The zongzi, or rice dumplings wrapped in leaves of my childhood, had the fragrance of jasmine flowers. In search for that unique taste, I went to the undisputed home of the best zongzi.

Growing up in northern China, I thought that rice dumplings wrapped in leaves were sweet, with dried Chinese red date or red bean paste fillings. Even without any filling, they could be enjoyed with refined white sugar, or sliced by thread and enjoyed with honey. They were fragrant and sweet and tasted crisp, with a smooth finish. After my family moved to southern China and had the experience of living here, I began to realize that rice dumplings wrapped in leaves can be salty, too, because they can be filled with darkened and greasy salted duck eggs, braised pork, or barbecued roast pork.

I was not accustomed to the taste, nor did I like it at the beginning. It has bothered me for years, since people from southern China prefer sweet food and people from northern China prefer salty food in general, so it was strange that when it comes to rice dumplings wrapped in leaves, they had opposite traditions. Now I finally have a convincing answer—people in northern China are stubborn and obstinate!

Rice dumplings wrapped in leaves were originally from southern China and used to be sweet. People in northern China accepted it as time went by and continued to make them with sweet fillings. Unexpectedly, people in southern China changed their dumplings from sweet to savory, but this never caught on in northern China. Although people in northern China like savory food, they have kept the habit of eating sweet rice dumplings wrapped in leaves.

The second year I came to Guangxi, one of my friends sent me some local rice dumplings wrapped in leaves, salty and with meat. I did not ask my friend where they were from, but did think that they seemed to taste different from those I ate in Guangdong and Hainan. Besides the taste they should have, they had a natural fragrant taste. This year, seeing that the dragon boat festival is coming, I asked my colleagues and friends about the best rice dumplings wrapped in leaves, they told me with one voice, "Those made in Hengxian County are very famous and tasty as well."

After driving more than 100km from Nanning, we reached Hengxian County, "the county of jasmine flowers," and a packinghouse called "Sister Jin" which we had contacted beforehand. The packinghouse was not big, and argy wormwood leaves and some unknown plants were being sunned in the middle. Ms. Xuan, a smart, neat, positive and talkative woman, the head of the packinghouse, received us. We asked her whether there was a secret recipe handed down from generation to generation that made the rice dumplings wrapped in leaves so tasty. Ms. Xuan told us that making rice dumplings wrapped in leaves was actually very easy, and everyone could do it; that there was no secret recipe at all, but rather integrity of sticking to the old methods.

Plants used to make plant ash. Lemongrass, argy wormwood leaves, mulberry leaves, beggars ticks and jasmine leaves and flowers. Photo by Huo Yan

 

Filtering plant ash with spring water. Photo by Huo Yan

Water made with plant ash is as bright and clean as rape oil. Rice dumplings wrapped in leaves made of glutinous rice that has been soaked in such water taste unique.

Ms. Xuan said that their rice dumplings wrapped in leaves are different from the ordinary ones because the glutinous rice is soaked in plant ash water. The plant ash is made from burning lemongrass, argy wormwood leaves, mulberry leaves, beggars ticks and jasmine leaves and flowers.