The freshly-steamed sponge cakes are left to cool down. [Photo/qz96811.com]

For Longyou residents in Quzhou, Zhejiang province, sending each other homemade sponge cakes signifies the commencement of the Spring Festival.

It is said that Longyou natives started making the snack 600 years ago.

The taste of sponge cakes even determines whether a banquet is successful or not in the Quzhou county.

The traditional recipe is extremely complicate as it includes 10 different procedures, and the following is a simplified process.

Washing rice

Longyou residents used to favor polished round-grained rice and sticky rice to make sponge cakes. Now, besides the two basic materials, they select black rice, pumpkin and other ingredients to add more flavor to the snack.

The proportion of different ingredients is key to the sponge cake's taste and it's a secret for each sponge cake making workshop in the county.

The rice must be soaked for more than 10 days before being ground into rice milk.