black noodles of Xi'an

[marlena spieler]

One more question about Xi'an food: what makes the famous black noodles....black?

thanks in anticipation,

Marlena

[liuzhou]

Xi'an's pollution?

[Ben Hong]

Xi'an's pollution?

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Good one!!!

[anzu]

Marlena, I believe the black noodles are made from buckwheat. I just did a little check on the internet, using "heiheluo" (black noodles) as a keyword, and this is what others claim too.

This rather suggests to me that they are more probably grey in color rather than black, and that "black" is probably poetic licence. I've certainly never seen *black* buckwheat noodles.

Edited to add: on the jokes about pollution:

if Xi'an is as dusty or muddy (take your pick, depending on season!) as it was years ago when I visited there, then food that has taken on the color of the surroundings is more likely to be yellow, taking on the color of the "yellow earth" that the region is famed for.

Edited February 5, 2008 by anzu (log)

[marlena spieler]

Anzu, how wonderful to hear from you!!!!

Thanks for the answer, this is what i was wondering, though had had a few fleeting thoughts about squid ink pasta....

these noodles sound wonderful in any event. stir fried with spices chilies and herbs. yum.

[hzrt8w]

A search using the term "heiheluo" on Google returned only 4 documents. (That's a surprise.)

Does anybody know its name in Chinese characters? I know "hei" is Black in Mandarin but couldn't make out "He" and "Luo".

[CFT]

A search using the term "heiheluo" on Google returned only 4 documents.  (That's a surprise.)

Does anybody know its name in Chinese characters?  I know "hei" is Black in Mandarin but couldn't make out "He" and "Luo".

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Wiki-link for you Ah Leung: http://zh.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=...9&variant=zh-hk

Though I can't find the characters in the HK-Chinese online dictionary that I normally use.

餄餎

EDIT: Prompted by someone on a Cantonese language site, the original term was "hor lau" 河漏 (river leak/flow).

This article describes the dish: http://www.xian-tourism.com/BBS/bbs/ShowPo...p?ThreadID=4892

Some other terms:

buckwheat: 蕎麥

buckwheat noodles: 黑蕎麵

Edited February 6, 2008 by CFT (log)

[hzrt8w]

Thank you for the info, C.F..

It seems the name "heiheluo" is 黑河漏. Interesting name!