Zhulaoda Rice Dumplings 诸老大粽子
Zhulaoda Rice Dumplings is featured among the local specialties of Zhejiang.
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Zhulaoda Rice Dumplings (诸老大粽子) are associated with the long pillow shape of Huzhou (湖州). Shangguan News (上观新闻) identifies Zhulaoda as a business founded in 1887. In its 2019 feature, company chief executive Xia Hongmei (夏红梅) explained that the filling follows the slender parcel’s length, giving filling throughout the dumpling.
The skill in the wrapping
The folding of the leaves and the tightness of the binding affect the finished dumpling. Shangguan describes bean-paste parcels being tied less tightly, to keep rice grains from being pressed into the paste and remaining undercooked. Pork parcels are bound more firmly because lean meat contracts as it cooks, affecting the soft, glutinous texture.
Preserving the handwork
The long shape takes time to make. Shangguan reported that even highly skilled wrappers produced only three or four pillow dumplings a minute, compared with seven or eight triangular ones. Xia said Zhulaoda had recruited experienced triangular-dumpling wrappers and trained them in the pillow form, building a team of more than 200 by the time of the feature.
Sources & reading
Written from the linked sources and checked sentence by sentence against quoted extracts by a separate reviewer on 2026-09-27. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.