Flowery flour buns (Huamo)

Flowery flour buns, also called “huamo” or “mianhua” is a kind of flower-shaped steamed bun that is very common in North China. As the name implies, huamo is made with flour. Fermented flour is kneaded into various shapes such as animals, gourds, fruits and flowers, and then steamed and finally colored, and the beautiful colors make them look particularly delightful and appetizing.

Huamo making

Making flowery flour buns (huamo) is a festival tradition in North China. Every festival, holiday, birthday party, or weddings, women use knives, scissors, nippers, and combs to make animals, such as tigers, mice, fish, and birds, and apparatus, such as eyes, noses, and hands, meaning lucky, prosperous, and harvest. Flowery flour buns are normally sweet in taste and served at dinners between the dishes.

Huamo is not only a food, but also an art. The buns are vivid and magnified in shape, thunder-and-lightening in color, rich in local flavor, and delicate and exquisite in taste. The way to make huamo was handed down from generation to generation in Shanxi, Shandong and Shaanxi provinces, and it is a basic skill for women to have. When making a huamo, women concentrate on their artistic creation as they like, letting their abundant imagination gallop freely in the vast artistic world like a young gazelle, and, also like a gazelle, leave behind various works of huamo as they go, each with its own special characteristics.