Back in the good ol’ days (when ship rate existed) we would get the most amazing care packages. We always tried to send something back to say thanks and to spread the love.
Since there’s not much to buy here (except amazing organic blueberries and incredibly priced fresh vegetables), we created the Taste of China care package with 10 local snacks. Taste of China boxes have been enjoyed in homes, office break rooms, and Sunday morning classes across America.
Recently, we had some Americans visit our home so I thought it would be fun to introduce them to some of the best local snacks. (Well, according to us.)
Welcome to the Taste of China table!
This is a simple print out that I wrote to be included in the care package so friends and family would know what they were eating. (Note that it says Volume I. Since ship-rate is no longer available, we never got around to succeeding volumes.)
Three Gorges Sweet Potato Snacks – These are a local product made by: steaming sweet potatoes into large gooey cakes, drying the cakes, flattening them, shredding them, drying the noodles, mixing them in big woks with a melted sugar mixture, and letting them cool. Think of them as super dry Rice-Krispy treats…just not as sweet. We had a neat opportunity to tour this factory.
Coffee Gum – Available in Regular or Cappuccino. You can not only find coffee gum here, but also coffee cookies, coffee ice cream, coffee glutinous rice balls and so on.
Dried Peas – These dried peas are a fun snack. Crunchy and a little salty.
Chocolate Pillows – We love these. Usually anything chocolate tends to be really waxy and weak tasting. These “pillows” are actually rich enough to be a dessert. Think of them as chocolate cereal squares with molten chocolate inside them. Yum.
Golden Monkey Candy – These milk candies start hard, but eventually end up chewy. Hubs is afraid they’ll pull a filling out.
Fortune Cookies – Well, there’s no fortune, but this treat is the closest thing we’ve found that tastes like a fortune cookie (Fortune cookies were actually first invented in California.)
Haw Squares – The haw is like a crab apple. These “fruit roll-ups” are Schäfer’s favorite.
Rice Cakes – Not the rice cakes you know. These rice cakes are salty and sweet. They’re great for the kettle corn lovers out there.
Tea Candy – We found these at our local Ten Ren’s Tea Shop. There are available in four flavors: green, oolong, black and jasmine tea.
Wheat Puffs – We’re big fans of puffed wheat. Just like the cereal, only in bar form.
What a great idea!
I remember getting one of these from you guys. We loved it! What a great way to share a little bit of your life with us state-side folks. P.S. That popcorn in your most recent post looks awesome!