Mystery Ingredients

[liuzhou]

24 minutes ago, Okanagancook said:

I agree, they are figs

 

No figs. 

[Kerry Beal]

Sagwire palm sugar?

[pastrygirl]

coconut palm sugar

 

 

[liuzhou]

1 hour ago, Kerry Beal said:

Sagwire palm sugar?

 

48 minutes ago, pastrygirl said:

coconut palm sugar

 

 

 

Neither, but close.

[Kerry Beal]

Jaggery?

[liuzhou]

7 hours ago, Shalmanese said:

 

They look like Mexican Piloncillo sugar.

 

 

10 minutes ago, Kerry Beal said:

Jaggery?

 

I'm going to give it to you both. Your answers are essentially the same thing. It is raw, unrefined cane sugar.

 

Here in China it is molded into these ingot shapes known as 元宝 (yuánbǎo), so the sugar is 元宝糖。 Yuanbao were gold or silver ingots used as currency in the past and a symbol of wealth or good luck.

 

Piloncillo is really the same thing - just a different shape.

 

[andiesenji]

Isn't it the same as bing pian tang just a different form.  I have a flat block of it - Chinese cane sugar - raw, dark "bronw"  

from the local Asian market.  

 

[liuzhou]

7 hours ago, andiesenji said:

Isn't it the same as bing pian tang just a different form.  I have a flat block of it - Chinese cane sugar - raw, dark "bronw"  

from the local Asian market.  

 

 

冰片糖 (bīng piàn tāng) is just "brownish sugar" of any kind in a block - usually more yellow to light brown. The very dark sugar is referred to as 红片糖 (hóng piàn táng).

 

 I'm fairly certain the bīng piàn tāng in my supermarket is just regular sugar with molasses for colouring, as is most "brown sugar" in the west. Yuan bao sugar has a rich complex flavour quite different from bīng piàn tāng , My local supermarket sells both very separately at very different prices.

Edited October 8, 2016 by liuzhou (log)

[Thanks for the Crepes]

4 hours ago, liuzhou said:

I'm fairly certain the bing pian tang in my supermarket is just regular sugar with molasses for colouring, as is most "brown sugar" in the west. Yuan bao sugar has a rich complex flavour quite different from bing pian tang, My local supermarket sells both very separately at very different prices.

 

I do not love how less processed and "refined" things are always sold at higher prices (at least here). I can get panela here and tend to hoard it, because it's much more expensive than mainstream stuff. I have a small chunk in the pantry that's probably good for about twelve cups of tea. It's the only thing it's good for now, because I have let it become hard as a rock over time, and must chip off small pieces to melt in the tea.

 

Which product is more expensive in China, @liuzhou?

[liuzhou]

9 hours ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

 

I do not love how less processed and "refined" things are always sold at higher prices (at least here). I can get panela here and tend to hoard it, because it's much more expensive than mainstream stuff. I have a small chunk in the pantry that's probably good for about twelve cups of tea. It's the only thing it's good for now, because I have let it become hard as a rock over time, and must chip off small pieces to melt in the tea.

 

Which product is more expensive in China, @liuzhou?

 

While it can be annoying and seemingly illogical, it is in fact simple economics. Processed and "refined" products are nearly always more popular. Yes, there is more work in producing white granulated sugar, but then it sells by the ton and can be processed by megatons. The more artisan products have fewer "processes" to go through but sell in relatively tiny quantities.

Yes. granulated white sugar (白砂糖 (bái shā táng)) is the cheapest here with 500g costing ¥3.88 today, while 冰片汤 (bīng piàn tāng) was ¥6.20 and 元宝糖 (yuán bǎo táng) was ¥7.30.

 

Incidentally, my supermarket tonight had 12 different sugars on sale. I'll try to put something together on them over the next few days. I had a 5:30 start this morning and just got back at 8pm. Exhausted.

Edited October 8, 2016 by liuzhou
error in price (log)

[andiesenji]

I buy jaggery at the Indian market - I used to get it in large "cones" but now they sell it in smaller cones, in slabs and even "ground" although the latter is quite coarse.

 

The stuff I bought at the Asian market looks like this:

 

And I got some "Taiwan handmade black sugar"  "For good health and for strong life." 

Looks like this.

 

The latter is "recomend to take with ginger or ginsang tew"  ? spelling.  

It also was entirely in Chinese characters with a sticker with the "English" printing - applied to the package.

 

Edited October 9, 2016 by andiesenji (log)

[liuzhou]

Here's another one for you. In my local supermarket today.

 

 

[Duvel]

Lemongrass shoots ?

 

[BonVivant]

Fresh bamboo shoots?

 

Made this photo in Taiwan:

 

[Lisa Shock]

Onions?

 

[liuzhou]

27 minutes ago, Duvel said:

Lemongrass shoots ?

 

 

No.

 

26 minutes ago, BonVivant said:

Fresh bamboo shoots?

 

No.

 

 

21 minutes ago, Lisa Shock said:

Onions?

 

Onions? No.

[Duvel]

Ok, then lets close in: Shoots at all ?

 

Ginger/Galangal/Ginseng/Turmeric ?

[sartoric]

Weird water chestnut shoots ?

[liuzhou]

Well, I guess you could say they are shoots, but aren't many vegetables?

 

None of the above.

Edited October 23, 2016 by liuzhou (log)

[Kerry Beal]

Coconut shoots?

[MelissaH]

How big are they?

[dcarch]

7 hours ago, liuzhou said:

Here's another one for you. In my local supermarket today.

 

 

 

I know this one! Ha! But I am not telling. :-)

A very tough one to guess!

 

dcarch

 

 

Edited October 22, 2016 by dcarch (log)

[Okanagancook]

artichokes?  which have been stripped of their outer leaves

[Lisa Shock]

Lilies of some (non-poisonous) sort?

[liuzhou]

11 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:

Coconut shoots?

 

10 hours ago, MelissaH said:

How big are they?

 

Between 5 and 6 inches long on average.

 

5 hours ago, Lisa Shock said:

Lilies of some (non-poisonous) sort?

 

None of the above.