Almost every year, Yuanxiao or Tangyuan are eaten on the Lantern Festival. However, many people don't know the difference between them. They think it's different from the South and the north. In fact, tangyuan and Yuanxiao are different in nature. Let's get to know,
The difference between Yuanxiao and Tangyuan
After the Lantern Festival is finished, there will be a 'hairy head', that is, flour floating powder. When cooking in the pot, the flour will be mixed into the water, and the soup will be milky white. The dumplings swell rapidly after cooking and are bigger than tangyuan.
The dumpling skin is made of dried glutinous rice flour and water. It has good cohesiveness, smoother surface and clear boiled water.
Raw materials of leather
The skins of both brothers are made of 'sticky rice'.
Stuffing ingredients
Lantern Festival: the first to mix stuffing, Zao clay stuffing mainly. The mixed stuffing is actually a mixture of sugar, rose, sesame, bean paste, cinnamon, walnuts and nuts. It feels like the five kernel stuffing in the moon cake.
Tangyuan: the first to black sesame, bean paste, walnuts, nuts, jujube mud based.
Now people's tastes are becoming more and more picky. In order to meet the market demand, Yuanxiao and tangyuaner also break the tradition and march towards the fruit taste. In the past two years, there have been Western tastes such as coffee and Matcha, which are a little bit of messy and gradually charming.
Manufacturing process
Lantern Festival: it's mainly filled with stuffing. First, make the stuffing, cut it into small pieces, and then put the stuffing in a big basket filled with glutinous rice noodles and shake it back and forth (now with a machine), until the stuffing is rolled with a thick layer of glutinous rice coat.
Tangyuan: the process of making Tangyuan is like making dumplings. You need to mix the glutinous rice noodles and wake them up; then you need to make the stuffing. The water content in the stuffing is more than that of the Lantern Festival stuffing. It can be spread like the dumpling stuffing, or it can be kneaded into small balls; finally, you need to pull together the noodles, knead them into pieces, wrap the stuffing in them, and knead them into balls.
Texture
Lantern Festival: the skin is strong and the stuffing is chewy. The soup will be thick and a little like rice soup.
Tangyuan: the skin is smooth and the taste is delicate. Because there is much water in the filling, the filling will flow out like quicksand at the moment when Tangyuan is bitten. In addition, tangyuan's boiled soup is clearer than the Lantern Festival.
Cooking methods
Yuanxiao: in addition to cooking, Yuanxiao can also be fried or shredded, steamed or roasted.
Tangyuan: it's a simple way to eat. It's usually boiled.
Storage time
Because the glutinous rice flour on the outer layer is easy to absorb water, the taste of the Lantern Festival made by traditional technology will change after cold storage, and improper preservation will lead to microbial growth and deterioration. Therefore, most of the Lantern Festival is sold on the spot, with a shelf life of two or three days.
The shelf life of Tangyuan is much longer. After quick-frozen technology, the general shelf-life of Tangyuan is from 6 months to 12 months, and the best storage temperature is below - 18 ℃.