青团青團
qīng tuán
For Tomb-Sweeping Day, Jiangnan families dye sticky rice dough jade-green with mugwort juice and fill it with sweet bean paste. The grassy fragrance is the taste of early April — eaten cold, as graveside offerings once required.
The story behind it
Qingming is when families sweep ancestral graves and walk in the first green of spring (踏青). Once a cold-food offering — fires were avoided during the festival — qingtuan has become a fashionable spring snack, with Shanghai bakeries queueing for salted-egg-yolk versions every April.
Ingredients
- 250 g glutinous rice flour
- 50 g rice flour
- 150 ml mugwort or spinach juice (blend leaves with hot water, strain)
- 200 g sweet red bean paste
- 1 tbsp oil
Steps
- Knead both flours with the warm green juice and oil into a smooth dough.
- Divide; wrap each piece around a ball of red bean paste and seal.
- Steam on parchment for 12–15 minutes until glossy.
- Brush lightly with oil to keep them shiny; eat warm or at room temperature.