Origins

Peach Gum is an amber-colored gel-like resin from Chinese peach trees that have been used in traditional Chinese medicine and cooking for centuries. It is known for being rich in collagen. It also has a unique gelatinous texture that is almost like jelly. While it can be cooked in many ways, one of the most common ways it is served is in this gorgeous colorful sweet soup known as “tong sui”. Tong sui is a category of classic Cantonese desserts that can be served hot or cold, made with a variety of ingredients. While high in sugar it is often nutritious and rich with vitamins! On its own peach gum doesn’t have a strong flavor but it becomes a vessel of incredible texture that complements the sugar syrup/soup.

This cantonese recipe  comes from one of our in-laws and includes a plethora of nutritious ingredients to pair with peach gum – making this the perfect beauty and anti-aging tonic.We first enjoyed this at our youngest sisters’ wedding. Thanks to her mother-in-law the bridal party enjoyed this as a delicious cool snack in between the festivities. The combination of ingredients add great texture and flavor  to this really making this a perfect, cooling and nourishing treat!

Ingredients

While some of  these ingredients may seem foreign,  it can be found on amazon or at your local Chinese grocery store. Living in the US, I am so grateful to have access to these ingredients easily so I can remake this at home. In particular, now that all three of us sisters are going through postpartum recovery we have all been enjoying this! We also love that this is naturally gluten-free and vegan nutritious sweet treat!

All these ingredients below come in dried form so they have a long shelf life and are then rehydrated to make into this treat.

Peach Gum, Snow Fungus, Lotus Seeds, Red Dates, Dried Longan (from top to bottom including brands), goji berries (not pictured below)

Rock sugar/ Allulose – Traditionally, rock sugar is added to the soup, and you can use this recipe. In our case we used a keto sugar substitute – allulose – to make this diabetic friendly. The main process involves preparing and cooking these ingredients for the dessert! It can be enjoyed cold or hot!

Process

This dessert is truly a labor of love. It requires pre-soaking ingredients beforehand to rehydrate and a few extra steps to clean each one. However the product of this makes it really worth the time. In addition, you can also make a big batch of this to share and it keeps for a long time. Each ingredients provides wonderful texture and nutritional benefits so it is really wonderful!

While there are some recipes that suggest throwing in all the ingredients at the same time could work, we would recommend you to follow our steps below to ensure that none of the ingredients are overcooked. We have tried making this in an instant pot to simplify the process but it resulted in ingredients becoming too soft or overcooked. I promise the effort is worth the taste!

Peach Gum Tong Sui (桃胶糖水) - Cantonese Beauty Tonic

 

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Author: Unconventional Cooks

Serves: 8-10

Ingredients

• 110g Peach Gum - this is the brand we buy from Amazon
• 30g OR 1 whole piece dried Snow Fungus
• 80g Lotus seeds
• 50g Dried Longans
• 60g Red Dates (weight without seeds)
• 30g Goji berries
• Water
• Allulose or sweetener of choice (adjust to taste). - we used 1 cup because it gets sweeter when it's cold

Instructions

1. Preparation: Peach Gum: Soak peach gum in cold water overnight or at least 12 hours to let it rehydrate and expand. The result should be a jelly-like peach gum. Once rehydrated, use a pair of tweezers (or hands) to pick out the black specks. Rinse one last time.
2. Lotus Seeds: Soak in cold water for 1 hr or until lotus seeds can easily split apart. Split into half and remove the green sprout inside (it may not be in all of the seeds) as this tastes very bitter. Rinse again once you are done.
3. Snow Fungus: Soak snow fungus in cold water for 30 mins to let it expand. Cut the snow fungus off and discard the dark yellow core. Rinse again to ensure it is clean.
4. Red dates: Soak for 30 mins until soft. Remove the seed (if present) and cut into desired size. (we cut each into 6 pieces). Rinse again to ensure it is clean.
5. Cooking: Add lotus seeds to a pot of cold water (we started with 2.6L of water). Bring it to a boil, then cover and let it simmer for 10-15 mins.
6. Add in snow fungus and simmer for another 20 mins.
7. Then add in the rehydrated red dates, peach gum and longans and cover to simmer for 25-30 mins. Add more HOT water (not cold!) to achieve the consistency of choice.
8. If you are using rock sugar, add it now. Taste and adjust seasoning. Continue cooking until snow fungus and lotus seed are soft.
9. Throw in the goji berries and allulose (if using this instead of rock sugar) once ingredients are soft. Cover and cook for 5 mins. (Note: Goji berries can develop a sour taste when left to cook for too long)
10. Serve hot or cold (highly recommend)

3.5.3251

LOVE,

Zoe, Mia & Raena