Chinese walnut cookies, are popular and symbolically important sou (roughly translated to as "shortbread," rather than "cookies"), that are traditionally served to visitors during

Chinese New Year Chinese New Year, or the Spring Festival (see also #Names, § Names), is a festival that celebrates the beginning of a New Year, new year on the traditional lunisolar calendar, lunisolar Chinese calendar. It is one of the most important holi ...

celebrations.

Symbolism

Walnuts are believed to be good for lung function and relieve lung and circulation symptoms. In the new year, eating walnuts is symbolic of ensuring happiness in the coming year. Hup toh soh is traditionally served to visitors during

celebrations.

History

According to legend, at the beginning of the Tang dynasty, peasants from the surrounding counties of

Jingdezhen Jingdezhen is a prefecture-level city in eastern Jiangxi province with a total population of 1,669,057 (2018), bordering Anhui to the north. It is known as the "Porcelain Capital" because it has been producing Chinese ceramics for at least 1,0 ...

such as

Leping Leping () is a county-level city in the northeast of Jiangxi province, China. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Jingdezhen Jingdezhen is a prefecture-level city in eastern Jiangxi province with a total population ...

Guixi Guixi () is a county-level city under the jurisdiction of the prefecture-level city of Yingtan, Jiangxi Province, China, bordering Fujian Province to the southeast. The city covers two-thirds of the land area in the municipal region. Like Yuehu ...

and

Yingtan Yingtan ( zh, s=鹰潭 , t=鷹潭 , p=Yīngtán, l=Eagle Pond) is a prefecture-level city in the east of Jiangxi province, People's Republic of China, bordering Fujian to the southeast. Its location near the trisection of Jiangxi, Fujian, and Zhe ...

went to be potters, and due to the busy work schedule at that time, a peasant from Leping would bring his flour and mix it and put it directly on the surface of the kiln for baking, and since he had a cough all the time, he used to eat walnut to stop his cough, so he would add crushed walnut when baking. Other porcelain workers see this method as the dry food for daily preservation and long-distance transport of

porcelain Porcelain (), also called china, is a ceramic material made by heating Industrial mineral, raw materials, generally including kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The greater strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to oth ...

when eating, they have followed suit and named it " walnut cookie", which is the origin of the walnut cookies. With the transport of porcelain, a walnut cookies in transit one by one left a footprint, loved by the local people, and on its original basis with some local specialties, to the

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...

, Tianbao years, walnut cookie production process mature, better taste, was transmitted to the palace, became a common snack at the palace, after being called the "Palace walnut cookie". In the

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...

, there were two chief ministers in

Jiangxi ; Gan: ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = , translit_lang1_type3 = , translit_lang1_info3 = , image_map = Jiangxi in China (+all claims hatched).svg , mapsize = 275px , map_caption = Location ...

, Xia Yan and Yan Song, one is loyal and the other is traitorous, Yan Song was promoted by Xia Yan, but Xia Yan was framed by Yan Song and died. Some of Xia Yan's descendants fled to Shangqing Guazhou Village, and some of them lived in Longtou Mountain passing the way of making walnut cookies down from generation to generation.

Characteristics

A walnut cookie is a special snack for both the North and the South, famous for its dry, crispy, crunchy and sweet characteristics.

Nutrition

It contains

carbohydrate A carbohydrate () is a biomolecule composed of carbon (C), hydrogen (H), and oxygen (O) atoms. The typical hydrogen-to-oxygen atomic ratio is 2:1, analogous to that of water, and is represented by the empirical formula (where ''m'' and ''n'' ...

s, protein, fat, vitamins, and minerals such as

calcium Calcium is a chemical element; it has symbol Ca and atomic number 20. As an alkaline earth metal, calcium is a reactive metal that forms a dark oxide-nitride layer when exposed to air. Its physical and chemical properties are most similar to it ...

potassium Potassium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol K (from Neo-Latin ) and atomic number19. It is a silvery white metal that is soft enough to easily cut with a knife. Potassium metal reacts rapidly with atmospheric oxygen to ...

phosphorus Phosphorus is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol P and atomic number 15. All elemental forms of phosphorus are highly Reactivity (chemistry), reactive and are therefore never found in nature. They can nevertheless be prepared ar ...

sodium Sodium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Na (from Neo-Latin ) and atomic number 11. It is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive metal. Sodium is an alkali metal, being in group 1 element, group 1 of the peri ...

magnesium Magnesium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Mg and atomic number 12. It is a shiny gray metal having a low density, low melting point and high chemical reactivity. Like the other alkaline earth metals (group 2 ...

, and

selenium Selenium is a chemical element; it has symbol (chemistry), symbol Se and atomic number 34. It has various physical appearances, including a brick-red powder, a vitreous black solid, and a grey metallic-looking form. It seldom occurs in this elem ...

. Chinese walnut cookie is a high-sugar and high-fat food, long-term consumption will induce

obesity Obesity is a medical condition, considered by multiple organizations to be a disease, in which excess Adipose tissue, body fat has accumulated to such an extent that it can potentially have negative effects on health. People are classifi ...

cardiovascular disease Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is any disease involving the heart or blood vessels. CVDs constitute a class of diseases that includes: coronary artery diseases (e.g. angina, heart attack), heart failure, hypertensive heart disease, rheumati ...

and other threats to human health.

References

{{Reflist Chinese New Year foods Cookies Walnut desserts Chinese confectionery

Symbolism

History

Characteristics

Nutrition

See also

References