An Introduction to the Characteristics and Production Methods of Qingzhou Hanging Persimmon Cakes
The winter solstice has quietly passed, and the persimmons have been off the trees for some time now. Finally, the bright red, honey-sweet persimmon cakes are here. Qingzhou persimmon cakes not only have naturally formed frost, but also feature thick frost, a bright base, a moist texture, and a sweet, fragrant taste. In the Ming Dynasty, they were even elevated to a royal tribute.
The winter solstice has quietly passed, and the persimmons have been off the trees for some time now. Finally, the bright red, honey-sweet persimmon cakes are here.
Qingzhou persimmon cakes not only have naturally formed frost, but also feature “thick frost, a bright base, a moist texture, and a sweet, fragrant taste.” In the Ming Dynasty, they were even elevated to a royal tribute.
Wangfen Town in Qingzhou City, Shandong Province, enjoys the reputation of being the “Home of Persimmons” and the “Home of Persimmon Cakes,” and is also home to the “Persimmon Valley” scenic area, which is famous for its persimmons.
Qingzhou's specialty, the Large Pointed Persimmon, has thin skin, thick flesh, and a sweet, delicious flavor. It is a high-quality variety renowned at home and abroad, and has been cultivated since the Han Dynasty, more than 2,000 years ago.
Qingzhou persimmon cake (left), ordinary persimmon cake (right)
So in terms of appearance, Qingzhou persimmon cakes are quite distinctive.
A Qingzhou persimmon cake is like a lovely lucky peach, with a little pointed tip, and it looks very appealing.
Cut it open, and the contrast in texture is even more striking!
A Qingzhou persimmon cake is full of soft, flowing filling when cut open! Crystal clear, just like jelly, with pure, fresh sweetness, soft, glutinous, and dense.
A persimmon cake is like a lovely lucky peach, with a little pointed tip, and it looks very appealing.
It is precisely because the thousand-year-old traditional craft of “hanging persimmon cakes” has been carried on that this rock-sugar-like flowing center exists. That is why Qingzhou persimmon cakes are also called “flowing-center hanging persimmons.”
Bite into one, and the outer layer has a chewy texture, wrapped in a layer of sweet persimmon frost, while the inside is a flowing center that melts in the mouth. Just thinking about it makes your mouth water.
Qingzhou City is located in the central part of the Shandong Peninsula and is one of the ancient “Nine Provinces.” Because it lies between the East China Sea and Mount Tai, in the east of China, and “the east belongs to wood, and the color of wood is blue-green,” it was named “Qingzhou.”
Qingzhou City lies in a warm-temperate, semi-humid monsoon climate zone, with a mild climate and four distinct seasons: cold and dry winters, hot and rainy summers, and warm, moderate springs and autumns. The dry and wet, cold and warm conditions of the four seasons are clearly defined, making it very suitable for growing persimmons.
The Qingzhou pointed persimmon is also highly nutritious, containing abundant vitamins, carotene, riboflavin, and more, and is good for the eyes and skin.
, and it looks very nice.
After harvesting the persimmons, they still need to be sorted. Persimmons with orange-red color and yellow calyx ends are best, and all rotten and soft fruit must be removed.
The Qingzhou pointed persimmon is also highly nutritious, containing abundant vitamins, carotene, riboflavin, and more, and is good for the eyes and skin.
, and it looks very nice.
Because persimmon skin cannot be eaten, every persimmon must be peeled with a scraper. Only after the skin is completely removed can they be put on racks to dry.
This is because the vast majority of the tannic acid in persimmons is concentrated in the skin. During de-astringency, it is impossible to remove all the tannic acid. If eaten together with the skin, it can easily cause gastric persimmon stones.
In winter, the people of Wangfen Town in Qingzhou City hang up bright red persimmons and persimmon cakes in every household, warm and auspicious
, and it looks very nice.
The white frost covering the surface of persimmon cakes is the condensed glucose and fructose that seep out as the moisture evaporates while the flesh is drying.
It is also called persimmon frost, and is highly sought after because it can relieve dry and sore throat, mouth and tongue sores, and cough due to lung heat.
Because the production process for persimmon cakes is complex and the frosting time is long, many unscrupulous sellers counterfeit them. Fake persimmon frost is generally evenly distributed and not sweet.
The persimmon frost on Qingzhou persimmon cakes varies from thin to thick, is naturally distributed, and tastes clearly sweet with a light touch of the tongue, with no adulteration whatsoever.
Moreover, because the Qingzhou pointed persimmon itself is already high in sweetness, more sugar is released when it is made into persimmon cakes, so the persimmon frost is thicker than that of ordinary persimmon cakes.
Persimmon trees in China grow over a very wide range, and there are also many persimmon cake production areas, but the regions with truly excellent quality are mainly Shaanxi, Shandong, and Guangxi. Shandong persimmon cakes are centered mainly on Qingzhou, forming an export-oriented persimmon cake industry chain. Regarding the export of Qingzhou persimmon cakes, it is said that exports were realized after the normalization of China-Japan diplomatic relations under Premier Zhou's personal attention. In the 1990s, exports to Japan once reached 8,000 tons. It is popularly said that the Japanese invaders during the war spread the reputation of Qingzhou persimmon cakes' excellent quality to Japan. Due to the development gap between China and Japan, the export price of persimmon cakes was once high, and almost all high-quality persimmon cakes were exported to Japan to earn foreign exchange, while low-quality and inferior products flooded the domestic market, making it hard for ordinary people to taste high-quality persimmon cakes. With China's economic development in recent years, some previously expensive persimmon cakes have also entered ordinary households and become a mass consumer product. In recent years, more and more people have come to recognize the health benefits of persimmon cakes, and their purely natural, pollution-free product qualities have become increasingly sought after. Qingzhou persimmon cakes are a nationally protected geographical indication product, with a mature processing technique and a texture famous for being soft, glutinous, sweet, and fragrant, and they are well worth recommending to consumers.
Qingzhou persimmon cakes not only have naturally formed frost, but also feature “thick frost, a bright base, a moist texture, and a sweet, fragrant taste.” In the Ming Dynasty, they were even elevated to a royal tribute.
Wangfen Town in Qingzhou City, Shandong Province, enjoys the reputation of being the “Home of Persimmons” and the “Home of Persimmon Cakes,” and is also home to the “Persimmon Valley” scenic area, which is famous for its persimmons.
Qingzhou's specialty, the Large Pointed Persimmon, has thin skin, thick flesh, and a sweet, delicious flavor. It is a high-quality variety renowned at home and abroad, and has been cultivated since the Han Dynasty, more than 2,000 years ago.
Qingzhou persimmon cake (left), ordinary persimmon cake (right)
So in terms of appearance, Qingzhou persimmon cakes are quite distinctive.
A Qingzhou persimmon cake is like a lovely lucky peach, with a little pointed tip, and it looks very appealing.
Cut it open, and the contrast in texture is even more striking!
A Qingzhou persimmon cake is full of soft, flowing filling when cut open! Crystal clear, just like jelly, with pure, fresh sweetness, soft, glutinous, and dense.
A persimmon cake is like a lovely lucky peach, with a little pointed tip, and it looks very appealing.
It is precisely because the thousand-year-old traditional craft of “hanging persimmon cakes” has been carried on that this rock-sugar-like flowing center exists. That is why Qingzhou persimmon cakes are also called “flowing-center hanging persimmons.”
Bite into one, and the outer layer has a chewy texture, wrapped in a layer of sweet persimmon frost, while the inside is a flowing center that melts in the mouth. Just thinking about it makes your mouth water.
Qingzhou City is located in the central part of the Shandong Peninsula and is one of the ancient “Nine Provinces.” Because it lies between the East China Sea and Mount Tai, in the east of China, and “the east belongs to wood, and the color of wood is blue-green,” it was named “Qingzhou.”
Qingzhou City lies in a warm-temperate, semi-humid monsoon climate zone, with a mild climate and four distinct seasons: cold and dry winters, hot and rainy summers, and warm, moderate springs and autumns. The dry and wet, cold and warm conditions of the four seasons are clearly defined, making it very suitable for growing persimmons.
The Qingzhou pointed persimmon is also highly nutritious, containing abundant vitamins, carotene, riboflavin, and more, and is good for the eyes and skin.
, and it looks very nice.
After harvesting the persimmons, they still need to be sorted. Persimmons with orange-red color and yellow calyx ends are best, and all rotten and soft fruit must be removed.
The Qingzhou pointed persimmon is also highly nutritious, containing abundant vitamins, carotene, riboflavin, and more, and is good for the eyes and skin.
, and it looks very nice.
Because persimmon skin cannot be eaten, every persimmon must be peeled with a scraper. Only after the skin is completely removed can they be put on racks to dry.
This is because the vast majority of the tannic acid in persimmons is concentrated in the skin. During de-astringency, it is impossible to remove all the tannic acid. If eaten together with the skin, it can easily cause gastric persimmon stones.
In winter, the people of Wangfen Town in Qingzhou City hang up bright red persimmons and persimmon cakes in every household, warm and auspicious
, and it looks very nice.
The white frost covering the surface of persimmon cakes is the condensed glucose and fructose that seep out as the moisture evaporates while the flesh is drying.
It is also called persimmon frost, and is highly sought after because it can relieve dry and sore throat, mouth and tongue sores, and cough due to lung heat.
Because the production process for persimmon cakes is complex and the frosting time is long, many unscrupulous sellers counterfeit them. Fake persimmon frost is generally evenly distributed and not sweet.
The persimmon frost on Qingzhou persimmon cakes varies from thin to thick, is naturally distributed, and tastes clearly sweet with a light touch of the tongue, with no adulteration whatsoever.
Moreover, because the Qingzhou pointed persimmon itself is already high in sweetness, more sugar is released when it is made into persimmon cakes, so the persimmon frost is thicker than that of ordinary persimmon cakes.
Persimmon trees in China grow over a very wide range, and there are also many persimmon cake production areas, but the regions with truly excellent quality are mainly Shaanxi, Shandong, and Guangxi. Shandong persimmon cakes are centered mainly on Qingzhou, forming an export-oriented persimmon cake industry chain. Regarding the export of Qingzhou persimmon cakes, it is said that exports were realized after the normalization of China-Japan diplomatic relations under Premier Zhou's personal attention. In the 1990s, exports to Japan once reached 8,000 tons. It is popularly said that the Japanese invaders during the war spread the reputation of Qingzhou persimmon cakes' excellent quality to Japan. Due to the development gap between China and Japan, the export price of persimmon cakes was once high, and almost all high-quality persimmon cakes were exported to Japan to earn foreign exchange, while low-quality and inferior products flooded the domestic market, making it hard for ordinary people to taste high-quality persimmon cakes. With China's economic development in recent years, some previously expensive persimmon cakes have also entered ordinary households and become a mass consumer product. In recent years, more and more people have come to recognize the health benefits of persimmon cakes, and their purely natural, pollution-free product qualities have become increasingly sought after. Qingzhou persimmon cakes are a nationally protected geographical indication product, with a mature processing technique and a texture famous for being soft, glutinous, sweet, and fragrant, and they are well worth recommending to consumers.