How to wrap zongzi with dried bamboo leaves

Normally when we make zongzi, we need to use bamboo leaves. If you buy dry bamboo leaves, you can soak them in warm water in advance. The most common bamboo leaves for making zongzi are indigo leaves. Of course, you can also choose reed leaves to wrap zongzi. The method of wrapping zongzi with bamboo leaves is relatively simple. Zongzi wrapped with bamboo leaves also have a fragrant smell. It is a very good leaf for wrapping zongzi and has certain health benefits.

What kind of leaves are best for making zongzi?

1. Indocalamus

The culm is 1-3m high, 0.5-1cm in diameter, with internodes 10-15cm long, glabrous or covered with small prickles when young, and with light brown carpet-like hair rings below the nodes; the sheath is brown-green when fresh, 10-12cm long, with brown prickles adnate in the middle and lower part of the back; the sheath auricles are well developed, extending to both sides, sickle-shaped, and the hairs are mostly brown and wavy; the sheath tongue is truncated or slightly curved, 1-2mm high, with tassel-like brown hairs on the edges; the sheath leaves are erect, long triangular or oblong. The apex is gradually pointed and the base is rounded. The leaves are large, 10-35cm long, 2-5m wide, and slightly hairy on the back.

2. Reed leaves

It is most commonly used in the northern region. The northern reed leaves are fresh and the rice dumplings made from them are fragrant. People in the north can use local materials and they are cheap. The disadvantage is that the leaves are narrow, making it a little more difficult to wrap rice dumplings.

How to wrap zongzi with bamboo leaves

1. Choose 2-3 pieces of zongzi leaves and fold them staggered so that the upper leaves cover half of the lower leaves.

2. Fold the rice leaves into a funnel shape.

3. Put a small amount of glutinous rice in this funnel first, then put a few red dates, and then put some more glutinous rice to cover the red dates.

4. Fold the rice leaves so that they completely cover the glutinous rice. Wrap the rice dumpling 4-5 times with cotton thread and tie a loose knot so that it is easy to untie when eating the rice dumpling.

How to fold Zong leaves

This is very important and affects the final appearance of the finished product. Therefore, no matter what method you use to make zongzi, you must first wrap the zongzi tightly without revealing the stuffing, so as to avoid it falling apart into porridge during the long cooking process, which will make the taste much worse.

Specifically speaking, the way to fold the rice dumplings leaves for long rice dumplings and square rice dumplings is slightly different. Although both of them involve overlapping zong leaves, the angle made by folding the long zong is a right angle, and this angle must be maintained from beginning to end.

The angle of a four-cornered zongzi is less than 90 degrees. The specific angle is not fixed. The one with the smallest angle becomes a conical zongzi. The angle of a long zongzi is a right angle, and this angle is always maintained.