An old woman dries Chinese cabbages in the courtyard before pickling them for the coming Chinese New Year.

The ancient traditions of cooking winter delicacies at home are fading as the convenience of buying ready-made food items becomes popular. But all is not lost in some Hangzhou homes, Tan Weiyun reports.

As the Chinese Lunar New Year approaches, everyone is stocking up on traditional foods to serve for family reunions and celebrations.

Busy people these days, especially young folks, mostly shop for ready-made foods, but some old-fashioned Hangzhou residents still keep the ancient tradition of making winter delicacies at home.

Toiling over homemade food and putting in love and energy make the dishes sweeter, so they say.

They start well in advance of the new year that falls on Sunday this year.

Cabbage curing and pickling

A rainy week has finally come to an end and residents in Yuquan Neighborhood, an old community, are busy pickling cabbages in their courtyards.

It's quite an eye-opener to see their method - stomping vegetables barefoot in a giant vat. Bare feet (clean) are best. Sandals are for sissies.

"We've been married for 39 years and I have stomped the cabbages for 39 years," says 64-year-old Ma Achun as he tramples layer on layer of cabbages sprinkled with salt. His wife Deng Tiaojuan keeps adding cabbage leaves.

Each winter before the Spring Festival, the couple makes two vats of pickled cabbages, 75 kilograms in all.

"It requires lots of physical strength, so I do the most important and difficult part," says Ma. "Women are usually weaker - the vegetables they make will probably go sour."

These days most of the cabbage stompers are well over 50 years old.

"Young people only care about when to eat - they can't and won't help make pickles," Ma says.