Were the first zongzi thrown into the Miluo River sweet or salty?

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Another Dragon Boat Festival has arrived. With the changes of the times, the traditional customs related to this festival have been largely simplified and forgotten. These days, during the Dragon Boat Festival, aside from the 3 official holidays that touch our sense of indulgence, it’s probably only zongzi that remains. Although people in the north and south both enjoy zongzi, there are significant differences in their flavors. So, every year at this time, there is a \"sweet vs. salty battle\" over zongzi. Although people in this country are usually open-minded and not particular about trivial matters, when it comes to food, they are absolutely uncompromising! First, there was the debate over whether tofu pudding should be sweet or salty; later on, there was the struggle to establish the proper identity of yuanxiao and tangyuan... I’m sure everyone still remembers well that when it comes to food, we must resolutely eliminate any \"heretical\" options! However, when many people discuss whether authentic zongzi should be sweet or salty, the phrase they say most often is: “I’ve eaten it this way since I was a child; my ancestors have eaten it this way for eight generations!” ” Hearing such an argument, all I can say is: when it comes to determining whether authentic zongzi should be sweet or salty, one needs to trace things back to their origins. The most common belief among the people is that eating zongzi during the Dragon Boat Festival is to commemorate Qu Yuan, the great poet from the Warring States period. Of course, it’s just a legend. However, this at least indicates that zongzi might have existed as early as the Warring States period, and those zongzi from that time would likely have been closer to their original form. Qu Yuan ▽ So, the question arises: Were the zongzi that were first thrown into the Miluo River to commemorate Qu Yuan sweet or salty? In fact, the story of using zongzi to commemorate Qu Yuan first appeared in the book \"Xu Qixie Ji\" written by Wu Jun during the Liang dynasty of the Southern Dynasties: \"Qu Yuan threw himself into the Miluo River on the fifth day of the fifth month; the people of Chu mourned for him, and on this day they would put rice in bamboo containers and throw them into the water as an offering to him.\" ” This refers to Qu Yuan who committed suicide by jumping into the Miluo River on the fifth day of the fifth month in order to serve his country. To prevent fish from eating Qu Yuan’s body, the people put rice in bamboo tubes and threw them into the river as an offering to him. However, The Continued Records of Qi Xie is a work of mythological and supernatural fiction, so its descriptions should not be taken entirely at face value. “Continued Records of Strange Tales” ▽ According to this account, what people threw into the river at that time to offer as a sacrifice to Qu Yuan should have been ▽ etc. What’s the point of discussing whether zongzi are sweet or salty, or what use is there in talking about bamboo tubes? No rush, keep reading: The earliest record of the Dragon Boat Festival can be found in Zhou Chu’s \"Fengtu Ji\" from the Western Jin Dynasty; it contains an explanation of zongzi: \"It is customary, on this festival, to wrap glutinous millet in water caltrop leaves and then cook it in thick ash juice until it becomes soft. On the fifth day of the fifth month, during the summer solstice, people eat this sticky millet.” A zong, also known as jiaoshu, is named so because it represents the state when yin and yang are still intertwined and not separated. ” In general, this passage means that according to the theory of yin and yang, mid-summer is a time when yin and yang are in a state of balanced harmony. On the fifth day of the fifth lunar month as well as during the summer solstice, it is customary for people to wrap millet in water caltrop leaves and then cook it in ash water until it becomes soft enough to eat; the food prepared in this way is called “zong” or “jiaoshu”. Zaoxu ▽ The ‘water caltrop leaves’ used in ‘wrapping glutinous rice with water caltrop leaves’ are actually water bamboo leaves ； Proso millet is now known as “da huang mi”; it is similar to millet, but its grains are slightly larger. Once cooked, it becomes sticky and can be used for making wine and cakes... Lotus leaves ▽ Proso millet ▽ “It is cooked in strong grayish broth until fully tender; on the fifth day of the fifth month, during the summer solstice, this sticky proso millet is eaten.” ”What then is the ash in it? Ash juice refers to the liquid obtained by soaking plant ash and then filtering it; its main component is potassium carbonate, giving it an alkaline nature. Adding some of this alkali when cooking staple foods indeed makes the texture softer and more tender, while also imparting a slight yellowish hue. So, in terms of the ingredients used for zongzi, millet was used at first, and it was only later that glutinous rice came into use. As for the filling, there was none at first; various sweet and savory flavors were added later on. Therefore, if the act of throwing zongzi into the river to preserve Qu Yuan’s body really took place, then what was thrown in were zongzi made of millet with no filling and a grayish taste, likely tasteless, with perhaps only a slight salty and bitter flavor from the ash.