Huangguan Cured Meat

Huangguan Cured Meat

　　Huangguan cured meat is a specialty of Huangguan Town, Nanzheng County, Hanzhong City, Shaanxi Province. When cooked and sliced, Huangguan cured meat from Nanzheng is transparent and glossy, with vibrant colors—yellow tinged with red. It has a rich, mellow flavor that is not greasy in the fat or tough in the lean. As the saying goes, “When one family cooks this meat, a hundred households enjoy the aroma.” The meat is smoked with cypress branches, which keeps mosquitoes and flies away even in summer and prevents spoilage during the hottest days of the year.

　　The Fuming Salted Vegetable and Cured Meat Processing Plant in Huangguan Town, Nanzheng County, was established in 1998. With successive investments totaling 1 million yuan, it now has the capacity to process 15 tons of salted vegetables and 5 tons of cured meat annually.

　　Cured meat is a specialty of the Qinba region. As early as 2,000 years ago, when Zhang Lu, who styled himself the King of Hanning, was defeated and retreated southward to Bazhong, he passed through Huangguan and Hongmiaotang in Hanzhong. The people of Huangguan served him top-quality cured meat. Another legend says that Empress Dowager Cixi, during the 26th year of the Guangxu reign of the Qing Dynasty, praised it highly after tasting it. The traditional practice of making Huangguan cured meat is not only long-standing but also widespread. The “Hanyin County Annals” recorded that “even in humble thatched cottages, meat is always part of the meal.” When the lunar New Year approaches, families slaughter their pigs, mix in spices, and cure the meat in vats for seven to fifteen days. It is then hung above the stove or hearth and smoked slowly with cypress branches and wheat chaff. From fresh meat to processed product and storage, the cured meat retains its texture and enduring fragrance, and it can be preserved for a long time without spoiling. Smoked with cypress branches, the cured meat repels mosquitoes and flies in summer and stays unspoiled even during the dog days. It has become a uniquely flavorful local delicacy that is deeply loved by the public and has emerged as a distinctive regional tourism product of southern Shaanxi.