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From the making method included in Customs Record, the main ingredient of Zongzi is broomcorn millet, and the only auxiliary filling is millet. But after many years of evolution in the deft hands of Chinese people who are particular for fine foods, the present Zongzi has changed a lot both in shape and in fillings.

Zongzi can be made three or four angle coned, pillow shaped, small dagoba shaped, cylinder shaped, etc. The wrapper of Zongzi is different in various places. In the south, as bamboo is abundant, the local people pick bamboo leaves to wrap Zongzi. People like to use fresh bamboo leaves as it can produce a kind of sweet scent after being cooked. In the north, people used to wrap Zongzi with reed leaves. The blade of reed leaves is thin and long, so two or three leaves would be used together for wrapping up one piece of Zongzi. The sizes of Zongzi are much different too, some large ones can be as heavy as one or two kilos, while the small ones can be as short as two inches.

As far as the flavor is concerned, the fillings of Zongzi can be meat or vegetables, sweet or salty. Zongzi in the north mainly tastes sweet, while that in the south tastes salty. The fillings can most effectively display the local features.

Zongzi in Beijing can be roughly classified into three sorts: One, the white Zongzi purely made of glutinous rice, served with sugar. Two, small date Zongzi, the fillings are mainly small dates and preserved fruits. Three, sweet bean paste, but it is rare to see. There is another Zongzi in north China, which use yellow millet instead of glutinous rice, with red date as fillings. After cooked, it looks golden yellow with red dates inserted into glutinous millet, with a beautiful name of “gold packs agates”.

The typical Huzhou Zongzi in Zhejiang province is soft and delicious, with salty and sweet varieties. The salty Zongzi uses fresh pork soaked in top soy sauce, with one piece of fatty and one piece of lean pork as part of fillings. The sweet Zongzi uses date paste and bean paste as its fillings, with a layer of pork fat on the top. After cooking, the pork fat will sink into the bean paste, making it much delicious and smooth. The Zongzi produced by Wufangzhai in Jiaxing City is particularly well known, with fillings carefully screened out, including Babao Zongzi, Chicken Meat Zongzi, Bean Paste Zongzi, Fresh Meat Zongzi, etc.

(Source: bjchinese.bjedu.cn)