Heqing Chicken Pea Jelly

Heqing Chicken Pea Jelly

　　As the name suggests, chicken pea refers to peas about the size of a chicken’s eye—some locals call them chicken-eye beans. They are flat and round, classified as a minor spring crop. These can only be grown in sandy, relatively infertile wastelands on barren slopes, making them a kind of “plant one gourd, harvest one ladle” green food, with yields of less than 100 jin per mu.

The process of making chicken pea jelly isn’t as simple as most people might imagine. To make it, the night before, the local Xilongtan natural mineral water is used to soak the chicken peas overnight. By the next day, at the first crow of the rooster, you get up and slowly grind the peas with a hand-turned stone mill, making a “hum-la, hum-la...” sound, until you have chicken pea milk. Then, using a large iron pot, you boil a big pot of the same Xilongtan natural mineral water. Once the water boils, pour in the finely ground chicken pea milk from the hand-turned mill and stir it in. Without adding any other seasonings, the color turns into a tender light yellow-green—a delicate, natural hue so fresh-looking that you’d hesitate to touch it. Something this delicate not only whets your appetite just by looking at it, but also makes you want to eat it even if you weren’t hungry.