BEIJING, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- According to Chinese 24 solar terms, snow becomes heavy and begins to accumulate on the ground after the Major Snow, the third solar term in winter, coming right up this Thursday.
As temperature continues to drop, it is also the time for local people in Zaozhuang City of east China's Shandong Province to start their “winter nourishment” with a bowl of hot and steaming mutton soup.
Walking into the Daobei mutton soup restaurant in Shizhong District, winter cold is brushed away with a large bowl of mutton soup that normally accompanied by a large Shaobing (baked cake in griddle), a plate of hot mutton as well as a dazzle of chili and coriander. Crediting its fresh taste, tender meat, and unique flavor, Zaozhuang mutton soup is known as the "number one soup in southern Shandong".
The custom of having mutton soup for winter nourishment passed on as Chinese medical theories hold that mutton is warm and could tonify liver, nourish blood, disperse cold and strengthen the body.
In Zaozhuang particularly, the culture of mutton soup is deeply ingrained in people's hearts.
It is noted that In a recent assessment, the Longshan Road mutton soup intangible cultural heritage workshop was selected as the second batch of "Shandong Handmade" district-level intangible cultural heritage workshops in Shizhong District of Zaozhuang. (Edited by Niu Huizhe with Xinhua Silk Road, niuhuizhe@xinhua.org)
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