Tanghe Mung Bean Jelly 唐河凉粉

How it is made

Selected mung beans are soaked for twelve hours in water between 10 and 30 degrees Celsius, with one change of water, so that the bean germ begins to sprout. The swollen beans are ground again and again on a stone mill into a paste, and the paste is strained through fine cloth two or three times until all the bean pulp has been separated. The mung bean liquid that remains is the raw material: it is mixed with water in set proportions, brought to the boil, poured into a container and left to cool to room temperature, when it has set into jelly.

Tanghe people have since invented purpose-built mung bean grinding machines and filters, which the Nanyang government says have cut the making time by half.

Flavour and how it is eaten

The mung bean jelly is slightly yellow, fine and refreshing, and soft in the mouth. It is cut up and eaten either cold, dressed with cool ginger water, crushed garlic, vinegar and sesame paste, or stir-fried over high heat.

Where it comes from

Tanghe lies in south-western Henan on the eastern edge of the Nanyang Basin, and the city government describes its flat land and distinct seasons as well suited to growing mung beans. Jelly was made in Tanghe from pea flour and dried sweet potato more than four hundred years ago, but that jelly was brittle and did not keep. According to the Nanyang government, an old craftsman surnamed Duan, after many trials, found that mung bean made a softer, more elastic jelly that was better both dressed cold and fried; the method spread quickly through the county, and the Nanyang government calls mung bean jelly a major innovation of Tanghe's ordinary people.

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