Matsu pastries: Matsu, cotton rose crisp, Chi-Gong cake.

Matsu pastries: Matsu, cotton rose crisp, Chi-Gong cake.

With the same name of Matsu, "Matsu crisp", originally named "horse crisp", is one kind of sweets that is popular in east Fujian. In 1964, former President Chiang, Ching-Kuo went to Matsu for an inspection tour, he was impressed after tasting this sweet, he said: "the good dessert which can only be tasted in Matsu, its name should be changed into Matsu crisp” There upon henceforth had the new name. Matsu crisp actually is similar to Taiwanese traditional dessert "sweet potato crisp". The ingredients are bread flour and eggs. First, mixing the ingredients all together, slices into small piece to fry in oil. After taking out from the frying pot and getting cool, mixes evenly the compaction with the malt syrup, again slices into small piece, it tastes delicious whether with tea or coffee .

Only "Tian Mei Xuan" and “Bow Li Xuan" were two traditional old shops manufactured the Matsu crisops, in recent years, Since Matsu is opened for sightseeing, the selling of Matsu crisps increases, therefore shops selling Matsu crisps become more and more. Last year just inherited “Bow Li Xuan” from his father, Mr. Kao Ming Shuan says although he helped his father when he was a little boy, he realizes when he became the owner that it is not easy to make delicious Matsu is crisps. "Delicious Matsu crisp is the crisp center belt soft, the soft center belt chews the vigor, but also must add on various differently"secret recipe ". Since the Matsu crisps are all handmade, therefore the output is extremely limited." Mr. Kao says, now some shop owners bake the crisps instead of frying, and use the machine to suppress, causes the cake become less tasty, taste just like sweet potato crisps in Taiwan which lacks "the Matsu feeling". This is the reason some Matsu old shop continuously persisted to the handmake the Matsu crisp.

Matsu crisp is famous, but Mr. Kao says, another kind of sweet called "cotton rose crisp”, which tastes like Taiwanese Sha Ch'ima is the favorite sweet of Matsu native people. The ingredients of cotton rose crisp are the same with Matsu crisp, but the main ingredient is glutinous rice. After liquefying, slicing, frying in oil and stiring, the procedures are more complex than Matsu crisp, the output are less. "In the past, the commodity lacked, using glutinous rice to make the cake, it was the most luxurious between-meal snack, therefore the quantity were not many," 35 year-old Mr. Kao says, now lives become better, he can sell more than 1000 boxes of handmade cotton rose crisps monthly in winter. When summer the sailing time is normal, the selling of crisps is even double. "But for the procedure of hand making I have to work harder" he used to get joint inflammation because of making the crisps.

Different from Matsu crisp and the cotton rose crisp which come from the South, another well-known sweet "Chi-Gong cake" is from the North. People sais this cake was invented by Ming Dynasty General Qi Jiguang, the soldiers took the cakes and hang around the neck as their food during the marches. The main ingredient is flour, but it requests the raising of” old paste" and the skill to make dough, in order to achieve suitable thickness, the loose porosity and chewing vigor. After the dough of Chi-Gongcake is made, it has to be pasted the stove which cannot be too hot, otherwise the cake would fall down, wastes all previous efforts.

Published by：Lienchiang County Government

Modify Date：108/09/16