Spring Flavors Delight at Qingming Festival with Creative Snacks

As the Qingming Festival approaches, a cherished seasonal snack is making its way back to the table – this time crafted by skilled hands into exquisite, visually stunning creations that are nearly too beautiful to eat.

In a small food workshop in Jinhua, located in east China's Zhejiang Province, Wang Lijuan is a recognized inheritor of the traditional craft of making Qingming Guo, a seasonal snack made from glutinous rice combined with mugwort or wormwood paste.

At the workshop, Wang and her partners mold batches of green dumplings to keep pace with the steady flow of orders. Each dumpling embodies a touch of spring and the warmth of an age-old tradition.

Instead of adhering to the simple shapes typically associated with the snack, Wang has infused new ideas into the craft by combining traditional techniques with innovative creativity.

She uses natural ingredients like mugwort, purple sweet potato, and dragon fruit to color and flavor the dough, steering clear of artificial additives to ensure that each hue is derived straight from nature.

The dumplings are then carefully shaped by hand into delicate forms inspired by spring – peach blossoms, winter jasmine, and swallows – transforming the humble treat into something that resembles edible art.