liuzhou

They are everywhere. My nearest is just across the road and there are two others nearby. They are open 7 days a week. The idea of a weekly shop is unthinkable to the Chinese mind. They demand absolute freshness.

The 2012 eG topic is here.

牛肉豆芽炒粉 (niú ròu dòu yá chǎo fěn), beef and beansprout fried rice noodles. Nicely spicy。

I honestly don't know. I can read every word and none say it's koji. Sorry

Bizarre. I can't work out what that is. It mentions shio (salt) but I cant see the word koji anywhere on the container. It does however say it's for grilled food, simmered food, Japanese food, stir fried food. Sorry.

There is certainly a sweet koji (甘い麹 - amai koji). It does not contain sugar but the sweetness comes from the processing of the rice turning the starch into glucose. Maybe that's what you accidentally bought.

And there lies a major difference. Most people here shop for vegetables daily and never trouble their fridges. (Anyway, there would be no difficulty in cutting it into sections to refrigerate.)

五仁月饼 (wǔ rén yuè bǐng), five nut mooncake. This one, I would eat.

I was in the market today and looked for the largest Welsh onion I could find. That involved examining around 20 vegetable stalls. The longest was this one at 66 cm / 2 foot, 2 inches. Cost me the equivalent of 27 cents US.

No direct experience of using it but certainly of consuming it. Shio (しお or 塩) means salt in Japanese. Koji (こうじ or 麹) can be rice, barley or soy beans infected with Aspergillus oryzae. Put the two together and you have shio koji which is indeed used as a tenderiser. It is a paste made from a mixture of rice koji, salt and water. It breaks down protein and starches. It also adds umami to dishes.

Does anyone have any experience with this brand. I've been burned before and am suspicious of the relatively low pricing.

Yes. I can eat them, but wouldn't miss them. No. I don't see them as particularly outlandish, just unusual. I pass because I don't really like the texture of sticky rice. No. They tend to vary every year but nothing to do with the Chinese zodiac years.

October 6th this year sees China’s Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival. This is when people give gifts of mooncakes and traditionally eat them. So, already the stores are stocking up. Every year brings more and more types, from the more traditional to the outlandish. My plan is to post some of the most unusual I see this year. I start with 桑葚米月饼 (sāng shèn mǐ yuè bǐng), black mulberry and sticky rice. I’ll pass.

I'm never seen them that long anywhere. More like 15 to 60 cm / 6" to to 2 feet long. Those I see most often are about 46cm / 2 feet.

Hersheys is not what most people call chocolate.