Chihua-Seed Ice Jelly

Chihua-seed ice jelly is a common summer cooler in Yichang and western Hubei: the seeds of the so-called "chihua" plant (shoo-fly plant) are tied in a cloth bag and rubbed repeatedly in water, the exuded pectin setting into a crystal-clear, slippery jelly, then bathed in brown-sugar syrup and rice wine and scattered with sesame, crushed peanut and raisins.

The hand-rubbed ice-jelly craft comes from the folk kitchens of the southwest, reaching western Hubei with travellers and taking root in Yichang's hot, damp summers; it stands alongside Cold Shrimp as the city's twin summer coolers, and on old Yichang's summer afternoons small stalls could be seen rubbing and selling it fresh.

Served chilled in a bowl with brown-sugar syrup, it can be dressed with rice wine, hawthorn or nuts and eaten with a spoon, slippery and sweet—a street sweet for cooling and cutting the heat, often sold alongside Cold Shrimp and dingding gao.

The hand-rubbed crystal-clear jelly, the sweet brown-sugar syrup, the varied nut toppings and its place alongside Cold Shrimp as a summer cooler are the marks of chihua-seed ice jelly.