🍽️ Artemisia Noodle

Noodles with wild artemisia, Zhongwei fragrance.

Artemisia Noodle is a speciality of Zhongwei and the Shapotou area in Ningxia, named for wild artemisia-seed powder mixed into the wheat flour. The powder gives the dough a faint, grassy bitterness; rolled and cut into fine noodles, the cooked strands take on a greenish-yellow tint and a springy, clean bite with a unique wild-herb aroma. They are usually served with a gravy of minced mutton, diced tofu and vegetables, lightly sour and spicy. A traditional festive and guest-entertainment noodle in Zhongwei homes, it is also found around the Shapotou scenic area by the Yellow River — a bowl that tastes of the plain, herbal simplicity of the northwest desert-edge countryside.