Xinpu Dried Persimmon Chicken Soup 新埔柿饼鸡汤

How it is made

The persimmon must be dried first. Peeled fruit is laid out on bamboo trays and stacked on tiered racks so the wind moves through. Xinpu sits in the Hsinchu wind corridor, which is what makes the drying work.

The dried fruit is then simmered with a whole chicken, usually with ginger and a little rice wine, until the broth turns amber and sweet. Some households add dried shiitake or goji; the persimmon is doing the seasoning, so salt goes in late.

Flavour & texture

The soup is sweet before it is salty — a fruit sweetness closer to dried apricot than to sugar, with a faint astringency underneath. The chicken gives the savoury base and the ginger keeps the sweetness from taking over.

The dried persimmon softens into something between a fruit and a dumpling, chewy and honeyed, and the flesh is usually eaten rather than discarded. The broth is thin, not creamy, and it tastes strongest after a second simmering.

Local roots & traditions

Xinpu's Hankeng village has been making dried persimmons for more than a century, and the trade is treated as the township's own industry and culture. The drying season is set by the 九降風, the strong seasonal wind that begins around the Double Ninth festival and is peculiar to the village; when it blows, the persimmons are ripe for drying.

The festival dates from 1998, when the first edition was held at the Xinpu Yimin temple. The farmers' association later added the soup to its product line as a way of raising the value of the crop, which is how most visitors meet the dish.

Ingredients & dietary needs

Dried persimmon, chicken, ginger, rice wine and salt, sometimes shiitake or goji berries. The soup is not vegetarian and not halal. If the rice wine matters to you, ask for it to be left out and let the pot come to a hard boil.

No wheat, no dairy, no nuts and no shellfish are standard. Persimmon is high in tannin, which is why it is usually eaten away from a heavy protein meal rather than with one — but in a long-simmered soup the astringency has largely cooked out.

How to order it

Show 柿餅雞湯 or 柿乾雞湯. Ask 有加酒嗎 (is there wine) and 會甜嗎 (is it sweet), because both vary by kitchen. In a Hakka restaurant it arrives as a shared soup, not as an individual portion.

A pot serves three to four people as one dish among several. If you only want a taste, ask whether they sell 半隻, half a bird, or a single-bowl version.

How to eat it & plan a meal

Drink the broth first, before the persimmon has fully broken down, and then eat the fruit. Serve it with plain rice rather than with another sweet dish; the sweetness is easy to overload.

Order it in autumn and winter, when the persimmons are freshly dried. Pair it with a plate of stir-fried greens and a Hakka braised dish, and finish with tea rather than dessert.

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