Gongcheng Baba

Gongcheng Baba

　　Gongcheng is home to a wide variety of baba, with over a dozen types available, including water-soaked baba, glutinous rice cake (ciba), taro baba, radish baba, sugar baba, boat-shaped baba, big-bellied baba, pomelo leaf baba, tung tree leaf baba, fried baba, mugwort baba, dog-tongue baba, horn-twist (zongzi), yellow-hairy zongzi, millet flour baba, stamp-patterned baba, steamed sponge cake baba, water rice cake baba, and lamp-dish baba (doudou baba), and so on.

　　The people of Gongcheng have a special fondness for baba. As the saying goes, “Though you may drink oil tea as your meal, don’t forget the baba.” This refers to how many people, even those doing manual labor, often have only oil tea for breakfast without rice, relying on a few baba to stave off hunger. Making and eating baba is also seen as a symbol of celebration. During every festival, every household will surely make and eat baba, and the type of baba varies with each solar term.

　　Making mugwort baba for Qingming Festival: In the fields of Gongcheng, mugwort leaves used for making baba are readily available. These mugwort leaves are similar to those used during the Dragon Boat Festival to ward off evil, but they lack the hard and tall stems, resulting in baba that is completely fiber-free, entirely green, and crystal-clear in appearance. When eaten, they give off the unique fragrance of mugwort. Gongcheng locals make mugwort baba both to honor their ancestors and to use this medicinal wild vegetable to cool the body, detoxify, prevent illness, and strengthen health. Additionally, making mugwort baba brings family members together, enhancing familial bonds.

　　Making zongzi baba for Dragon Boat Festival: Gongcheng locals refer to zongzi as yellow-hairy zongzi because the material used to tie them is a local grass called yellow-hairy leaf. Gongcheng’s yellow-hairy zongzi are quite large, differing significantly from those made in places like Nanning and Liuzhou, typically measuring about 10 cm in diameter and 30–40 cm in length. Made purely of sticky rice, these zongzi are usually steamed and then cut horizontally into slices about 1 cm thick, served with ginger syrup — a truly unique flavor. Yellow-hairy zongzi also serve another purpose: young men often take them as gifts (“lièjié,” or presenting seasonal gifts) to their future parents-in-law.

　　Making dog-tongue baba for Ghost Festival (July 15): On the 14th day of the seventh lunar month, or from the 7th to the 14th, Gongcheng residents solemnly honor their ancestors. During this time, every household “invites” the spirits of their ancestors home for worship, and one of the main foods offered is dog-tongue baba. Named for its resemblance to a dog’s tongue, it is usually made by grinding sticky rice into powder, mixing it with brown sugar and water to form dough balls shaped like dog tongues, then coating them with black sesame powder, wrapping them individually in baba leaves, and steaming them in a large pot. A notable feature of dog-tongue baba is that it doesn’t spoil easily even in the high heat of July.

　　Making big-bellied baba for Mid-Autumn Festival: Big-bellied baba can be described as a “super-sized tangyuan (sweet dumpling),” as its preparation and eating method are very similar. The difference lies in the fact that big-bellied baba is several times, even ten times, larger than a regular tangyuan, and the fillings are much richer, often including local mountain produce and specialties of Gongcheng such as fragrant mushrooms, wood ear fungus, dried yellow bamboo shoots, and betel palm yams. The Mid-Autumn Festival in China emphasizes reunion under the full moon. The scene of a family gathering together to enjoy two or three big-bellied baba is certainly no less heartwarming than families eating tangyuan together during the Lantern Festival.

　　In addition, Gongcheng locals also make horn-twist mini zongzi, pine cake baba, cooked flour baba, water-soaked baba, en baba, radish baba, qianzi baba, taro baba, sugar baba, and cage baba (New Year cake) during other festivals such as the Spring Equinox, June 6, Winter Solstice, Little New Year, and Chinese New Year. With the continuous development of tourism in Gongcheng, baba—this distinctive snack of Gongcheng—along with Gongcheng oil tea, has gradually gained worldwide recognition and become a must-try delicacy for visitors to Gongcheng.