As Lunar New Year is approaching, it’s normal to think about how to make the New Year especially prosperous. For me, I love sweets and snacks, so I was curious to learn about lucky snacks/desserts and what they symbolize. Here’s a list of five of the most popular ones!
- Chinese New Year Sweet Rice Cake (年糕)
This is a popular dessert eaten during Lunar New Year, as it is both tasty and lucky. It’s made with glutinous rice flour and symbolizes more prosperity and career success year by year, since in Chinese it’s a homonym for “year higher.”
- Glutinous Rice Balls (汤圆)
These sweet, round, chewy snacks are made of glutinous rice flour, usually filled with sugar, sesame, or bean paste, and served in soup. Not only are they delicious, but they also represent family reunion.
- Sesame Seed Balls (煎堆)
These tasty fried snacks are made from glutinous rice flour, filled with red bean paste, and rolled in sesame seeds, a perfect combination of crispy and chewy. Sesame seed balls represent prosperity and happiness!
- Eight Treasure Rice Pudding (八宝饭)
This dessert is a sweet and sticky glutinous rice pudding topped with eight kinds of dried fruits/nuts including red jujubes and dried longans. Eight is a lucky number in Chinese culture, so this pudding is said to bring good luck.
- Ginger Candies (糖姜片)
Handmade and originating from Changsha, these candies combine ginger juice and maltose. They’re perfect after eating a large meal on Lunar New Year, since they help with digestion!
Sources:
https://www.chinatravel.com/chinese-new-year/snack-and-dessert
Amazing article Madeline! I will have to try one of these amazing desserts! Wonderfully written and great organization! I look forward to reading future articles written by you!
太好了！我中秋节的时候最喜欢吃汤圆。我去年跟赵老师和朋友一起做汤圆。我没有吃年糕所以今年中秋节我想做。
你的文章太棒了！我没有吃八宝饭，所以在春节我需要吃八宝饭。我觉得年糕好看所以我想吃年糕。我觉得汤圆糖姜片是好吃的。