Jiufen Taro Balls 九份芋圆
Jiufen Taro Balls is featured among the local specialties of Taiwan.
Jiufen Taro Balls (九份芋圆) are chewy balls made from taro, a traditional Taiwanese dessert closely tied to Jiufen (九份), an old hillside town in Ruifang District (瑞芳区), New Taipei. Chinese Wikipedia describes them as soft and springy and very fragrant.
Ingredients
The dough is taro worked together with sweet-potato starch, potato starch and water, which gives the finished balls a taro-grey colour. The same method with sweet potato, mung bean, Chinese yam, sesame or matcha in place of the taro paste makes sweet-potato balls, mung-bean balls and other versions, and these are also well-known snacks in Ruifang and Jiufen.
Where it comes from
Chinese Wikipedia credits the invention of taro balls in 1946 to Cai Lin Baoyun (蔡林保云) of Ruifang, who married into the town in 1938, helped run her in-laws' grocery, sold plum-flavoured ice at the door and later set up a shaved-ice stall where she developed the balls. Her grandson Cai Zhengjian (蔡政建) renamed the family shop Baoyun Taro Balls (保云芋圆) in her memory.
In the 1970s a stallholder known as A-Gan-yi (阿柑姨) sold ice near Jiufen Elementary School and began adding taro balls as a topping when customers asked for them; with the growth of tourism they became a well-known Jiufen snack. Lai A-po Taro Balls (赖阿婆芋圆) on Jiufen Old Street dates from the same period. Jishan Street (基山街), now the old street's main shopping lane, is known for its taro-ball shops. It was once the busiest commercial street in the Jiufen area, lit all night because mining went on around the clock with miners working three shifts.
Sources & reading
Written from the linked sources and fact-checked against them on 2026-09-25. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.
Image credits & notes (1)
- A common version of Jiufen Taro Balls · 九份芋圆常见做法参考照片。Photo: Raychang27 · CC BY-SA 3.0Resized for the web; the photo itself has not been edited.
