Tianshui Guagua Making Technique

Tianshui guagua is said to reach back to the late Western Han, first a palace dish of the warlord Wei Xiao before passing to the people. Its craft draws on the mild climate, the local water and the seasonings of Tianshui, shaped through many hand steps, and was handed down into the city's most representative street snack. In 2017 the craft entered the fourth batch of Gansu provincial intangible heritage.

The method takes buckwheat starch, stirs it with water into a thin batter, simmers it over a low flame with constant stirring until thick and cooked, then pours it into a vessel to cool and set; it is torn by hand into pieces and dressed with chilli oil, sesame oil, mustard, soy sauce and garlic, the craft lying in judging the heat and the force of the hand that stirs.

The craft of Tianshui guagua carries the city's folk food memory, a living witness to everyday life on the Gansu uplands, hailed as the foremost food of Qinzhou, with exemplary value for the study of northwest local cuisine.