MUZIChinese Matrix
Extruded Noodles · FFET10392
Noodles shaped in a hele press, often made with buckwheat in Guanzhong and white wheat flour in Qingyang.
Noodles made by pressing a dough through the holes of a press so that strands come out of them.
Hele noodles are made by pushing dough through a perforated noodle press, using flours such as buckwheat, oat, sorghum, corn, or bean flour, with wheat flour used in some regional versions. Guanzhong in Shaanxi often uses buckwheat, while Qingyang in Gansu uses white wheat flour and serves the noodles with pork-fat broth, chili and radish, and a diced pork topping. In Longdong, the noodles are also served at celebrations marking a baby's first month, weddings, and funerals.
Hele noodles are shaped with a perforated wooden noodle press. Versions made with buckwheat, oat, sorghum, corn, or bean flour are generally thicker and softer than ordinary noodles; Qingyang also has a version made with white wheat flour.2,5
An older passage records buckwheat soup noodles called helou, but it does not use the name hele and cannot establish when today's noodles originated. The story that the Kangxi emperor renamed them is folklore.1,2,3
Hele noodles are found in Shaanxi, Gansu, Shanxi, Hebei, and Henan. Guanzhong in Shaanxi often uses buckwheat, while Qingyang in eastern Gansu uses white wheat flour, giving the noodles distinct regional forms.2,3
Dough is placed in the hele press and pushed through its holes with a lever, sending the noodles into a pot to cook. In Qingyang, they are served with pork-fat broth, chili and radish, and a diced pork topping, with salted garlic chives and side dishes as accompaniments.2,3
Pressing defines hele noodles: it shapes doughs made from non-wheat flours that are difficult to roll and cut into strands. Some versions use elm-bark flour to help bind the dough.2,3
In Longdong, hele noodles accompany major life events: a baby's first-month celebration, a wedding and a funeral. Locals have a saying that three bowls of hele mark a lifetime.3
A folk tale says that the Kangxi emperor had local snacks recorded and took a liking to helou noodles. Because their name sounded like a leaking riverbank, he supposedly changed its written form to hele. The story is unverified and does not establish how the name originated.
Told in: Told in Shaanxi and Longdong in Gansu; the Qingyang account presents it as a traditional tale.
