Osmanthus Sweet Taro Soup 桂花糖芋苗
Osmanthus Sweet Taro Soup is featured among the local specialties of Jiangsu.
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Osmanthus Sweet Taro Soup (桂花糖芋苗) is a Nanjing (南京) dessert combining soft taro, fragrant osmanthus and smooth lotus-root starch. Its glossy, reddish-brown liquid carries a pronounced floral scent. The taro itself is sweet, soft and slippery.
Preserving the flower fragrance
In a Suqian Daily essay, Qing Xiaohe (清小禾) describes Nanjing cooks gathering osmanthus in autumn and preserving the flowers with sugar as guijiang (桂浆), an osmanthus syrup.
From a street snack to a hotel table
Qing cites Nanjing Pengren Jicui (南京烹饪集萃), a collection on Nanjing cooking, for the dessert’s arrival at Jinling Hotel (金陵饭店) in 1986. It also appears in Chinese Snacks: Jiangsu Flavours (中国小吃（江苏风味）) as a Confucius Temple (夫子庙) speciality. Jiangsu Broadcasting likewise identifies it among that district’s traditional osmanthus sweets.
Sources & reading
Written from the linked sources and fact-checked against them on 2026-09-27. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.