[Video/WeChat account: wqby0513]

Barley balls are a seasonal snack in Nantong. The best time to make them is from the solar term Grain Rain to Beginning of Summer.

In the 1950s and 1960s, famine would hit rural families during the end of spring and beginning of summer, so people resorted to making barley balls for food.

Mao Rubing, a farmer living in Qidong, Nantong, learned how to make barley balls from his father in 2017. Since then, he has made 150 kilograms of barley balls every day during this time of year and sold them for 20 yuan ($2.82) per kg, without increase in price.

It takes three hours and requires eight steps to make a batch of barley balls. Mao said few locals make the snack anymore because of the complex process and low price.

The balls give people a sense of appreciation for how much their lives have improved over the years.