Lard Puffed Rice Candy

Lard Puffed Rice Candy

　　Lard puffed rice candy is a specialty of Shaxi Town, Taicang City, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province. This traditional local product from Shaxi, Taicang lard puffed rice candy, is gaining increasing popularity among tourists.

　　In the Guangxu period (1900), Shen Huanzhi opened the “Dingshengxiang” confectionery shop in Shaxi. The shop’s main products included peach slices, hemp cakes, fermented rice cakes, and meat dumplings. The following year (1901), inspired by popcorn, he created lard puffed rice candy, which became a unique delicacy of Taicang. It later became a popular gift for locals when visiting relatives or friends. Later on, other confectionery shops in Shaxi, such as Ziyangguan, also made lard puffed rice candy, but the taste of the “Dingshengxiang” version remained the best.

　　The lard puffed rice candy produced by Dingshengxiang Confectionery Shop in Shaxi, founded by Shen Huanzhi, was once highly renowned in the Shaxi and Taicang area. After the liberation, Dingshengxiang was transformed into a public-private partnership and became the Shaxi Confectionery Processing Factory. Li Jianyong, a former employee of the Shaxi Brewing Factory, inherited the production technique from Zhou Genbao, the former factory director of Shaxi Confectionery Factory, after being laid off, and began producing lard puffed rice candy. However, lard puffed rice candy is seasonal, typically produced from October to Chinese New Year the following year. Due to sales volume and time constraints, Li Jianyong generally produces it based on orders.