Queshan Pea Starch Jelly 确山凉粉
Queshan Pea Starch Jelly is featured among the local specialties of Henan.
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Queshan Pea Starch Jelly (确山凉粉) is made with the small, dark tie wandou (铁豌豆), or 'iron peas', grown locally in Queshan County (确山县). Zhumadian Daily (驻马店日报) describes a handmaking tradition associated with the Liu family (刘家) in the county's western quarter.
How it is made
Peas from Wagang (瓦岗) and Xin'andian (新安店) are cleaned and soaked in spring water for one or two days, with a change of water during soaking. Once soft, they are ground into a slurry, strained and left in earthenware jars so the starch settles. Foam is removed from the surface. The thin liquid left over can be used for fermented-slurry noodles.
After settling and fermentation, the starch is strained again into boiling water. When the paste bubbles, the heat is lowered and the mixture cooks gently for about an hour. It is then ladled into clean containers, covered and left to cool into jelly.
How it is eaten
A special scraper turns the set jelly into even strips. Garlic paste, aged vinegar, chilli oil and sesame paste dress the bowl. The smooth, delicate jelly has moderate springiness.
Sources & reading
Written from the linked sources and checked sentence by sentence against quoted extracts by a separate reviewer on 2026-09-26. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.