Soft and sweet, glutinous rice cakes are a necessity for the Spring Festival among residents in Hudai County, Wuxi, Jiangsu province. Although urbanization has brought many modern things to farmers, buildings for example, the traditional custom of making rice cakes for the Lunar New Year still exists. Snack stores and specialty rice cake shops from all over the county are busy making steamy mouth-watering rice cakes, adding to the festive atmosphere.

Two Generations of Professional Rice Cake Makers Busy Working Everyday

The Xus make white sugar cakes. [Photo provided to China Daily]

At No.89, South Bank, Mr. Xu Yongquan and his son, two professional rice cake makers, are working together. Xu is responsible for mixing the flour and ingredients, and his son for kneading and cutting the dough.

It takes about 20 minutes for them to make a rice cake, and the steps are as follows: first, mix the ingredients with the glutinous rice flour; second, steam the mixture for 15 minutes, knead it until it becomes pliable, then pound and stretch it; third, use a thread to cut the long dough into bars. That’s how a bar-like rice cake is made. Freshly prepared cakes are soft, sweet, and smell delicious.

There are a variety of rice cakes available, such as white sugar cakes, brown sugar cakes, osmanthus flower cakes, green cakes and pumpkin cakes. "As our lives become more enriched, we have more options and greater access to ingredients, even walnuts and red dates are used. You know, in the past they were unaffordable, so we only used common fillings such as white or brown sugar," said Mrs. Wang Zhiqin, Xu's wife.

What makes a rice cake so tasty is not only the high-quality flour or ingredients, but also the technique. Kneading is the key. One needs to knead the dough with strength, or it will not become pliable and the cakes would therefore be less chewy. The Xu family has been making rice cakes for over 30 years. At first, it was Xu who kneaded the flour. As he got older, the technique was passed on to his son. Xu’s rice cakes are famous for their chewiness, attracting nearby residents and even customers from distant places like Helie and Meiyuan.

According to Xu, they make 30 to 40 batches of rice cakes with nearly a thousand jin (about 500 kg) of flour. Each batch is finished in about 20 minutes. "We start working at 7:00 a.m. and finish at 6:00 to 7:00 p.m., every day from January 1st to the Eve of the Lunar New Year."