Nanfeng Fresh Rice Noodles 南丰水粉
Nanfeng Fresh Rice Noodles is featured among the local specialties of Jiangxi.
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Nanfeng Fresh Rice Noodles (南丰水粉) are the breakfast rice noodles of Nanfeng County (南丰县) in Fuzhou (抚州), Jiangxi, a county known for its mandarin oranges. Also called 'thread noodles' (线粉) or 'tube-pressed noodles' (出筒粉), they are pushed through the holes of an iron press, served in pork-bone broth, and eaten early in the morning.
How it is made
The Nanfeng county government and People's Daily describe the same sequence. Top-grade late-season rice is soaked, stone-ground and filtered, and the pressed paste is kneaded into balls and cooked in a wok. The cooked dough is pounded in a stone mortar, rolled into long lumps and packed into an iron noodle tube, which forces it out through small holes in an iron base plate. The strands are boiled until set, lifted into a vat of cold water to cool, and taken out ready for use.
People's Daily followed two brothers who begin at 4 a.m., before daybreak, and deliver more than 500 kg of noodles to breakfast shops across the county before 6:30. It counted more than 20 such workshops in the county in 2018; the county government later gave more than 30.
Flavour and texture
Good Nanfeng noodles are pure white, smooth and tender yet soft and springy. A single strand is long enough to wind several times round a hand, and it does not turn mushy when left in hot soup.
How it is eaten
The broth is made by simmering pork bones in water for several hours, until the meat left on them falls away. The noodles are blanched in boiling water, the broth is poured over them, and shredded pork, chopped spring onion and ginger go on top. Other versions include pork-marrow-bone soup, three-delicacy, fresh fish, beef, mutton and beef-bone noodles.
In Nanfeng the noodles are strictly a morning food. The first bowls at daybreak, made with the day's first broth, are considered the best, and after noon people no longer eat them. A typical breakfast adds a few small stir-fried dishes, soft tofu and local rice wine. People's Daily reports a local saying about the Wuweiguan (五味馆) noodle shop, opened by the Zhao family during the Republican era: its noodles are 'easy to eat but hard to wait for'.
Sources & reading
Written from the linked sources and checked sentence by sentence against quoted extracts by a separate reviewer on 2026-09-24. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.