Pucheng Tofu Ball Soup 浦城豆腐丸
Pucheng Tofu Ball Soup is featured among the local specialties of Fujian.
Pucheng Tofu Ball Soup (浦城豆腐丸) is a bowl of balls made from mashed tofu and lean pork, served in a long-simmered broth, from Pucheng County (浦城县) in Nanping (南平), Fujian. It counts as one of Pucheng's representative local snacks, and the making technique is described as original to Pucheng.
How it is made
The first step is choosing gypsum-set tofu (石膏豆腐) made locally in Pucheng. The tofu is mashed and beaten smooth with chopsticks so that it will hold together as balls. The inheritor of the craft, Chen Xiumei (陈秀妹), pairs it with lean meat from the pig's hind leg, trimmed so that it carries almost no sinew.
The broth gets the most attention. The traditional stock is made by putting pig's trotters, pork bones and dried cuttlefish (目鱼干) in a pot, simmering them slowly over a low flame, and then keeping the pot warm over charcoal. Chen has also added other broths, such as white fungus with duck and one made with tea-tree mushrooms (茶树菇).
How it is eaten
Fujian Daily's report sums the dish up as "一汤一丸" (one soup, one ball). At Chen's table, five small dishes are set out in a row so diners can season their own bowl: spring onion, five-spice powder, chilli sauce, chopped coriander and aged vinegar.
Where it comes from
Early in 1912 Chen Zigong (陈紫拱), Chen Xiumei's father, opened a tofu-ball shop at Tiandengxia (添灯下), beside the centre of Pucheng's market streets. It is the earliest breakfast shop with a firm written record of making tofu balls as its speciality. He drew on the different ways tofu balls were made in Pucheng at the time and worked on both broth and ingredients, and the Tiandengxia tofu balls became known across the town.
After 1949 he joined the Pucheng county catering company and went on making tofu balls there, and the dish moved from a street snack to a dish people widely enjoy. His daughter learned the craft from him as a child. In 2012 the Pucheng tofu-ball making technique was entered in the fourth batch of Nanping's municipal list of representative intangible cultural heritage.
More dishes to compare
Explore related local specialties and compare their names, preparation notes and ordering guidance.
Hakka Stuffed Tofu 客家酿豆腐 →
Both are Fujian tofu dishes; in Pucheng the tofu is mashed with lean pork and shaped into balls that are served in a slow-simmered broth.
Questions before you order
What goes into Pucheng Tofu Ball Soup?
The balls are made from locally made gypsum-set tofu, mashed smooth, with lean hind-leg pork. The traditional broth is simmered from pig's trotters, pork bones and dried cuttlefish.
Sources & reading
Written from the linked sources and fact-checked against them on 2026-09-23. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.