A century-old pastry shop introduces festive snacks like raw peanuts and jujube sticks for the holidays.

Jiuzhennan combines traditional snacks such as ma lao, raw peanuts, and jujube sticks into gift boxes and baskets, making them perfect for gifting or worship offerings. (Photo by Feng Huiyi)

The century-old pastry brand Jiuzhennan has specially reshaped the long ma lao into bite-sized balls, even adding the Chinese character for "blessing" (福) to create "Blessing Balls." Besides being easier to eat, they also carry the meaning of "eating blessings." (Photo by Feng Huiyi)

Traditional holiday snacks like raw peanuts, jujube sticks, and ma lao symbolize "eating sweets for a sweet new year" and "making big money." The century-old pastry shop Jiuzhennan limitedly releases these traditional treats during the holidays. Due to limited stock, they often sell out a week before Lunar New Year. In recent years, the shop has replaced white sugar powder with healthier seaweed sugar, reducing calories by up to one-third.

"Raw peanuts," coated in red and white sugar powder, and "jujube sticks," which resemble fingers, are traditional holiday snacks that were once essential for worship among the older generation. Aside from being found in traditional markets and grocery stores during the holidays, Jiuzhennan not only launches pineapple cakes and nougat during the Lunar New Year but also limited-edition snacks with reduced sugar and oil—while maintaining the same great taste.

For rituals like the Heaven Worship Festival, Jiuzhennan also offers flavors like sesame, almond, peanut, rice, and peanut. This year, they’ve changed the shape from long to round and specially named them "Blessing Balls." They also use seaweed sugar instead of white sugar, resulting in a crispy, fluffy texture that’s not sticky, delicious and auspicious.

To make worship and gifting more convenient, Jiuzhennan also compiles essential Lunar New Year desserts into gift boxes and baskets. For bulk gift orders, there’s an early-bird discount: pre-order over 5,000 NT dollars before January 28 to enjoy a 10% discount.