Shagang Rice Noodles

Shagang Rice Noodles

　　Shagang is located in a vast sandy area in the middle reaches of the Nanxi River, to the northwest of Fenglin Town. The sandy land here includes villages such as Xinfang, Huolu, Zhaotan, Dong’anzhuang, and Xujiawan, collectively referred to as Shagang. Making rice noodles has been a traditional household sideline for over eight hundred years. Generation after generation of Shagang residents carried their self-produced rice noodles from village to village. While earning meager income or food to support their families, they also helped spread the fame of Shagang rice noodles across Wenzhou. The noodles are beloved by locals in the Nanxi region for being as fine as silk thread, snow-white, soft yet tough, quick to cook and hard to over-boil, yielding clear broth without cloudiness, absorbing flavors well when cooked, and offering a delicious taste.

　　 　　There are many reasons why Shagang rice noodles have such unique qualities. In addition to using premium quality white rice (with about 60 kilograms of rice milled from every 100 kilograms of paddy), the production process also differs from other methods—for example, replacing dry grinding with wet grinding, steaming the rice paste with boiling it (forming large rice balls known as “rice dough balls,” which are boiled in rolling water), and using high-quality water. When the rice paste is half-cooked, instead of pounding it in a mortar, it is repeatedly kneaded with a water-powered pestle until fully refined. As a result, the rice dough becomes sticky and tough, and the noodles that are pressed out are as fine as silk threads.