Perilla-Marinated Peaches and Ginger 紫苏桃子姜

Perilla-Marinated Peaches and Ginger (紫苏桃子姜) is a sweet-and-sour summer snack from Changsha (长沙), Hunan: slices of crisp peach and young ginger steeped with perilla leaves (紫苏), sugar and white vinegar. The Changsha Evening News (长沙晚报) sums up its appeal as the fragrance of perilla, the sweet crunch of peach and the fresh bite of young ginger.

How it is made

A recipe published by the Changsha Evening News in 2023 uses peaches (firm, crisp ones give a better texture), perilla leaves, white vinegar and rock sugar or white sugar, with young ginger or red bayberries (杨梅) as additions. The peaches and ginger are washed and sliced, salted for 30 minutes, drained, and rinsed of salt with cooled boiled water. The perilla leaves are cut into strips and rubbed with sugar and white vinegar until they give up their juice. Everything is then stirred together with more vinegar and sugar, packed into a sealed jar and chilled for one to two days.

Flavour and texture

The result is sour and sweet, and the balance between the two is adjusted to taste. In a 2018 essay on the Dongguashan (东瓜山) food street published in the same paper, the writer called the dish refreshing and appetite-whetting, good for tempering spicy heat and grease on a street known for snacks and barbecue.

Where it comes from

The Xiaoxiang Morning Herald (潇湘晨报), in a 2022 report carried by Red Net (红网), lists Perilla-Marinated Peaches and Ginger among the signature foods of the Dongguashan night market on Yunan Street (裕南街) in Tianxin District (天心区). A 2024 Changsha Evening News report says that after the Dongguashan version took off, the dish spread until by that summer it could be seen all over Changsha, and quotes Xiang cuisine master Luo Jixiang (罗继湘) naming it as the food to mention that summer. The same report describes a hand-made version at a snack stall on Chaozong Street (潮宗街), and a coffee maker on the same street who once worked the peach-and-perilla flavour into an American-style coffee.