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Comment (In the weeks before Chinese New Year, the market is jam-packed with people shopping for the "new year goods" that will carry them through the New Year holiday. In the past, the special purchases (nian huo, literally meaning New Year Goods) for the Spring Festival mainly referred to food.
At the Spring Festival, most Chinese will eat the New Year Cake which is made of glutinous rice or millet flour and garnished with anything from bean to jujube paste, assorted fruits and preserves. By tradition, it is believed eating Niangao will bring good luck.
Niangao in Chinese is pronounced as "Better New Year" so generations of Chinese people keep it as one of the typical new year food. New Year cakes may be cooked by steaming or frying and served in either case with sugar sprinkled on. Nowadays chefs make them more attractive to increasingly picky folk by adding beans or fruits on them and reshape them out of traditional round shape.
Yuanxiao is a special dumpling in China for the Lantern Festival (the 15th night of the 1st lunar month).It is a "ball" made of glutinous rice flour.
Yuanxiao dumplings fall into two categories. One is those without fillings. Another category of dumplings is those with fillings, which may be either sweet or salty in taste. For the sweet variety, the filling may be sugar, walnut meat, sesame, osmanthus flowers, rose petals, sweetened tangerine peel, bean or jujube paste, used alone or in combination. The salty variety can be filled with mincemeat, certain vegetables or a mixture of both. In either case, the materials are minced and well mixed with some seasonings.
Xiangchang is a finely chopped, seasoned meat, usually pork that is cooked and stuffed into a prepared animal intestine or other casing. After smoked, sausage can be kept for a long time. It can also be made for a delicious dish served on the new years' eve.
When visiting relatives, it's customary for them to offer guests tea, along with a round or octagonal tray filled with a variety of treats, from nuts to sweets. This is known the Tray of Togetherness.
Traditionally, the tray was made of wood, with eight interior dishes of porcelain, but nowadays many people opt for plastic. The tray usually contains an inner set of eight compartments to help keep the goodies separated. Each compartment is filled with a special symbolic food: Candy Melon (growth and good health); Coconut (unity); Kumquat (gold; for prosperity); Longan (many good sons); Lotus Seeds (fertility); Lychee Nut (close family relationships)o Peanuts (longevity); Red Melon Seeds (red; for happiness, joy, honesty and sincerity).
