Gaomi Big Jujube

Gaomi Big Jujube

　　Gaomi Big Jujube is a specialty of Gaomi City, Weifang, Shandong Province. It is a famous traditional food in Gaomi with over 300 years of production history. Known for its thin, crispy crust, fragrant honey sweetness, and non-greasy taste.

　　Gaomi Big Jujube is a famous Han Chinese flour-based snack from Gaomi, Shandong. It gets its name because it resembles a large jujube and is made with honey syrup. The main ingredients include honey, sesame oil, sesame seeds, cane sugar, and flour, while the secondary ingredients are rose petals, rock sugar, red and green silk threads, peach kernels, and rice paste. Known for its thin, crispy crust, fragrant honey sweetness, and non-greasy taste, it is highly popular among consumers and has become an excellent choice for gifting to relatives and friends, everyday consumption, or serving at banquets.

　　Gaomi Big Jujube is a traditional handmade flour-based snack of the Han Chinese in Shandong. Through generations of inheritance and accumulated experience, it has developed a complete set of successful practices in ingredient selection, seasoning, formulation, processing, production, and packaging. The main ingredients for making the big jujube include honey, sesame oil, sesame seeds, cane sugar, and flour, while the secondary ingredients are rose petals, rock sugar, red and green silk threads, peach kernels, melon seeds, and rice paste. The rice paste used is the large-grained, high-viscosity, long-thread, and sweet maltose paste from Xiazhuang, Gaomi. The sesame seeds are selected from Shuangyang, Gaomi—large, plump, and richly aromatic. The honey comes from the wild jujube flower honey of Puzhi, Jiaoxian County, known for its strong aroma, sweetness, and authentic flavor. The rose is chosen from Wulian. Its traditional production process involves first sieving the sesame seeds and then rubbing and removing the skins using a steel brick in a tray. Flour mixed with sesame oil and cane sugar is stirred into a sugar-oil dough using a stone mill. The rose petals, rock sugar, red and green silk threads, peach kernels, melon seeds, and rice paste are wrapped inside the sugar-oil dough skin. This is then followed by deep-frying, sugar boiling, honey addition, sugar coating, and sesame rolling. The result is a deliciously sweet and fragrant big jujube. What makes Gaomi Big Jujube special is not only the quality of its ingredients but also the fact that its crust is thin yet doesn’t crack, remains fragrant without burning after frying, and is cooked but not mushy. The sugar-boiling process is precisely controlled, and when the finished jujube is broken apart, it can be pulled into strands. The jujubes are round in shape, with loose but intact fillings, thin unbroken crusts, evenly coated sesame seeds, neither raw nor burnt, light yellow in color with a sweet aroma, delicious taste, and rich nutrition. About eight pieces weigh around 500 grams, all uniform in size. The current annual production is about 100 tons, most of which is sold within Gaomi and nearby areas as well as in Jinan, Qingdao, Weifang, Beijing, and the three northeastern provinces. Foreign investors coming to Gaomi and overseas tourists often like to take some back home to taste or give as gifts. Gaomi Big Jujube has essentially become a “cultural ambassador” for external exchanges.