Dragon Beard Candy at Uwajimaya

[laurel]

http://www.uwajimaya.com/calendar.html#dragon

8,000 strands of sugar!

Friday, December 10: Uwajimaya Bellevue 12-6 pm

Saturday, December 11: Uwajimaya Seattle 12-6 pm

Sunday, December 12: Uwajimaya Beaverton 12-6 pm

Description:

Dragon beard candy is a truly unique handmade sweet from Hong Kong that only a few hundred people worldwide know how to make. Mr. Hon Keung Wong, who has been making this candy for over 35 years, will be stopping by Uwajimaya to demonstrate the elaborate process of hand-making dragon beard candy using a technique that generally takes several years to master. The “beard” consists of over 8000 fine strands of sugar crafted by hand-stretching and twisting a small continuous mass of malt sugar. As thin as strands of hair, dragon beard candy requires the maker to exercise both strength and restraint. Any unevenness would be exaggerated as the strands are made thinner and thinner. When the sugar confection is completed, the candy maker trims off smaller pieces and fills them with finely chopped peanuts, sesame and coconut. Stop by Uwajimaya and see this amazing art for yourself!

[Really Nice!]

E-mail from a friend...

Legendary Dragon Beard Candy maker to demonstrate traditional handmade Chinese confection in West Coast cities

When do the lines blur between candy and art?

If the candy takes two years of practice to learn to make and consists of thousands of hand-stretched strands of sugar as thin as hair, the leap between the two worlds is not as far as one might think.

Select locations in Seattle, Beaverton, and the Bay Area will soon feature live, in-person demonstrations of a 2000-year old traditional Chinese sweet made by a master confectioner from Hong Kong.

Yuzu Trading Co. of Seattle, WA has invited Mr. Hon Keung Wong, who has been making the candy for 35 years, and his wife Mrs. Sau Wah Cheng, to tour several cities in the west coast. Only about 400 people in the world still know how to make this delicacy, most of whom work as street vendors.

Mr. Wong and Mrs. Cheng will demonstrate the elaborate process of hand-making dragon beard candy using a technique that generally takes several years to master. The “beard” consists of over 8000 fine strands of sugar crafted by hand-stretching and twisting a small continuous mass of malt sugar. As thin as strands of hair, dragon beard candy requires the maker to exercise both strength and restraint. Any unevenness would be exaggerated as the strands are made thinner and thinner.

When the sugar confection is completed, the candy maker trims off smaller pieces and fills them with finely chopped peanuts, sesame and coconut.

Mr. Wong and Mrs. Cheng are founders and directors of Bamboo Garden, a high-end Hong Kong brand which has established a reputation for quality and elegance in Hong Kong and in Singapore, selling mostly in department stores and upscale gift shops.

Every piece of Bamboo Garden Icy Crispy Dragon Beard Candy is handmade, and is packaged without the use of preservatives, flavorings or food colorings. The individual pieces consist of as many as 3000 strands of sugar. The finished candy tends to stick together within an hour of being made, but Bamboo Garden invented a packaging technique that keeps the candy fresh for four to six months, maintaining a distinctive “icy-crispy” texture that shatters on the tongue and melts in the mouth.

In the United States, the candy is sold in the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, Uwajimaya locations in the Pacific Northwest, and will debut at 99 Ranch locations in northern California and Washington State shortly.

The tour will give customers a chance to see this traditional technique first-hand. Fascinating to watch, the candy is suited as an accompaniment to good quality tea or coffee.

Schedule:

Friday, December 10: Uwajimaya Bellevue 12-6 pm

Saturday, December 11: Uwajimaya Seattle 12-6 pm

Sunday, December 12: Uwajimaya Beaverton 12-6 pm

[Really Nice!]

Here's the Website with a video. It actually looks pretty cool.

[Hest88]

Really Nice you have no idea what the Bay Area schedule is, do you? I can't seem to find it on the Bamboo Garden website at all. I have such fond memories of Dragon Beard candy!

[Abra]

Wow, thanks for posting about this, Laurel and ReallyNice! It sounds like a trip to Uwajimaya is needed on Sunday.

[Fay Jai]

Laurel ---

Omigod omigod omigod OH MY GOD!!!

I am sitting here with tears welling up in my eyes. I had despaired of ever having Dragon's Beard Candy again....

Cut to the summer of 1991. Little ol' 1/2 chinese me from podunk, washington, the product of a broken home who was raised by his Norwegian/Ukranian mom who was a uniquely bad cook, who moved in with his full Chinese dad in middle school and who grew up hating (for the most part, anyway) chinese food, is standing, sweating, in a mall in Hong Kong, having just walked past an ice rink.

(AN ICE RINK!!! IN HONG KONG!!!)

My dad's best friend growing up, (who of course, is referred to as Uncle,) is hustling me thru the mall, 'cause there is this candy that he wants me to try. I'm doubtful. My experience with Chinese sweets has not been good. From the cakes from the chinese bakeries that were always a bit off, to (shudder) the canned grass jelly drink, (which, well, tasted like grass, with the delectably horrifying addittion of thos snot like tapioca pearls. Yuk.)

So, Uncle Edwin parks me in front of a kiosk iun the middle of this mall. And, before me, this guy is making Dragon's Beard Candy. Uncle told me that there were very, very few people who knew how to make this candy, and I should feel priveleged to be eating it. we ordered some, and man, it was some of the best candy that I can remember having. If you can, GO!

Thanks for posting this, My dad's Birthday is that day, and I was going to try to leave for Longview before noon, but it looks like I will be late...

[Really Nice!]

The Bay Area schedule is:

Thursday, December 16: 99 Ranch, Bay Area

Friday, December 17: 99 Ranch, Bay Area

Saturday, December 18: 99 Ranch, Bay Area

Sunday, December 19: 99 Ranch, Bay Area

You might find more information on their Web site.

Jason Truesdell of Yuzu Trading Co. LLC is the man responsible for putting this together. You can reach him at Jason@yuzutrade.com.

[Really Nice!]

Wow, thanks for posting about this, Laurel and ReallyNice!  It sounds like a trip to Uwajimaya is needed on Sunday.

←

Just to clarify the schedule, it's Bellevue on Friday, Seattle on Saturday, Beaverton Oregon on Sunday.

[Hest88]

Cool! Thanks, Really Nice!

[Abra]

Oops, I seem to have missed that crucial schedule detail. Saturday is out for me...now, do I actually want to venture to Bellevue?

[OnlyTheBest]

E-mail from a friend...

Legendary Dragon Beard Candy maker to demonstrate traditional handmade Chinese confection in West Coast cities

When do the lines blur between candy and art?

If the candy takes two years of practice to learn to make and consists of thousands of hand-stretched strands of sugar as thin as hair, the leap between the two worlds is not as far as one might think.

Select locations in Seattle, Beaverton, and the Bay Area will soon feature live, in-person demonstrations of a 2000-year old traditional Chinese sweet made by a master confectioner from Hong Kong.

Yuzu Trading Co. of Seattle, WA has invited Mr. Hon Keung Wong, who has been making the candy for 35 years, and his wife Mrs. Sau Wah Cheng, to tour several cities in the west coast. Only about 400 people in the world still know how to make this delicacy, most of whom work as street vendors.

Mr. Wong and Mrs. Cheng will demonstrate the elaborate process of hand-making dragon beard candy using a technique that generally takes several years to master.  The “beard” consists of over 8000 fine strands of sugar crafted by hand-stretching and twisting a small continuous mass of malt sugar. As thin as strands of hair, dragon beard candy requires the maker to exercise both strength and restraint. Any unevenness would be exaggerated as the strands are made thinner and thinner.

When the sugar confection is completed, the candy maker trims off smaller pieces and fills them with finely chopped peanuts, sesame and coconut.

Mr. Wong and Mrs. Cheng are founders and directors of Bamboo Garden, a high-end Hong Kong brand which has established a reputation for quality and elegance in Hong Kong and in Singapore, selling mostly in department stores and upscale gift shops.

Every piece of Bamboo Garden Icy Crispy Dragon Beard Candy is handmade, and is packaged without the use of preservatives, flavorings or food colorings. The individual pieces consist of as many as 3000 strands of sugar. The finished candy tends to stick together within an hour of being made, but Bamboo Garden invented a packaging technique that keeps the candy fresh for four to six months, maintaining a distinctive “icy-crispy” texture that shatters on the tongue and melts in the mouth.

In the United States, the candy is sold in the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, Uwajimaya locations in the Pacific Northwest, and will debut at 99 Ranch locations in northern California and Washington State shortly.

The tour will give customers a chance to see this traditional technique first-hand. Fascinating to watch, the candy is suited as an accompaniment to good quality tea or coffee.

Schedule:

Friday, December 10: Uwajimaya Bellevue 12-6 pm

Saturday, December 11: Uwajimaya Seattle 12-6 pm

Sunday, December 12: Uwajimaya Beaverton 12-6 pm

←

I would love to see this...do you know if they will be selling the candy that they will be making as well?

Cant wait to try it.

[mklynch]

We went to the Beaverton demo yesterday and it was pretty cool to watch. They gave out samples when he was done. They were from the previous batch that had been chilled, so the sensation of melting in the mouth was heightened. The piece looked big, but they instructed you to put the whole thing in your mouth. Then it just melts and leaves you wanting more.

Seems like it would get boring to make it all day long, however!

[Really Nice!]

I stopped by Uwajimaya on Saturday. Very cool indeed! That stuff is good!