For many people in Hangzhou, it is a sweet, hot Laba porridge that signals the beginning of a lunar New Year.

The porridge cooking was officially initiated on Dec. 31 at Lingyin Temple in the morning. The steaming pot will continue to work until the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month (Jan. 7), in which the porridge will remain on the stove, 24/7.

The recipe for Laba porridge, and its flavor as well, remains unchanged. The porridge is mixed with 12 quality ingredients, i.e. peanut, red bean, lotus seed, longan, red date, candied date, kidney bean, ginkgo nut, glutinous rice, rice, osmanthus flower, and white sugar. It takes about three and a half hours to prepare it. Once water boils, the ingredients must be added one by one. Each of the ingredients must be fiercely cooked for 5 minutes first, and then simmered, while the chef has to keep a stirring move to prevent sticking. Some sweet osmanthus flowers will be added as icing on the cake.

As there is no preservative in Laba porridge, we strongly suggest you to try it on the same day when it is made. Don’t risk heating a porridge still coated with its aluminum foil in a microwave oven.

The porridge is citywide welcomed. Hangzhou Daily, like what the newspaper did last year, will offer Laba porridge to its readers and laborers as a charity. Want to join it? Click open a phone app called Hangzhou News (杭州新闻) and check it.