As the year comes to an end, we usher in the 22nd solar term - the Winter Solstice, which is the day with the shortest daytime and the longest nighttime, marking the beginning of the coldest time of a year.

Chinese have always been attaching so much importance to Winter Solstice that it is regarded as a festival in many places since ancient times. Winter Solstice heralds the coming of the new year, and people who work outside begin to go home to prepare for the new year, so there is also a saying "Winter Solstice is as important as the new year". Therefore, the Winter Solstice is a good day for family reunion, to eat something hot. Now, let's see what do Yunnan people eat during the Winter Solstice?

Lijiang Cured Pork Ribs Hot Pot

Lijiang Cured Pork Ribs Hot Pot is one of Lijiang's traditional delicacies. It uses pork ribs marinated in local methods, stewed in a casserole with tomatoes, bean sprouts, radish and other seasonal vegetables, and seasoned with local dipping sauces. The soup is thick and delicious, and the meat is tender. The salty aroma of the cured pork ribs, the crisp and sweet taste of the seasonal vegetables, the delicious thick soup... one by one, the umami flavor is accompanied by the salty taste, leaving a fragrance on the tongue, which can be called the most warming and mouthwatering meal in winter.

Baoshan Beef Hot Pot

As early as the Tang Dynasty, Tengchong caravans shuttled between Yunnan and Xizang along the Tea Horse Road. The difficult living conditions gave birth to a unique caravan food culture. The caravan dishes are rough and simple, and the beef hot pot is a very typical one.

The cooking utensil used in the beef hot pot is a ladle made of copper. This copper ladle heats faster and more evenly than an iron pot, and the cooked beef is more delicious and tender. The beef is also very particular. The best and most authentic beef should be selected from strong cattle. The meat is firm and elastic, with the soup is both fat and lean. The beef hot pot is red in color. Having such a pot in the cold season can always make people warmer.

Steam Pot Chicken

As early as the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, steam pot chicken was popular in southern Yunnan. The use of the steam pot retains chicken’s original flavor. After being boiled with stock, the soup is thick and mellow. It doesn't taste as greasy as usual chicken soup, but has a hint of fragrance. The chicken is stewed until it becomes crispy and melts in mouth. When combined with various Yunnan specialty mushrooms, it is simply delicious beyond words.

Pickled Chinese Cabbage with Pork Trotter Hotpot

If we talk about Fuyuan in Qujing, the first thing that comes to mind is pickled Chinese cabbage with pork trotter hotpot. Pickled Chinese cabbage is an essential raw material for the pot, cooked with other spices like red beans, green onions, ginger, spices, dried chilies and seasonings. It can be paired with common hot pot dishes as well. The whole pot is bright in color, the pickled Chinese cabbage is refreshing, and the pig's trotters are soft and fat, which can be dissolved by pickled Chinese cabbage. Paired with a bowl of rice, the dish is the best comfort in winter.

Lamb Soup Pot

The lamb soup pot uses 40 to 50 kilograms of fat black goats. After slaughtering, the sheep blood, haggis, and mutton are all cut into pieces and cooked in one pot. The meat is stewed until it is crispy but not rotten. The color of the soup is milky white, neither smelly nor fishy, and it is thick and delicious. In autumn and winter, stewing lamb soup pot, eating meat and drinking soup will make your whole body feel warm and comfortable. The warmth will instantly spread all over your body, like a fire igniting your cold limbs, making you feel warm.

Tengchong Hotpot in Earthenware

The hotpot in earthenware of Tengchong has a history of hundreds of years. This dish uses base ingredients such as green vegetables, taro, crispy pork, yellow bamboo shoots, etc., adds bone soup, and cooks it in Tengchong's unique "earthenware pot". It is cooked slowly for several hours over low heat. Once the heat is reached, the mellow fragrance spreads out of the pot. Tengchong's "earthenware pot" uses locally fired earthenware pots. Cooking in this kind of earthenware pot not only has a beautiful appearance, but also can absorb the aroma of the raw materials and maintain the original taste.

When the pot is opened, the warm comes.

Today is the Winter Solstice,

may you not be afraid of the severe cold and accumulate energy.

Together we will

welcome the coming spring.

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(Editors: Amy, Ines)