Gangshan Doubanjiang

Gangshan doubanjiang is a rich, spicy sauce made from soybeans (unlike the broad beans used in Sichuan), rice koji, chilli and salt, matured through long fermentation, bright red in colour, deep and mellow in heat, the most representative condiment of Gangshan.

Gangshan doubanjiang grew out of the post-war era: in the Japanese era Gangshan was a naval air base, and after the war it became a cluster of Air Force dependents' villages where many Sichuan-born veterans settled, bringing their home doubanjiang craft with them. In 1948 Liu Mingde founded Mingde doubanjiang, recorded in the Gangshan Township Chronicle as the origin shop, and from it grew a local industry of Sichuan flavour in the veterans' villages.

Gangshan doubanjiang is an all-purpose seasoning, used in fish in doubanjiang sauce, mapo tofu, stir-fries and dips; the local Gangshan mutton hotpot is unthinkable without it, and it is a must-buy Kaohsiung souvenir for visitors.

Its bright red colour, the fermented aroma, the Sichuan-village heat that bites without burning, and its place among the three treasures of Gangshan are the marks of Gangshan doubanjiang.