A bite of Shanxi

A bite of Shanxi

 

Datong Sliced Noodles

 

Datong sliced noodles, good in color, flavor and taste but inexpensive, are the most famous in different places of Shanxi province. They have a unique style of Datong, which is called the king of noodles. Many visitors to Datong have spoken highly of them after having a taste.

 

The sliced noodles get the name from the method to make them---slicing. The noodles are like the leaves of the willow trees with clear shapes. The central part is thick while the side is thin. You can feel the smoothness when having them in your mouth. While you chew them, you will feel the flexibility of them. The longer you chew them, the more delicious you will feel. Therefore they are welcome by the people who love noodles.

 

Xinghuacun Fen Wine

Xinghuacun Fen Wine, also called the old Fen wine, gets its name from the name of the place where it is produced, Xinghua Village of Fenyang in Shanxi province. The wine， which is clear, sweet and scented, is famous for its color, flavor and taste. It is the typical representative of the
 

It still needs more investigation when the name of Fen wine appeared, but as early as 1400 years ago the wine name Fenqing had appeared.　


Fen wine is the model of light scented wine, which can be called the origin of the Chinese wine. Many famous wines in China such as Maotai, Luzhou Daqu, Xifeng and Shuanggou Daqu all have referred to the recipe of Fen wine.

 

Zhuyeqing Wine

Zhuyeqing wine and the well-known Fen wine are both produced in Xinhuacun Wine Factory of Fenyang. In the first and second meetings of tasting wine, they are both rated as the famous wine of China. The wine is golden and transparent with a little green color. It has a unique scent for combining Fen wine and herbal medicine. It tastes sweet with a little bitterness and light which will linger on your mouth for a long time.

 

Zhuyeqing wine was very famous even in the ancient time and became the royal wine of the court. At that time, it was made by combining the millet wine and the bamboo leaves.

 

The modern Zhuyeqing wine is made according to the refined recipe, which is said to be designed by the famous medical expert and patriot Mr Fu Shan in early Qing Dynasty. Fu Shan, who was concerned about people’s life, was an expert in medicine. He added some good medicine in the tasty wine and made Zhuyeqing wine well-known all over the world.

 

Qingxu Vinegar
  
Qingxu vinegar of Shanxi is one of the most four famous vinegars of China, which is mainly produced in towns of Qingxu such as Neimengfeng, Qingyuan, Xugou and Xigu. Qingxu is located in the south of Taiyuan nearby the mountains. As a legend says, there is a pure spring in the southwest of the city of King Yao where the king went to make vinegar personally.

 

Qingxu vinegar is dark brown, clear and appealing. In addition to its pure sourness, strong and long-lasting flavor, it is also scented and tender without precipitation. A typical feature of it is sticky to the bowl. You can smell the strong flavor the moment you open the bottle. When you pour some into the bowl, it will stick to the side of the bowl evenly. Although the acidity is 5, you will not feel the taste is too strong to tolerate. It is sour but a little sweet and scented which will make you taste more after a sip. Besides, the ordinary vinegar will become turbid with some white film on the surface or even go bad. But the longer Qingxu vinegar is stored, the more delicious it will become. For example, somebody stored a bottle of Qingxu vinegar for several decades and it became solid vinegar due to the evaporation of the water, but after the solid vinegar melted by adding some hot water, it still smelled as good as before.

 

Rice of the Memorial Temple of Jin

 

The east of the beautiful scenic spot the Memorial Temple of Jin is the largest planting base of rice. The poet Xu Rong in Qing Dynasty wrote a couplet and the poet Fan Zhongyan in Song Dynasty wrote a poem to describe the remarkable scene of planting and harvesting rice in the fields. The rice of the Memorial Temple of Jin is big and solid with a shiny white color. Even if it is steamed for several times, it is till not sticky and tastes very delicious. It is said to stay solid after being steamed for seven times.  Therefore it is listed in the famous products of Huabei area together with the Xiaozhan millet of Tianjin and the Memorial Temple of Jin is called Jiangnan of the northern China.

 

Gaoping “Ten Big Bowls”

 

It is a unique food which consists of ten dishes: water white meat, walnut meat, soup of meat balls, Chuan soup of meat, soup of animals’ intestine, egg soup, swan eggs, tender rice and soup of beans. Each dish has a special taste like the cuisine of the north and the south. However the dishes are put in bowls instead of plates. Because the dishes in a bowl call be called soup, so Ten Big Bowls are also called the soup in a bowl. Ten Big Bowls consist of both vegetables and meat, and the most typical and delicious vegetarian dish is the swan egg. Before you have some sweet dessert, you have to wash your chopsticks or spoons in a bowl of clean water to avoid the messing of the flavors. In Gaoping, you will see the Ten Big Bowls in the banquets for weddings, funerals, baby shower, moving to a new house and so on.


Holy Medicine “Dingkun Dan”

Dingkun Dan, a well-known holy medicine for woman disease, is produced by Shanxi Guangyuyuan Traditional Chinese Medicine. It is made according to a special recipe and can regulate the menstruation and promote the blood circulation. Additionally it can help to regulate the breathing system, strengthen the spleen, nourish the blood, stop bleeding, and kill pain and so on. According to the historical records, Dingkun Dan was created in Qianlong 4 of Qing Dynasty as a medicine used only in the royal palace. Then an official Sun Yankui born in Taigu of Shanxi tried to get the recipe of Dingkun Dan from the royal hospital in order to cure his mother’s serious women diseases. He gave the recipe to the drug store Baoyuantang and asked them to make the medicine according to the recipe. As a result, the medicine cured his mother’s disease and other family members. Then the Sun family fell down and the drug store Baoyuantang went bankrupt, however the recipe of Dingkun Dan was spread to Guangshengju, and since then it has become a very effective medicine to cure women diseases. In 1979, Dingkun Dan was listed as the high-quality product by the people’s government of Shanxi province, and in 1980 it was granted the national silver medal. Nowadays, the medicine has been on sale in more than 20 countries all over the world.
 


Pingyao Wantuo

Pingyao Wantuo is the famous food in the three Jin areas which has a special taste, delicate but not greasy. It smells fragrant, looks mouthwatering and tastes delicious. It can be used as snack and the main food. It can be eaten as a casual food and also be used to entertain guests in a banquet. In summer, it can be tossed in sauce cold, while in winter it can be fried hot. Therefore it is a good dish which is always attractive.
   


In the period of Guangxu of Qing Dynasty, the famous chef of Chengnanbao Dong Xuan created Pingyao Wantuo with good color, flavor and taste. It is said that in Guangxu 26 of Qing Dynasty, the Empress Dowager Cixi spoke highly of Pingyao Wantuo made by Dong Xuan when she passed by Pingyao on her fleeing way from Beijing to Xi’an. She granted much money to the chef and rated Pingyao Wantuo as the royal dish, which made Wantuo well-known all over the country. Then with the wide spread in the country, it has become a common specialty in restaurants of different sizes.


Pingyao Beef

In the popular folk lyrics of Shanxi province, the beef of Pingyao as well as the pancakes of Taigu and the Xinghuacun Fen wine are all very famous. The tasty Pingyao beef and the scented Fen wine are well-known all over the world.

It is the specialty of Pingyao County of Jinzhong area. It is said that it was already very famous in Ming Dynasty. Till the late Qing Dynasty and Republic of China, Pingyao beef had become the necessary food for the officials to entertain guests. On the food exhibition of China in Beijing in 1956, Pingyao beef was rated as the famous food of China which was sold out in North Korea, Mongolia, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia.


Taigu Pancake

Just as the name says, the Taigu pancake is produced in Taigu County. It is a kind of solid pancake, 2 centimeters thick and with a 12-centimeter diameter. It appears to be light yellow with peeled sesame. It is crispy and tender, sweet but not greasy, yummy but not sticky. Moreover it has the special feature of not changing four qualities in storage, which means the color, flavor, quality, and tenderness will not change even in storage for more than one month. Therefore it can be used as the tea snack and food for travel.
 


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A bite of Shanxi

 

Datong Sliced Noodles

 

Datong sliced noodles, good in color, flavor and taste but inexpensive, are the most famous in different places of Shanxi province. They have a unique style of Datong, which is called the king of noodles. Many visitors to Datong have spoken highly of them after having a taste.

 

The sliced noodles get the name from the method to make them---slicing. The noodles are like the leaves of the willow trees with clear shapes. The central part is thick while the side is thin. You can feel the smoothness when having them in your mouth. While you chew them, you will feel the flexibility of them. The longer you chew them, the more delicious you will feel. Therefore they are welcome by the people who love noodles.

 

Xinghuacun Fen Wine

Xinghuacun Fen Wine, also called the old Fen wine, gets its name from the name of the place where it is produced, Xinghua Village of Fenyang in Shanxi province. The wine， which is clear, sweet and scented, is famous for its color, flavor and taste. It is the typical representative of the
 

It still needs more investigation when the name of Fen wine appeared, but as early as 1400 years ago the wine name Fenqing had appeared.　


Fen wine is the model of light scented wine, which can be called the origin of the Chinese wine. Many famous wines in China such as Maotai, Luzhou Daqu, Xifeng and Shuanggou Daqu all have referred to the recipe of Fen wine.

 

Zhuyeqing Wine

Zhuyeqing wine and the well-known Fen wine are both produced in Xinhuacun Wine Factory of Fenyang. In the first and second meetings of tasting wine, they are both rated as the famous wine of China. The wine is golden and transparent with a little green color. It has a unique scent for combining Fen wine and herbal medicine. It tastes sweet with a little bitterness and light which will linger on your mouth for a long time.

 

Zhuyeqing wine was very famous even in the ancient time and became the royal wine of the court. At that time, it was made by combining the millet wine and the bamboo leaves.

 

The modern Zhuyeqing wine is made according to the refined recipe, which is said to be designed by the famous medical expert and patriot Mr Fu Shan in early Qing Dynasty. Fu Shan, who was concerned about people’s life, was an expert in medicine. He added some good medicine in the tasty wine and made Zhuyeqing wine well-known all over the world.

 

Qingxu Vinegar
  
Qingxu vinegar of Shanxi is one of the most four famous vinegars of China, which is mainly produced in towns of Qingxu such as Neimengfeng, Qingyuan, Xugou and Xigu. Qingxu is located in the south of Taiyuan nearby the mountains. As a legend says, there is a pure spring in the southwest of the city of King Yao where the king went to make vinegar personally.

 

Qingxu vinegar is dark brown, clear and appealing. In addition to its pure sourness, strong and long-lasting flavor, it is also scented and tender without precipitation. A typical feature of it is sticky to the bowl. You can smell the strong flavor the moment you open the bottle. When you pour some into the bowl, it will stick to the side of the bowl evenly. Although the acidity is 5, you will not feel the taste is too strong to tolerate. It is sour but a little sweet and scented which will make you taste more after a sip. Besides, the ordinary vinegar will become turbid with some white film on the surface or even go bad. But the longer Qingxu vinegar is stored, the more delicious it will become. For example, somebody stored a bottle of Qingxu vinegar for several decades and it became solid vinegar due to the evaporation of the water, but after the solid vinegar melted by adding some hot water, it still smelled as good as before.

 

Rice of the Memorial Temple of Jin

 

The east of the beautiful scenic spot the Memorial Temple of Jin is the largest planting base of rice. The poet Xu Rong in Qing Dynasty wrote a couplet and the poet Fan Zhongyan in Song Dynasty wrote a poem to describe the remarkable scene of planting and harvesting rice in the fields. The rice of the Memorial Temple of Jin is big and solid with a shiny white color. Even if it is steamed for several times, it is till not sticky and tastes very delicious. It is said to stay solid after being steamed for seven times.  Therefore it is listed in the famous products of Huabei area together with the Xiaozhan millet of Tianjin and the Memorial Temple of Jin is called Jiangnan of the northern China.

 

Gaoping “Ten Big Bowls”

 

It is a unique food which consists of ten dishes: water white meat, walnut meat, soup of meat balls, Chuan soup of meat, soup of animals’ intestine, egg soup, swan eggs, tender rice and soup of beans. Each dish has a special taste like the cuisine of the north and the south. However the dishes are put in bowls instead of plates. Because the dishes in a bowl call be called soup, so Ten Big Bowls are also called the soup in a bowl. Ten Big Bowls consist of both vegetables and meat, and the most typical and delicious vegetarian dish is the swan egg. Before you have some sweet dessert, you have to wash your chopsticks or spoons in a bowl of clean water to avoid the messing of the flavors. In Gaoping, you will see the Ten Big Bowls in the banquets for weddings, funerals, baby shower, moving to a new house and so on.


Holy Medicine “Dingkun Dan”

Dingkun Dan, a well-known holy medicine for woman disease, is produced by Shanxi Guangyuyuan Traditional Chinese Medicine. It is made according to a special recipe and can regulate the menstruation and promote the blood circulation. Additionally it can help to regulate the breathing system, strengthen the spleen, nourish the blood, stop bleeding, and kill pain and so on. According to the historical records, Dingkun Dan was created in Qianlong 4 of Qing Dynasty as a medicine used only in the royal palace. Then an official Sun Yankui born in Taigu of Shanxi tried to get the recipe of Dingkun Dan from the royal hospital in order to cure his mother’s serious women diseases. He gave the recipe to the drug store Baoyuantang and asked them to make the medicine according to the recipe. As a result, the medicine cured his mother’s disease and other family members. Then the Sun family fell down and the drug store Baoyuantang went bankrupt, however the recipe of Dingkun Dan was spread to Guangshengju, and since then it has become a very effective medicine to cure women diseases. In 1979, Dingkun Dan was listed as the high-quality product by the people’s government of Shanxi province, and in 1980 it was granted the national silver medal. Nowadays, the medicine has been on sale in more than 20 countries all over the world.
 


Pingyao Wantuo

Pingyao Wantuo is the famous food in the three Jin areas which has a special taste, delicate but not greasy. It smells fragrant, looks mouthwatering and tastes delicious. It can be used as snack and the main food. It can be eaten as a casual food and also be used to entertain guests in a banquet. In summer, it can be tossed in sauce cold, while in winter it can be fried hot. Therefore it is a good dish which is always attractive.
   


In the period of Guangxu of Qing Dynasty, the famous chef of Chengnanbao Dong Xuan created Pingyao Wantuo with good color, flavor and taste. It is said that in Guangxu 26 of Qing Dynasty, the Empress Dowager Cixi spoke highly of Pingyao Wantuo made by Dong Xuan when she passed by Pingyao on her fleeing way from Beijing to Xi’an. She granted much money to the chef and rated Pingyao Wantuo as the royal dish, which made Wantuo well-known all over the country. Then with the wide spread in the country, it has become a common specialty in restaurants of different sizes.


Pingyao Beef

In the popular folk lyrics of Shanxi province, the beef of Pingyao as well as the pancakes of Taigu and the Xinghuacun Fen wine are all very famous. The tasty Pingyao beef and the scented Fen wine are well-known all over the world.

It is the specialty of Pingyao County of Jinzhong area. It is said that it was already very famous in Ming Dynasty. Till the late Qing Dynasty and Republic of China, Pingyao beef had become the necessary food for the officials to entertain guests. On the food exhibition of China in Beijing in 1956, Pingyao beef was rated as the famous food of China which was sold out in North Korea, Mongolia, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia.


Taigu Pancake

Just as the name says, the Taigu pancake is produced in Taigu County. It is a kind of solid pancake, 2 centimeters thick and with a 12-centimeter diameter. It appears to be light yellow with peeled sesame. It is crispy and tender, sweet but not greasy, yummy but not sticky. Moreover it has the special feature of not changing four qualities in storage, which means the color, flavor, quality, and tenderness will not change even in storage for more than one month. Therefore it can be used as the tea snack and food for travel.