Ciba (; pinyin: cíbā; "ba" means cake), also known as nianba ("nian" means New Year), is a

traditional A tradition is a system of beliefs or behaviors (folk custom) passed down within a group of people or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examp ...

Chinese snack made of

glutinous rice Domestication syndrome refers to two sets of phenotypic traits that are common to either domesticated plants or domesticated animals. Domesticated animals tend to be smaller and less aggressive than their wild counterparts; they may also hav ...

pounded into paste. It is often molded into shapes of balls or cuboids. Ciba is often fried or steamed before being served.

Popularity

Ciba is mostly popular in southern China areas including

Chongqing ChongqingPostal Romanization, Previously romanized as Chungking ();. is a direct-administered municipality in Southwestern China. Chongqing is one of the four direct-administered municipalities under the State Council of the People's Republi ...

municipality,

Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

province,

Guangxi Guangxi,; officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam (Hà Giang Province, Hà Giang, Cao Bằn ...

Zhuang autonomous region,

Guizhou ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = , image_map = Guizhou in China (+all claims hatched).svg , mapsize = 275px , map_alt = Map showing the location of Guizhou Province , map_caption = Map s ...

province,

Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...

province,

Hunan Hunan is an inland Provinces of China, province in Central China. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the Administrative divisions of China, province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to the east, Gu ...

province and

Hubei Hubei is a province of China, province in Central China. It has the List of Chinese provincial-level divisions by GDP, seventh-largest economy among Chinese provinces, the second-largest within Central China, and the third-largest among inland ...

province. There is also similar food in Vietnam, Japan, Korea and other countries, but preparation and eating methods are slightly different.

How to eat

People usually dip ciba in brown sugar syrup and roasted soybean flour before eating. Eating methods vary depending on different regions and cultures. In

municipality, people like to order ciba as a snack when they eat Chongqing hot pot.

When to eat

Traditionally, ciba is often served at Chinese festivals, especially Spring Festival. People also eat Ciba during family celebrations to share their joy and delight of festival.

Significance

Ciba is glutinous and sticky, embodying Chinese people's attitude on kinship and friendship to stay close to each other. Some ciba cakes are round, meaning reunion in Chinese. During festivals, people usually make many ciba cakes, which requires the cooperation of many people from a big family or several families. Therefore, ciba cakes often represent family reunion and good luck at New Year.

Special activity – pounding cibai

Traditionally, people put cooked glutinous rice into a wooden or stone mortar and use large wooden pestles to pound. People use wooden or stone materials because glutinous rice will not stick to them. Usually, two people take turns to use large wooden pestles to pound rice in the mortar for around 30 minutes, and they add some water in mortar occasionally. People will then shape glutinous rice by hand and cook it. In places such as Ciqikou in

municipality, there are still people pounding Cibai in street shops.

Common ingredients

Basic ingredients *

Water Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...

Glutinous rice Domestication syndrome refers to two sets of phenotypic traits that are common to either domesticated plants or domesticated animals. Domesticated animals tend to be smaller and less aggressive than their wild counterparts; they may also hav ...

flour People can also add *

Peanut The peanut (''Arachis hypogaea''), also known as the groundnut, goober (US), goober pea, pindar (US) or monkey nut (UK), is a legume crop grown mainly for its edible seeds. It is widely grown in the tropics and subtropics by small and large ...

Sesame seeds Sesame (; ''Sesamum indicum'') is a plant in the genus ''Sesamum'', also called benne. Numerous wild relatives occur in Africa and a smaller number in India. It is widely naturalized in tropical regions around the world and is cultivated for it ...

Sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...

Brown sugar Brown sugar is a sucrose sugar product with a distinctive brown color due to the presence of molasses. It is either an unrefined or partially refined soft sugar consisting of sugar crystals with some residual molasses content or produced by t ...

* ''

Osmanthus fragrans ''Osmanthus fragrans'' (), variously known as sweet osmanthus, sweet olive, tea olive, and fragrant olive, is a flowering plant species native to Asia from the Himalayas through the provinces of Guizhou, Sichuan and Yunnan in China, Taiwan, souther ...

'' (桂花) *

Honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several species of bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of pl ...

Gallery

File:Ciba（In Chengdu）.jpg, The most common type of Ciba found on the streets of Chengdu

Related dishes

Bánh giầy (often be mistaken as , or ) is a Vietnamese traditional cake. is a white, flat, and round glutinous rice, glutinous rice cake. They are wrapped in cut pieces of banana leaves. They are usually served with a type of Vietnamese sausage . can ...

Mochi A mochi ( ; Japanese ) is a Japanese rice cake made of , a short-grain Japonica rice, japonica glutinous rice, and sometimes other ingredients such as water, sugar, and cornstarch. The steamed rice is pounded into paste and molded into the ...

Mochi ice cream Mochi ice cream is a confection made from Japanese mochi (pounded sticky rice) with an ice cream filling. It was invented by Japanese-American businesswoman and community activist Frances Hashimoto with help from her husband, Joel. Description ...

Rice cake A rice cake may be any kind of food item made from rice that has been shaped, condensed, or otherwise combined into a single object. A wide variety of rice cakes exist in many different cultures in which rice is eaten. Common variations include ...

Gyeongdan ''Gyeongdan'' () or Korean rice ball cake is a type of ''tteok'' (rice cake) made of glutinous rice or other glutinous cereal flours. When the cereal other than rice is used, its name is usually specified, making compound nouns such as ''susugye ...

Osmanthus cake Osmanthus cake () is a traditional sweet-scented Chinese pastry made with glutinous rice flour, honey, sweet osmanthus and rock sugar. It has crystal-clear appearance and a soft, slightly waxy texture. History Sweet-scented osmanthus cake ori ...

Qingtuan ''Qīngtuán'' (), also written as ''Tsingtuan'', is a green-colored dumpling originating from Jiangnan and common throughout China. It is made of glutinous rice mixed with Chinese mugwort or barley grass. It is usually filled with sweet red o ...

References

{{Reflist
Pounding Ciba

Hunan Ciba

External links

* "Hand-made Ciba

* "All you need to know about Ciba

Chinese cuisine Rice cakes