It is traditionally eaten by new mothers in Guangzhou to restore strength and health, and is presented to friends and family to indicate the arrival of a new baby.

According to legend in the early Ming Dynasty[1] there lived a butcher who had the good fortune to marry a very pretty, kind and vivacious girl.

When he received the news of her pregnancy, he was afraid that his wife and the newborn would be malnourished, so he brought her some unsold pork knuckles and stewed them in sweet black vinegar in a big pot together with ginger and eggs.

It is a traditional postnatal therapeutic food in the Guangzhou region of China, eaten to aid the recovery of new mothers after giving birth.

It helps in the recovery of maternal health from the fatigue of pregnancy in the first forty days of post-partum confinement[2] known in Cantonese as choyut (坐月).

In Hong Kong, Chinese herbal franchises such as Hung Fook Tong and vinegar maker Pat Chun have started selling ready-to-eat pork knuckle stew.