Spicy and Sour Mixed Vegetables People from Xiushui Huaiyuan (a Hakka region) love to serve their guests a type of self-pickled and fermented spicy-sour mixed vegetable dish. This preserved vegetable has a unique flavor that leaves a memorable aftertaste. The dish is made by chopping pickled radish, pickled chili peppers, pickled arrowhead, pickled green beans, and pickled sword beans into small cubes, then stir-frying them with soaked black fungus. Seasonings such as garlic and ginger are added...
Crystal Soup Dumplings The crystal soup dumplings from Xiushui are made by peeling and mashing boiled taro, then mixing it with potato starch to form small balls, each smaller than a tangyuan (sweet rice ball). They are not filled with sweet filling but are instead poached in water and then cooked with diced lean meat, mushrooms, winter bamboo shoots, shrimp, scallions, ginger, and other seasonings in a meat broth. They are served in the soup and eaten with a spoon...
Dried Ginger: Wash and peel fresh ginger, then slice it or cut one side into a comb-like shape. Layer the ginger slices with a thin layer of salt, press and marinate for a day. During the day, take them out to dry in the sun, and continue pressing and marinating at night. After two or three days, only sun-dry without marinating. Once dried, seal and store them properly, and take them out when needed. The ginger is white and spicy, making it an excellent ingredient for brewing tea as well as a uniquely flavorful dried fruit snack...
Dried radish: Select long, tender white radishes and carrots, wash and cut them into strips, ensuring the cuts follow the grain so that each strip retains its skin. Sprinkle the cut radish strips with a light layer of salt, mix well, and let them marinate for a day. Then take them out to dry in the sun until they are half-dry. Next, mix in finely ground mountain pepper powder, black pepper, and other seasonings, then pack them tightly into a jar and seal it. After one or two days…
Preserved wild mustard greens, also known as pickled mustard greens, are made by washing and sun-drying the mustard leaves, then chopping them and stir-frying them in a hot pan until half-cooked. They are then placed in a basket to press out some of the moisture, sun-dried again, steamed, and sun-dried once more to complete the process. When stored properly, they can last up to a year without spoiling. They serve as a key side dish for “Dongpo Pork” and can also be stir-fried with chili peppers to make a tasty everyday dish…
Glutinous Rice Flower Slices These are a delicious snack used by the Hakka people as tea time treats or dried fruit. The preparation method is simple: wash sweet potatoes or taro, boil them until cooked, then mash them into a paste. Add potato starch and a small amount of black sesame, knead everything together, and shape it into oval strips. Boil the strips in rapidly boiling water until cooked, then remove and let cool. Slice them thinly and dry in the sun. Before the Spring Festival, they can be…
Stamped Rice Cakes are made by mixing 70% glutinous rice flour with 30% regular rice flour, then kneading the mixture with water. The dough is shaped into small rounds, pressed into specially made rice cake molds to form flat discs with imprinted patterns, and then steamed to create the final product. The molds are carved from pear wood and feature designs such as “lotus flowers,” “plum blossoms,” or characters symbolizing happiness, prosperity, longevity, and good fortune…
Dried Papaya In July, papayas are peeled, sliced, and mixed with fragrant perilla leaves, licorice, and refined salt. The mixture is then packed into a jar to ferment before being sun-dried. Features: It has a sweet and sour taste, making it a delightful dried fruit for guests, as well as possessing medicinal benefits for treating vomiting and diarrhea.…
Dried pumpkin can be made from young pumpkins using the method described above to create green dried pumpkin, which can be hand-shaped into butterfly or bat forms when half-dried for use as gifts. Alternatively, yellow pumpkins can be sliced and sun-dried to make sweet-tasting dried pumpkin. Yellow dried pumpkin can be cooked with rice into porridge or rice dishes during times of food scarcity in the following year. The yellow, sweet pumpkin porridge...
Dried eggplant is made by washing and slicing the eggplant, salting it, and then drying it in the sun. Some also slice the eggplant and dry it directly. The same method can be used to make dried bottle gourd slices and dried winter melon slices.…
Sword bean dried can be made using the same method as drying string beans. Boil them in water, then sun-dry until they are half-dry, turning milky white and soft. At that point, slice one side into a comb-like shape and continue sun-drying. Some women from Huaiyuan also mold the soft beans into shapes like lotus flowers or pagodas before drying them, making them suitable as gifts. To eat, first soak them in water to rehydrate, then stir-fry with seasonings. The characteristics…
Dried Cowpeas: Select tender cowpeas, remove the stems, tear off the strings, wash clean, then blanch in boiling water. After draining, sun-dry them. Before eating, soak them to rehydrate, then cut into inch-long pieces (you can also cut them into small sections before drying). Stir-fry with meat and chili plus seasonings, or use as an accompaniment for steamed meat — the flavor is exceptionally refreshing. …
Fuyuan Shiitake Mushrooms: Fuyuan is a forested area that did not originally produce natural shiitake mushrooms. Its shiitake mushrooms are chunky, thick-fleshed, medium-sized, sweet and delicious, with a rich aroma. In recent years, mushroom spawn has been introduced for cultivation. Although the scale is not as large as in other towns, the yield per unit area is higher, and the appearance, color, and flavor are superior—resulting in annual shortages. …
Xikou Chestnuts: In recent years, chestnuts from Xikou Town have made their way into the Shanghai market, thanks to the efforts of the educated youth from Shanghai who were sent here to work in the countryside back in the day. Nowadays, Xikou offers a variety of chestnuts, including hybrid large chestnuts, local sweet chestnuts, and wild pointed chestnuts. Xikou chestnuts are known for their crisp texture, sweet flavor, and excellent shelf life—especially those that have been air-dried for a few days. Once cracked open…
Gushi Prickly Ash: The prickly ash from the Gushi area has gained fame across the Jiangnan region. During the harvest season, merchants from other regions come to place orders. When they see that local farmers can’t keep up with the picking, they bargain by pointing at the trees, then pick the fruit themselves or hire others to do so. Merchants praise Gushi prickly ash for its rich, bold flavor—spicy and numbing with a refreshing undertone. It can be used as a spicy seasoning, or even steeped as tea or used in herbal medicine. On the hottest days of summer…
Bean Knots: Bean Knots are made using a process similar to making rice paper. Their shape resembles curled-up insects, hence the name “蛰” (zhé, meaning ‘to hibernate’), but they are pronounced “结” (jié). The ingredients are rice and buckwheat, which are soaked in water until swollen, then ground into a paste by hand. The best way to enjoy Bean Knots is fresh off the pan. When rolling them up, adding sugar in the middle makes them both fragrant and sweet—a delicious, satisfying meal.…
Oil Noodles: Unlike rolled noodles, hand-pulled noodles, or sliced noodles, oil noodles are entirely handmade. First, high-quality wheat is ground into white flour, which is then kneaded into dough. The dough is stretched to about the thickness of a finger, coiled and placed in a bowl—this step is called “coiling the strands.” The noodles are then stretched thinner, to about the thickness of a chopstick, wound around two bamboo sticks, and placed in a noodle box. Once the noodles begin to sag, they are…
Red rice alkaline rice cake: Alkaline rice cake (originally called Hanpo cake) is an essential food for the people of Wuning during the Spring Festival. It is simple to make, affordable, and has a long shelf life. When eating, slice it thinly and stir-fry it with locally smoked cured pork, garlic, and other ingredients. It is both filling and makes a great pairing with alcohol. …
Eight-Treasure Mixed Soup: Though called “eight-treasure,” its ingredients actually number more than eight. The method of preparation involves taking a small amount of each dish from a banquet, chopping them into cubes or mincing them, then stir-frying them in oil according to their tolerance to heat. After that, meat broth and seasonings are added and brought to a boil. Just before serving, cooked peanut crumbs, cracklings, egg flower, starch…
Acorns have a hard, reddish-brown outer shell and an inner kernel similar to a peanut, with starch content of around 60%. However, acorns contain a high level of tannins, which can produce a distinct bitter and astringent taste if consumed directly without processing. In the 1990s, Dahui (Greenfield) Food Co., Ltd. in Lixi Town, Wuning County, overcame technical challenges and successfully removed the tannins from acorns...