It’s the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, let’s talk about the difference between Yuanxiao and Tangyuan

Yuanxiao cannot be frozen, but glutinous rice balls can.

Yuanxiao is a food that Chinese people cook and eat according to custom on the Lantern Festival and Spring Festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month. It once had many names, such as noodle cocoon, pink fruit, ingot, soup cake, round and round corner, etc. It was officially named Yuanxiao during the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty.

Yuanxiao cannot be frozen, otherwise it will crack and the filling will flow out when cooked. Therefore, Yuanxiao can only be eaten and cooked freshly, and you cannot buy frozen Yuanxiao. Tangyuan can be frozen, so you can eat it all year round, and you can also buy quick-frozen glutinous rice balls.

Tangyuan is one of the representatives of traditional Chinese snacks. It is a spherical food made of glutinous rice flour. Usually there are fillings, cooked and served with soup. It is also the most distinctive food of the Lantern Festival and has a long history.

It is said that glutinous rice balls originated in the Song Dynasty. At that time, Mingzhou (now Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province) started to eat a novel food, which was filled with black sesame and lard, a little white sugar was added, and the outside was rolled into a round shape with glutinous rice flour. After cooking, it tasted sweet and delicious. Very interesting. Because this kind of glutinous rice dumpling floats and sinks when cooked in the pot, it was first called "Floating Yuanzi". Later, in some areas, "Floating Yuanzi" was renamed Tangtuan. However, glutinous rice balls symbolize a better family reunion, and eating glutinous rice balls means family happiness and reunion in the new year, so it is a must-have delicacy during the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month. In some areas of the south, people are also used to eating glutinous rice balls instead of dumplings during the Spring Festival.