Dragon Boat Festival is celebrated every year on the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar, and in 2022 it will be on Friday 3 June of the solar calendar. The main food for the Dragon Boat Festival is zongzi.
Zongzi are delicious, but there are actually a lot of things to pay attention to when eating zongzi, and if you don’t eat them the right way, it can directly affect your health! So, what should I pay attention to when eating zongzi? Here are some things you need to pay attention to when eating zongzi at the Dragon Boat Festival.
1. Don’t buy zongzi leaves that are too bright green
Normal rice dumpling leaves will turn brown or dark green when heated. If you see some brightly coloured, bright green looking zongzi in the market, think twice before buying them, as they may be “green zongzi”! In recent years, some shady merchants have used chemical pigments to soak the dumplings in order to make them look prettier, so that the original colour of the dumplings will disappear and turn green. The result is that the original colour of the leaves is usually dark and yellow, while the ‘re-greened’ leaves are a uniform lime green with a bright surface. However, ‘re-greened’ dumpling leaves do not have the distinctive flavour of the original colour.
2. Do not eat rice dumplings on an empty stomach or before going to bed
Made from glutinous rice, rice dumplings are very sticky, contain a lot of fat, salt and sugar, and stay in the stomach for a long time as they lack fibre and are not easily digested. If you eat dumplings on an empty stomach or just before going to bed, they will stimulate the secretion of stomach acid and may lead to a recurrence of chronic gastritis or oesophagitis, or indigestion.
3. Don’t eat them if they are not cooked
The main ingredient of rice dumplings is glutinous rice, which must be cooked slowly over low heat to be truly cooked. If the rice dumplings are not steamed, not only do they taste bad, but the uncooked glutinous rice is also extremely difficult to digest, putting a serious burden on the stomach and intestines; at the same time, rice dumpling fillings are made from perishable ingredients and uncooked rice dumplings can cause gastroenteritis or food poisoning
4. Don’t gobble
It’s a pleasure to open the leaves and gorge yourself on fragrant rice dumplings! But if you eat too quickly, it can cause gastrointestinal distress. However, if you eat too quickly, it will not only cause indigestion, but also choking! The elderly and children with poor digestion are particularly at risk.
5. Do not eat dumplings with cold drinks.
Glutinous rice is not easy to digest and the dumplings themselves are already greasy, so it is best to eat them with tea, soup or other refreshing dishes (such as cold bitter gourd or stir-fried bok choy with mushrooms), but never with cold drinks. Glutinous rice tends to solidify when cold, making it less digestible and causing a stagnant feeling at the same time. Therefore, the best way to eat it is to chew it slowly and serve it with a clear soup (winter melon soup, bamboo shoot soup, loofah soup, etc.) to help with swallowing and digestion. Drinking a cup of tea (pu-erh tea, chrysanthemum tea, hawthorn tea, etc.) after eating it reduces the feeling of greasiness and is also good for your health.
6. Don’t eat more than two a day
Don’t eat too many dumplings a day as this can lead to indigestion and bloating. The ideal portion size is half or one, and if you overeat, try not to have more than two! If you accidentally overeat and experience bloating, you should increase your exercise to stimulate bowel movement and combine it with fibre-rich vegetables and fruits to aid digestion, such as string beans, mangoes and lotus seeds.
7. Don’t eat rice dumplings that have been left out for too long
Fresh dumplings made at home or bought from a small shop have an extremely short shelf life, so it is best to eat them the same day, or if you can’t finish them, put them in the fridge and eat them within 4 days. Therefore, if there are sticky threads on top of the dumplings when you peel them open, they may not be fresh for a long time and should not be eaten! Frozen and vacuum-packed rice dumplings sold in supermarkets can be kept for a longer period of time and can be consumed as long as they are within the shelf life of their labels.
8. Don’t reheat rice dumplings repeatedly
The healthiest way to eat rice dumplings is freshly wrapped, steamed and ready to eat! If the rice dumplings are refrigerated and heated too many times, both the glutinous rice and the filling are prone to spoilage, which may lead to stomach upset or food poisoning. Therefore, it is best to pack the right amount of rice dumplings at a time and not too many to avoid wastage!
