Zhijin Cold Buckwheat Jelly 织金荞凉粉

How it is made

The Zhijin county government calls the jelly a traditional local snack that, dipped in its sauce, is spicy, fragrant and refreshing. It is made from sweet buckwheat grown in Zhijin or Weining (威宁), following the steps strictly. The buckwheat is husked and broken into granules, tied in a gauze bag and soaked thoroughly, then lifted out and rubbed by hand in fresh water. The liquid that comes out is left to settle, the clear water on top is poured off, and the remaining pure slurry is cooked with more water over high heat for about three hours while it is stirred. Poured into a basin, it cools for about ten hours until it sets into a translucent solid.

The county singles out the cooking and stirring as the critical step. The heat has to be exactly right: a little too much and the jelly turns tough, a little too little and it stays too soft to set. The hand stirring cannot stop, or the pot burns.

Flavour and texture

A finished block has a skin and a core. The skin, the top layer, is firmer and darker, with a stronger buckwheat taste and more chew; the core is smoother and tastes less of buckwheat. To serve it, a copper or iron scraper covered in small holes shaves the jelly into long, thin strands.

How it is eaten

The county says a good bowl needs a good dip, and the essential base of the Zhijin dip is home-made fermented bean curd, known locally as meidoufu (霉豆腐), which smells strong but tastes good. It is made from local soybeans, ground into soy milk that is boiled and set into tofu with sour broth, then cut into blocks and wrapped in rice straw to ferment until a fuzzy white mould grows. The blocks are then bottled with salt, Sichuan pepper powder and baijiu and left until the flavours have worked right into the curd.

For the dip, the bean curd is mashed with ginger juice and garlic water, then mixed with dry-fried soybeans, chopped spring onion, fish mint (折耳根), chilli powder, sesame oil, Sichuan pepper oil and other seasonings. A soft-yolk century egg can be eaten alongside it.

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