Year of the Dragon

01 February 2024, 08:29 AM

wtg

Year of the Dragon

quote:
Dragon’s beard candy is a staple of Chinese and Lunar New Year celebrations, but in the U.S. and Canada, a generation of candymakers are determining the best way to pass the difficult art to a new generation

Even as a kid with severely limited patience, I knew the dragon’s beard candy from Jimmy Pan’s cart was worth the wait. Every weekend for nearly three decades, Pan judiciously filled orders of the white, fluffy candy from his stall in Toronto’s chaotic, cacophonous Pacific Mall. The candy’s stretched sugar strands, wrapped around a crunchy core of peanuts, coconut, and sesame seeds, create a series of textural sensations on the tongue: Some strands dissolve into a soft mass while others shatter into feuilletine flakes, before the whole thing morphs into a chewy, crunchy, jumble of nougat. Pan’s shop filled PacMall’s grid-like corridors with long lines of locals and out-of-towners, who made the pilgrimage from New York, Milwaukee, Detroit, and as far as Los Angeles. Somewhere in there, I was holding hands with my mom, inching closer to my prize.

Looks delicious!

https://www.eater.com/24054505...r-new-year-tradition

01 February 2024, 11:03 AM

Piano*Dad

Sounds like referring to that as "Chinese cotton candy" is way off the mark.

01 February 2024, 11:12 AM

AdagioM

Fascinating! I’ve never heard of this before. I’d love to try it.

02 February 2024, 07:56 PM

Daniel

One of my great-grandfathers had a 25 year vesting from Lance's candy and snack factory in Charlotte. I didn't get a chance to talk to the old man much. I asked what he had done. I was told he had made candy canes.

He and his son had a small country grocery store for years after he retired. I remember my parents buying cigarettes there every summer because N.C. had no cigarette taxes. My extended family rented houses on the ocean in Long Beach.

My great-grandparents got the one bedroom with air-condioning. My great-grandfather never seemed to leave it.

I agree with wtg.

The real version looks delicious.

But, I can think of many dragon motif objects I'd enjoy more than than melted Starburst candy, TBH.

02 February 2024, 11:34 PM

Axtremus

quote:
Originally posted by AdagioM:
Fascinating! I’ve never heard of this before. I’d love to try it.

I have had it may be 3 or 4 times in my life so far, and everytime I witnessed it made fresh from a “puck”. Indeed it‘s hard to find. It certainly looks very labor-intensive and I do not know why no one has figured out a way to mass-produce this in some sort of automated fashion.

There are “how to” videos on YouTube for this if you ever feel like attempting to make it at home, e.g.:

https://youtu.be/xCIPoPG3gb4

03 February 2024, 03:32 PM

wtg

That mall in Toronto sounds like a ton of fun. I wonder if someone else there is making dragon's beard candy for the upcoming holiday...

04 February 2024, 03:24 PM

AdagioM

quote:
Originally posted by Axtremus:
quote:
Originally posted by AdagioM:
Fascinating! I’ve never heard of this before. I’d love to try it.
I have had it may be 3 or 4 times in my life so far, and everytime I witnessed it made fresh from a “puck”. Indeed it‘s hard to find. It certainly looks very labor-intensive and I do not know why no one has figured out a way to mass-produce this in some sort of automated fashion.

There are “how to” videos on YouTube for this if you ever feel like attempting to make it at home, e.g.:

https://youtu.be/xCIPoPG3gb4

I have the feeling it’s like dim sum: I want to eat it, but I don’t want to make it! I’ve never folded dumplings, either.