Major Snow · FFET10315
Tonic eating at Daxue (Major Snow)
Tonic eating and meat curing for the New Year at Daxue: a Nanjing curing proverb and a Hangzhou meat-curing custom
Snow now abounds, blanketing the winter wheat
At Daxue, people cure meat and hang it under the eaves, and also eat tonic foods. The proverb pairing pickling at Xiaoxue with curing meat at Daxue is a Nanjing saying (recorded in 2017); curing meat at Daxue is also a Hangzhou custom (recorded in 2018). The supplied material contains no reviewed, dated primary text recording tonic eating at Daxue.
What
Daxue customs include tonic eating and meat curing. Tonic foods include mutton with radish or yam, as well as longan and chestnuts. People also cure meat for the New Year; a Hangzhou method uses pork belly or leg, cured and hung to dry. A proverb pairs pickling at Xiaoxue with curing meat at Daxue.1,2,3,4
When
Tonic eating and meat curing are Daxue customs. The supplied material contains no reviewed, dated primary text recording tonic eating at Daxue or the proverb pairing pickling at Xiaoxue with curing meat at Daxue; the proverb appears in modern reports.1,3,5
Where
The proverb pairing pickling at Xiaoxue with curing meat at Daxue is a Nanjing saying (recorded in 2017); curing meat at Daxue is also a Hangzhou custom (recorded in 2018). These 2 places are listed without determining which came first. Many southern households cure meat for the New Year; Chengdu also has a cured-meat street (recorded in 2025).3,4,5
How
Tonic eating: mutton stewed with radish is an example recorded in 2024. Curing: a Hangzhou resident's method, recorded in 2018, involves rubbing pork belly or leg with coarse salt and fried Sichuan pepper, leaving it 10 to 15 days in an unsealed vat, then hanging it to dry in a cool, airy place, with liquor sprayed for long keeping.2,4
Why
Many southern households cure meat for the New Year (recorded in 2017). The proverb pairing pickling at Xiaoxue with curing meat at Daxue links meat curing to Daxue.1,3
Impact and influence
Many southern households cure meat for the New Year.3
No tale about this food has been found.