Chongyang cake, also known as Huagao, is the classic food of Chongyang Festival. As early as the Southern Dynasty. Chongyang cake mostly uses rice flour and fruit as raw materials, and its making methods vary from place to place. Today's Chongyang cake also needs to add dates and chestnuts as stuffing, mainly including two kinds of cooking and steaming. There are five colored flags on the cake, stuffing and printing double sheep to persuade Chongyang.
Cultural connotation of Chongyang cake
In the book of changes, 'six' is defined as the Yin number, and 'nine' as the Yang number. On September 9, the sun and the moon are combined, and the two and nine are equal, so it's called 'Chongyang', or 'Chongjiu'. Nine nine double Yang, because it is the same as "long time", nine is the largest number among the numbers, which means long and long life. Therefore, as early as the late 1980s, Chongyang Festival was also designated as the old people's day in China, which reminded people that respecting, respecting, loving and helping the old are one of their duties.
Chongyang cake, as an indispensable classic cake of Chongyang Festival, has not only played the role of food for a long time. People like to make Chongyang cake into colorful, but also spread some osmanthus on the cake surface, so Chongyang cake is also called osmanthus cake and flower cake. The Double Ninth Festival is also a Climbing Festival, but there are not mountains everywhere to climb. Therefore, some people think of eating cakes instead of climbing, which means stepping up. As a result, the double ninth cake has become of special significance on the day of Double Ninth Festival.
Traditional filial piety is the most important part of Chongyang Festival. On the day of Chongyang Festival, eating Chongyang cake is the most important part. This kind of fragrant cake not only has a good taste, but also is suitable for the teeth of the elderly. According to folklore, Chongyang cake has a good metaphor of driving away disasters and evil spirits. Chongyang Festival refers to filial piety to the elders, which is the embodiment of traditional Chinese virtues. Prepare the Chongyang cake on the day of Chongyang Festival, taste it with your parents and grandparents, and continue the traditional virtue of respecting your elders.
The practice of Chongyang cake
According to Xijing miscellany: "on September 9, wearing dogwood, eating tarpaulin bait", "bait", that is, cakes of Han Dynasty, "tarpaulin bait", is a steamed cake made of fragrant plant tarpaulin and rice noodles. As the classic food of Chongyang Festival, the following is the production process:
1. Mix two portions of glutinous rice flour and one portion of corn flour, add white sugar (increase or decrease according to your taste), add a little water, about 50ml, and mix well with chopsticks.
2. Use a sieve to sift the mixed wet powder.
3. Wash the red beans, add a little water and sugar and cook them in a pressure cooker, then press them into red bean paste.
4. Wash the pumpkin, cut into small pieces, steam in a pot, press into pumpkin paste, add sugar and some wet powder, mix well.
5. Take a rectangular vessel and coat the bottom with olive oil. Then lay the wet powder on the bottom and buckle it. Steam for five minutes.
6. Spread a layer of red bean paste on the steamed powder and steam for 5 minutes.
7. Spread a layer of wet powder on the red bean paste and steam for another 5 minutes.
8. Put the mixed pumpkin and wet powder on the steamed red bean paste, and steam for another 5 minutes.
9. Take out the steamed cake and cut into diamond pieces. Add some red and green silk or roses on the top or make a small flag with colored paper, and insert it on the cake surface.
Introduction to Chongyang cake
The Double Ninth Festival is also called the respect for the aged. On that day, there are not only the traditional customs of climbing mountains, drinking chrysanthemum wine and inserting dogwood, but also the necessary festival food. In ancient times, there was a saying that "steam Chongyang cake to honor the elderly".
Chongyang cake, also known as Huagao, is the classic food of Chongyang Festival. As early as the Southern Dynasty. Chongyang cake mostly uses rice flour and fruit as raw materials, and its making methods vary from place to place. Today's Chongyang cake also needs to add dates and chestnuts as stuffing, mainly including two kinds of cooking and steaming. There are five colored flags on the cake, stuffing and printing double sheep to persuade Chongyang. Fixed with a bamboo stick and inserted in the double ninth cake, the small shape is cute, which also means replacing the huge dogwood.
When Wu Zetian of Tang Dynasty was in Chongyang, she asked the palace maids to collect hundreds of flowers, mash them with rice, and steam them to make 'Huagao', which was the prototype of Chongyang cake, to reward the officials and attract people. Now in order to eat in beauty, people make Chongyang cake into colorful, but also sprinkle some on the cake surface, so the Chongyang cake, sweet and delicious, everyone likes to eat.
The method of steaming Chongyang cake is similar to that of steaming rice cake, but it should be smaller and thinner. Today, there is no fixed variety of Chongyang cake. All kinds of soft cakes eaten in Chongyang Festival are called Chongyang cakes. Chongyang cake also has different moral meanings in different places: in Nanjing, Chongyang cake is also called zaoli cake, which contains the blessings of the elderly to their children's "early independence".