Jiaocheng Taro-Skin Meat Dumplings 蕉城肉丸
Jiaocheng Taro-Skin Meat Dumplings is featured among the local specialties of Fujian.
Image notes
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Jiaocheng Taro-Skin Meat Dumplings (蕉城肉丸) are steamed balls from Jiaocheng (蕉城) in Ningde (宁德), Fujian, with a wrapper of taro and sweet-potato starch around a meat filling. Locally they are simply called rou wan (肉丸), and in Jiaocheng they are a snack that every household knows how to make.
How it is made
The wrapper is mixed from taro (芋头) and sweet-potato starch (地瓜粉). It is closed around a meat filling seasoned with dried shrimp and chopped shiitake mushrooms, and the filled balls are then steamed.
Flavour and texture
Steaming turns the skin glossy, and it eats soft and sticky-chewy. Biting through it releases a small pocket of juices.
How it is eaten
Shops that sell nothing but rou wan are rare on Jiaocheng's streets. Most are sold from a small cart on a street corner carrying two steamers, and the steamed balls go out six to a bowl. School students on their way home and couples out shopping stop to buy a bowl as they pass.
More dishes to compare
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Fuding Beef Balls 福鼎牛肉丸 →
Fuding's beef balls come from the same Ningde prefecture; the Jiaocheng rou wan instead wraps a meat filling in a steamed skin of taro and sweet-potato starch.
Questions before you order
Is the skin of Jiaocheng Taro-Skin Meat Dumplings made from wheat flour?
No. The wrapper is mixed from taro and sweet-potato starch, and it turns glossy and soft-chewy when steamed.
Sources & reading
Written from the linked sources and fact-checked against them on 2026-09-23. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.