Special food not to miss for summer in China

So hot outside, right? Doesn't it feel great to grab a cold drink in such scorching weather? But do you know any drinks or food to relieve summer heat in China? Well, here are some we pick for you.

Suanmeitang (酸梅汤), Beijing

It's a must try if you are in Beijing. Suanmeitang is a traditional beverage in Beijing made from sour plums, rock sugar, and other ingredients such as liquorice or sweet osmanthus. Due to the sour plums used in its production, suanmeitang is slightly salty in addition to being sweet and rather sour. It is often drunk chilled during the summer to relief from the heat, and is one of the most common summer drinks in Beijing. But now you can get it in almost everywhere in China.

Bingfen (冰粉), Guizhou

Bingfen is a traditional food in Guizhou made from a plant seed. These seeds are continuously rubbed under the water and the juice squeezed from them will turn into coagulum shortly. Imagine putting a smooth cold Bingfen in your mouth is like jump into a cool and nice waterfall after a day heat in Guizhou, amazing! 

Liangxia (凉虾), Chongqin

Liangxia, a common but special snack in Chongqin, is made of the thick liquid from boiled rice which leaked into the cold water with the help of strainer. It's literally named "cold shrimp" for its shape.

Fried ice (炒冰), Hainan

Fried ice or Chaobing is quite a common snack in Hainan. However, the ice is not "fried" by the heat but a refrigerating machine. Diced fruit with milk or juice being stirred on the ice maker is what it need to make this snack. Yum yum…

Siguotang (四果汤), Fujian

Siguotang is a traditional snack originated from Fujian. It's a rather essential snack in summer which will be sold in the streets and alleys in Quanzhou and Zhangzhou. Lotus seeds, mung beans, herb jelly and diced watermelon or pineapple are on your choices, served on top of a big bowl of crushed ice.

Grass jelly (草粄), Guangdong

Grass jelly, commonly found in Hakka region, is made from boiled Mesona (a kind of plant used as a medicinal herb in ancient times). It looks just like jellies with brown color. It is said that eating grass jelly makes a perfect summer without heat rashes.

Herb tea (凉茶)

Chinese herb tea is a kind of infusion made from purely Chinese medicinal herbs in Guangdong, China. It usually tastes bitter or lightly sweet and its color is typically black or dark brown. Herb tea is referred to as cold tea or cooling tea which is consumed in order to relieve the heat and humidity in the body.

Cold zongzi (凉棕), Xi'an

Cold zongzi is a very popular food in summer in Xi'an. Honey, sweet osmanthus and sesame with a sticky zongzi makes a cool summertime!

Not in these regions? Well, you might try the following food as well across the whole country.

Mung beans paste (绿豆沙)

Mung beans paste is a sweet dessert made from mung beans with coconut milk and palm sugar or cane sugar. The beans are boiled till soft, and sugar and coconut milk are added.

Baobing (刨冰)

Baobing or shaved ice is a Chinese shave ice dessert often seen in China. It is especially popular during the summer. Smoothies with a variety of toppings like syrup or milk, red beans, diced mango or peanuts makes a colorful baobing!

Ice pop (冰棍)

An ice pop is a water-based frozen snack. Loved by people all over the world, ice pop is made by freezing flavored liquid such as fruit juice around a stick. Once the liquid freezes solid, the stick can be used as a handle to hold the ice pop.

Stewed snow pear with rock sugar (冰糖雪梨)

I know! Sounds weird, right? That's what makes it better! As a common Chinese homely dessert, stewed snow pear with rock sugar is cooked by slow fire for over half an hour. With the functions of moistening dryness and clearing heat, a chilled snow pear stewed with rock sugar is definitely a must-try in hot summer. You can easily find it at the corner shops in any city in China, packed in a bottle, sited in the fridge. The most famous brand called "KANG SHI FU", 康师傅 in Chinese.

Guilinggao (龟苓膏)

Guilinggao, also known as Tortoise Jelly, it's sold as a dessert. but it taste like Chinese medicine,It was traditionally made from the powdered plastron from the turtle Cuora trifasciata ("金钱龟" in Chinese) and a variety of herbal products, in particular, Smilax glabra ("土伏苓" in Chinese). Guilinggao is thought to be good for relieving itching and clearing heat or toxic materials in body, Why not try it out?  I'm sure it tastes rather great in summer.

What? No satisfied enough with these food for relieving summer heat? Fine, you might just leave your upper body naked to cool yourself, but only for male in that case, by the way.

Have you ever tried any of the above food? How is the taste?

The article is translated and editted by Chinlingo. Please indicate the source for any use, reproduction or transfer. 

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