Cold Seaweed Jelly 海凉粉
Cold Seaweed Jelly is featured among the local specialties of Liaoning.
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Cold Seaweed Jelly (海凉粉) is a cold appetiser eaten as a local speciality in Shandong and in Dalian (大连), Liaoning. It is made from a seaweed called shihuacai (石花菜) and has a smooth, slippery texture.
How it is made
The seaweed is gathered from the shore, washed clean and dried in the sun. It then goes into a pot with water and is boiled down until the liquid turns gelatinous. The liquid is strained off, and that strained liquid becomes the jelly.
Where it comes from
Chinese Wikipedia traces Cold Seaweed Jelly to Laoshan (崂山) in Qingdao (青岛). A legend says that when the First Emperor of Qin sent men to find the elixir of immortality, they reached Laoshan, where Taoist priests gave them jelly boiled from shihuacai, and the emperor liked it. Locals call the seaweed "长寿菜", 'longevity vegetable'.
The processing technique for shihuacai jelly was added to the intangible cultural heritage list of Laoshan District in December 2012 and became a Qingdao city-level heritage item in July 2015.
How it is eaten
In Qingdao the jelly is eaten as a side dish, dressed with mashed garlic, coriander, dried shrimp, shredded cucumber, vinegar and light soy sauce.
Sources & reading
Written from the linked sources and checked sentence by sentence against quoted extracts by a separate reviewer on 2026-09-26. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.