Tadpole-Shaped Starch Jelly 蛙鱼

Tadpole-Shaped Starch Jelly (蛙鱼) is a cold starch jelly from Xuzhou (徐州), made mainly from sweet-potato starch. Its local name, "wayu" (literally "frog fish"), comes from the pieces, which look like tadpoles.

Flavour and texture

Xuzhou Daily describes the jelly as clear in colour, smooth and sweet-and-sour. The My Jiangsu (我苏) news service calls a bowl refreshing and appetising, with a springy, chewy bite, and particularly suited to hot summer days.

How it is eaten

Describing the Moonlight Market (月光市集) night market on Hubu Hill (户部山) in Xuzhou, My Jiangsu calls wayu the companion of fried skewers, a pairing it places in many Xuzhou people's childhood memories.

Where it comes from

Xuzhou Daily reported in January 2025 that the Xuzhou city government had put the "Xuzhou wayu making technique" (徐州蛙鱼制作技艺) on its fifth batch of municipal intangible cultural heritage. The newspaper credits the Guo family's wayu (郭氏蛙鱼), carried on by fourth-generation inheritor Guo Lu (郭璐), with the successful application; the family has also registered its own trademark and expanded from dine-in sales to an online shop. Shaohua Street wayu (少华街蛙鱼) is one of the heritage products that, according to the Xuzhou intangible-heritage products trading centre, regularly carry its heritage code (非遗码), especially on gift packs; buyers scan the code to check authenticity and the line of transmission.