Sheqi Sweet Potato Noodles, Sheets and Starch 社旗三粉

Sheqi Sweet Potato Noodles, Sheets and Starch (社旗三粉) are the 'three starches' of Sheqi County (社旗县) in Nanyang (南阳), Henan: dried noodles (粉条), starch sheets (粉皮) and the starch itself (粉面), all made mainly from sweet potatoes. Nanyang Radio and Television (南阳广播电视台) says Sheqi's three starches are known far and wide and have been made for more than 600 years.

Ingredients

Sweet potato is the main raw material. Nanyang Radio and Television reported a harvest year in which the county grew more than 300,000 mu (about 20,000 hectares) of sweet potatoes, most of them sold to local makers of the three starches; one grower it interviewed in Zhuji town (朱集镇) plants the Xiguahong (西瓜红) and Shangshu 19 (商薯19) varieties. Fresh sweet potatoes come to market from June, and trading runs until May of the following year.

How it is made

The manager of a company that calls itself the county's largest traditional noodle maker told Nanyang Radio and Television that it can turn sweet potatoes dug from the field into noodles within three days, and that production no longer has to wait for the cold of winter but runs all year. Xinhua photographed a villager in Yinhe village (殷河村) of Zhuji town drying the noodles in the open in late December. In Shitasi village (石塔寺村) of Miaodian town (苗店镇), a processing park has added automated lines for hot-and-sour noodles and hotpot starch sheets, according to Farmers' Daily (农民日报).

Flavour and texture

Haozhai town (郝寨镇), east of the county seat, is known as the 'home of the three starches' (三粉之乡). The Henan government service portal describes its hand-made sweet potato noodles and sheets as chewy and able to stand long boiling, with a smooth, slippery feel in the mouth.