The Fragrance of Zongzi at the Dragon Boat Festival

Prepare the bamboo leaves and rinse them clean, then put them in a pot to boil for 20 to 30 minutes. Remove them and rinse thoroughly again. Wash the glutinous rice and soak it in purified water for 2 hours. You can use string or bamboo leaf string (I only thought to take a picture after the zongzi was half wrapped).

Wrap each zongzi individually (trim the excess bamboo leaves to make it complete and beautiful), and place 1 to 2 dates according to preference. This time, I put only 1 date in each zongzi (my family doesn't like to eat too many dates).

Place the zongzi one by one in the stew pot.

Add cold water to the pot through the gap, making sure the water covers the zongzi (if there is not enough water, you can add hot water midway).

After the water boils, turn to medium-low heat and cook for 1 hour, then turn off the heat.

Take out the zongzi and arrange them on a plate; the zongzi should look beautiful, complete, and without any missing rice.

The brown leaves I bought are vacuum compressed and are greener in color than dried brown leaves (the areca nuts can be soaked in fresh water on the day of consumption, and can also be stored in the refrigerator or freezer).

Peeled 4 zongzi, and when cut open they were sticky and sweet. Because they were wrapped small, putting in one piece was just right.