9 replies to this topic

[Freddy1]

Was there any sweets developed in ancient China? If so what were some of them and how many of them survive to this day?

Edited by General_Zhaoyun, 31 May 2009 - 06:19 AM.

[sylvester]

the most famous one of them should be the 冰糖葫蘆：

http://zh.wikipedia....i/冰ç%...‘«èŠ¦

in fact, chinese developed MANY kind of pudding, and i like 桂花糕 most：http://maxgrace2005....og-post_05.html

Edited by General_Zhaoyun, 01 June 2009 - 12:30 AM.

[General_Zhaoyun]

the most famous one of them should be the 冰糖葫蘆：

http://zh.wikipedia....i/冰ç%...‘«èŠ¦

in fact, chinese developed MANY kind of pudding, and i like 桂花糕 most：http://maxgrace2005....og-post_05.html

Just to add to the point, 冰糖葫蘆 Bingtang Hulu (ice-sweet) was quite common sweet in ancient China. It actually originated from the region of Beijing.

Here is a picture of the ice-sweet:

[Silverstone]

I heard that the Bingtang Hulu is more popular in those not-so-developed cities in China, as in, more Bingtang Hulu sellers locate themselves near hutongs and sell the sweet to the children. My friend, who lives in the city when she was young, has never tasted one before. Wondering if my assumption is true....?

[HappyHistorian]

The Bingtang Hulu looks like a sweet souvlaki. I've never tried one before, but I would like to since it looks delicious!

[sylvester]

yes, as now a day western sweets is cheap enough to let most of chinese to enjoy.
冰糖葫蘆 got many limitations, 冰糖葫蘆 will melt under sunshine very quickly,
and 冰糖葫蘆 is sticky, not easy to handle, 冰糖葫蘆 will decay very soon as it is actually a kind of fruit.
and, i think western sweets taste much better than 冰糖葫蘆
also, 冰糖葫蘆 is too cheap for morden businessman.
so thats why you rarely seen 冰糖葫蘆 in big cities.

Edited by sylvester, 01 June 2009 - 02:11 AM.

[Yizheng]

I don't really eat much sweets, not such a fan of western sweets, except sometimes chocolate, but Chinese sweet things is different. Bing tang hulu is not my favourite, I really like all kinds of fried cakes. But my favourite sweet thing of all is shi bing 柿饼, especially when it is fried. I imagine it is quite ancient, since it is made using the fruit.
I remember seeing a lot of bing tang hulu still in Beijing, anyway. It seems still popular.

[Freddy1]

Here is a picture of the ice-sweet:

Wow GZ that looks good!
How come the China Town here never has anything like that! Maybe its fund more in Singapore and Taiwan?

[Lafaso870]

Bingtang Hulu is really a typical sweet in the ancient times, and it is still popular now .

[William O'Chee]

This brings me to a related subject. When I was a kid growing up, we maintained the tradition that we should only eat sweet things (not just sweets per se) at Chinese New Year. Is this just a village tradition?