Though it is very cold during winter in north China, the northern Chinese have the custom of eating frozen sucker, frozen dumplings, and frozen fruits in the freezing days.

Eating frozen sucker in winter. The northeasterners like to eat frozen suckers in winter. Peddlers would hawk around to sell their frozen suckers in the streets during severe winter, and sometimes ice cream, strings of sugarcoated haws, and so on. All people, men and women, old and young, would invariably wear leather coats and leather gloves and enjoy themselves to the frozen suckers. There are generally three reasons for the northeasterners to form the habit: firstly, the good living condition, though it is freezing cold outside, it is quite warm indoors, so people gradually get accustomed to the dramatic change of temperature; secondly, sound physical conditions and tremendous meat eating, great heat stored in the body, so it would not matter much to have a frozen sucker; finally, having frozen sucker in winter would stimulate the appetite and strengthen the constriction of blood vessels, thus accelerate blood circulation, improve health and defer the aging of physiological function.

Frozen dumplings. The northeasterners have kept the custom of eating frozen dumplings in winter, especially during the Spring Festival. They put the dumplings outdoors to get frozen, and then put the frozen ones in a bag. When they’d like to eat the dumplings, they would put them in the boiler to cook. The fire must be strong, and when the water and the dumplings are boiling, add some cold water to the boiler so that the skin of the dumplings would not be softened. The cooked frozen dumplings taste as fresh and savory as newly-made ones.

Frozen fruits. The long winter brings people coldness, but a convenient natural fridge as well. As the fruit produced in northeast China is limited, the northeasterners usually buy fruits from other places in China. The fruits tend to rot during spring and summer, yet keep fresh in winter thanks to the cold temperature. Fruits like frozen pears, frozen persimmons, and frozen apples are as hard as steel balls. People not knowing the case can hardly taste the frozen fruits, but the northeasterners have their knack to enjoy the fruits. They neither use hot water or big fire to defreeze the fruits; instead, they would put them into cold water and soak them for half an hour until a layer of ice appears outside the fruits. By the time the inside has been softened, and just a small bite, you can enjoy the sour, sweet and crisp taste, which is appetite-stimulating.