Summer Solstice carries a distinctive symbolic meaning. The glutinous rice inside the Zongzi is regarded as a food belonging to “yang.” Eating Zongzi therefore signifies bidding farewell to the season of yang. After the Summer Solstice, the flourishing force of yang gradually begins to decline, and people use this particular food to express the change of the season. Summer Solstice Zongzi thus embody the philosophical idea of following yin and yang and sensing the turning of the seasons—to eat a food associated with yang on the longest day of the year is to make a solemn farewell to the yang energy that is about to recede.

The cake traditionally eaten at the Summer Solstice is mainly pea cake, a custom observed with particular care in Nanjing. Every year at the Summer Solstice, elderly family members in Nanjing prepare pea cakes at home for children. In earlier times, the custom was to have the children sit beside the threshold of the house while eating them.

Peas are also known as “安豆,” a name associated with the auspicious meanings of rising step by step and peace and good fortune. Peas are also nutritious and are traditionally considered useful for clearing heat and relieving summer discomfort, allowing people to enjoy the abundance of the summer harvest while stimulating the appetite and escaping the heat. A piece of pea cake brings sweetness to the tongue and a sense of peace to the heart.

Eating lychees at the Summer Solstice is a custom of Lingnan. People in areas such as Qinzhou and Yulin in Guangxi are also especially fond of eating lychees on this day, and the custom has continued to the present. In Lingnan folk tradition, the practice of eating dog meat together with lychees on the Summer Solstice has a long history, reflected in the saying “冬至鱼生夏至狗.” Folk belief holds that eating dog meat and lychees together on this day can ward off harmful influences, strengthen the body, and protect against epidemics.

Lychees carry the traditional health concept of “using heat to counter heat” and dispelling dampness and toxins. Lingnan is characterized by a notably hot and humid climate, and folk tradition holds that eating dog meat and lychees on one of the hottest days of the year can use heat to counter heat and help expel dampness and toxins. Lychees are considered warming in nature, and legend holds that when eaten with dog meat they do not produce the same excessive internal heat as they might under ordinary circumstances. Although the custom is highly controversial, it nevertheless reflects a distinctive body of dietary knowledge developed by the people of Lingnan in response to a hot and humid environment.

After the summer harvest is complete and new wheat comes onto the market, there is a custom of eating flour-based foods to taste the new crop. In Anhua, Zhaojia, and other places, people make Qiaoguo as the Summer Solstice approaches. Wheat flour is kneaded into dough and rolled into a very thin sheet, then cut into small, long strips, twisted around twice, and fried in oil. Once cooked, the pieces resemble delicate blossoms, which is why they are also called “Wheat Flowers.”

Qiaoguo embody the auspicious ideas of celebrating the harvest and welcoming summer with skillful hands. Transforming ordinary flour into exquisitely shaped flower-like foods reflects working people’s love of life and their ingenuity. Each golden “Wheat Flower” is both a symbol of the new wheat harvest and a celebration of a beautiful life.