Suixi Sauce-Cured Stuffed Melon 濉溪酱包瓜

How it is made

The Suixi county government counts more than twenty steps. The melons are chosen, the pulp is scooped out, and the empty skins are salted and drained. The filling is then mixed and packed in, each melon is tied shut by hand, and the stuffed melons are cured in sauce until finished.

The skin is a bao melon grown around Linhuan, and the filling is made from more than eight natural ingredients. The pickle is also called "菜中菜" (a dish within a dish) and is classed as a sauce-pickled vegetable product.

Flavour and texture

The finished melon is glossy, crisp and tender, with a fresh aroma and a clean feel in the mouth. Salt and sweetness are moderate and the sauce flavour is strong, and the county describes it as suiting both northern and southern palates. Its reputation rests on four qualities: fragrant, crisp, tender and rich in sauce.

Where it comes from

The county dates the pickle to the early years of the Guangxu reign (光绪) of the Qing dynasty, when Pan Xiaowu (潘孝武), a man from Nanjing, and his son opened a sauce shop called Yuanchangzhai (园昌斋) at the Linhuan market and made the first Linhuan stuffed melons there. A late-Qing poet wrote that after eating the melon one forgets the people back home.

Suixi Sauce-Cured Stuffed Melon is a national geographical-indication protected product and an Anhui provincial intangible cultural heritage item, with more than a hundred years of history.