The Art of Bingfen Ice Jelly: A Refreshing Summer Treat from China's Southwest

It's a sweltering summer day, and the mid-day sun is beating down on you. So, you duck into some shade, taking your requisite glug of water, settle down and munch on... what? For some, maybe it's ice cream. For others, some cut watermelon, or perhaps an ice cold lager. But today we wanted to teach you how to make what we consider one of the world's great hot weather snacks – Bingfen ice jelly.

Bingfen ice jelly is from the Southwest region of China, known for its nickname 'the furnace of China'. This stuff is light, refreshing, and basically the definition of a great summer dish. So, we decided to explore this delightful treat and share it with you. Our journey begins with understanding what Bingfen ice jelly is all about.

First, let's talk about the name Bingfen, which literally translates to 'spring jelly' in English. This name makes sense considering that this popular dessert originated as a way to enjoy during the warmer months of spring. Over time, it has evolved into a versatile dessert that can be enjoyed throughout the year, and its refreshing taste is perfect for hot summer days.

Now that we have an idea of what Bingfen ice jelly is all about, let's move on to how it's made. The process involves creating a mixture of sugar, water, and sometimes other ingredients like milk or fruit juice. This mixture is then frozen to create the base of our delicious dessert.

To start making your own Bingfen ice jelly at home, you will need some basic ingredients such as granulated sugar, water, and any additional flavorings you prefer. You can also use pre-made ice cream bases if you want a quicker method. Simply mix these ingredients together in a bowl until the sugar is fully dissolved. If you're using any extra flavorings, now's the time to add them.

Once your mixture is ready, it's time to freeze it. This will take about an hour or so, depending on how thick you like your ice jelly. You can also use this mixture as a base for other desserts later, such as sorbet or popsicles. When frozen, scoop out the desired amount of ice jelly and serve.

Now that we've covered the basics of making Bingfen ice jelly at home, let's move on to some popular variations. There are countless ways to customize your Bingfen, and our favorite is the hongtang bingfen. This version combines rice cakes with a sweet syrup made from dark brown sugar and rock sugar.

To make the hongtang bingfen, you'll need 60 grams of dark brown sugar, 30 grams of rock sugar, and 180 grams of water. Simply cook these ingredients over low heat until the sugar is fully dissolved and thickened slightly. Then, blend the mixture into a smooth paste before freezing it.

For this dessert, we've also chosen to include some crunchy rice cakes as a topping. Soak them in boiling water for about thirty seconds, then strain them thoroughly to remove excess liquid. Mix with three tablespoons of toasted soybean powder and that's good to go!

In addition to the hongtang bingfen, there are other popular variations like the Leshan-style lemon-y sanxianbingfen, which is not only our personal favorite but also probably a bit easier to whip up at home. For this dessert, we need some sticky rice balls and fermented glutinous rice.

The sticky rice balls can be found in the frozen section of most Asian supermarkets or made quickly using the recipe provided in our description box. Simply soak them in boiling water for about two minutes, then remove and toss them into some ice water until ready to serve. Meanwhile, combine 250 grams of your bingfen with a teaspoon of sugar and one tablespoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice.

For this dessert, we've also chosen to top it off with sticky rice balls, Laozao, and a few slices of lemon. Simply arrange the ingredients in a bowl and enjoy!

Lastly, there's another favorite variation that's smothered in a creamy peanut sauce along with some nuts, fruits, and sticky rice cake. This dessert is both delicious and nutritious as it contains zero calories.

To make this dessert at home, start by combining 250 grams of your bingfen with three tablespoons of toasted soybean powder, then top it off with a spoonful of peanut sauce, crunchy nuts, some fresh fruits, and finally, sprinkle with crushed black sesame seeds. That's honestly it! A pretty easy yet super refreshing bowl of dessert that you can enjoy any time of the year.

In conclusion, Bingfen ice jelly is an excellent summer treat that has captured our hearts with its versatility and refreshingly cool taste. With a little creativity, this delightful dessert can be customized to suit your preferences in countless ways. Whether it's sweet syrup, rice cakes, sticky rice balls, or even peanut sauce, the options are endless, making Bingfen ice jelly an ideal choice for anyone looking for a delicious and nutritious dessert that will transport them back to the sun-kissed days of China's Southwest.

To help you get started on your Bingfen ice jelly journey, we've included recipes, tips, and techniques in our description box. From basic ingredients to more elaborate variations, everything you need is right there. We hope this article has not only educated but also inspired you to try making your own delicious Bingfen ice jelly at home.

And finally, a big thank you to everyone who's supporting us on Patreon for their continued support and encouragement. Without them, we wouldn't be able to share our passion for food with the world through videos like this one. So, if you haven't already, do check out our description box below and join the fun!

As we wrap up this article, we would love to hear your thoughts on Bingfen ice jelly. Have you tried it before? Which variation is your favorite? Share your experiences and suggestions with us in the comments section below. We're always excited to hear from food enthusiasts and encourage everyone to keep experimenting and pushing their culinary boundaries.

Thanks for reading our article, and we'll catch you all in the next video!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enSo.It’s a sweltering summer day.The mid-day sun is beating down on you.So you duck into some shade, taking your requisiteglug of water, settle down and munch on…what?I think everybody’s got their thing.For some, maybe it’s ice cream.For others, some cut watermelon, or perhapsan ice cold lager.But today we wanted to teach you how to makewhat we consider to be one of the worlds greathot weather snacks – bingfen ice jelly.See, as befitting an area that’s nicknamed‘the furnace of China’ in parts, thisstuff is from the Southwest.It’s light, refreshing, and basically thedefinition of a great summer dish.So we wanted to show you two sorts– first,a nutty syrupy one called hongtang bingfen,which’s probably the most classic.. then,also show you some Leshan-style sanxian bingfenwith lemon and rice balls, which’s our personalfavorite variety.So, to get started with Bingfen ice jelly,you’ll need…Bingfen ice jelly seeds.Well, traditionally that is.See, these are the seeds of the shoofly plant,and while that is a new world plant… theseeds themselves aren’t really commerciallyavailable in the West.So while we will be showing you the processof how to use these - the very best Bingfenuse them, after all – we also wanted showyou how to make it with this stuff: Cantoneseclear grass jelly, which should be availableat most Chinese supermarkets.So, the clear jelly up first.Process’s easy enough – first just mix10 grams of your powdered jelly with 125 millilitersof water, and set that aside.Then grab a saucepan, toss in 625 millilitersof water, and bring that all up to a boil.Now pour in that jelly-water mixture frombefore, heat off, and give it a real goodmix.As an aside, definitely don’t feel bad aboutgoing this route – if you get Bingfen inChina outside of the Southwest, usually vendors’llmake the same exact sub.So then just pour it into something heatproof,let it cool to roughly room temperature, andtoss that in the fridge for at least fourhours and overnight would also be just fine.Next, the seeds.While I do know that these’ll prolly beunavailable for most of you, we did want toshow you the process anyway because… itis.. quite cool.So first we’ll be tossing 50 grams of ourshoofly seeds on a cloth and twisting it closed.You gotta make sure that you don’t go tootight here though, something like this isperfect.Then just dip that in 1.25 liters of bottledwater and let it soak for ten minutes.After that time, you should be able to seesome jelly-like substance oozing out of yourseed bag when you squeeze it.That gel will thicken this water, but we willneed to do a bang up job scrubbing this thingto get it all out.What we’re doing here is extracting thepectin from the seeds, which does take a bitof patience.See, the old story goes that bingfen was inventedin the Qing dynasty when a woman was carryingshoofly seeds in a pouch and fell into a stream.Afterwards, when she was washing her clothes,she apparently found that her seed pouch was,lo and behold, now filled with… jelly.And while that story’s almost certainlyapocryphal, it does speak a bit to the essenceof the technique here – just scrub thatbag as if it was some laundry that you weredoing by hand.You’ll be done once the bag is no longerslimy to the touch, which should be abouteight to ten minutes’ worth of thoroughscrubbing.Now, to give that jelly a proper bite, we’llthen mix it with some calcium hydroxide, a.k.a.pickling lime.So in a separate bowl mix three grams – orabout three quarters of a teaspoon – oflime with 250 milliliters of water.Mix, and let that settle for about an hour.When adding that to the jelly we’ll justbe adding the liquid here, but not the powderat the bottom.So then just like the clear jelly, we cannow toss that in the fridge for at least fourhours… and overnight is also perfect.So next day now, let’s take a look at ourBingfens.Now, most obviously, the one on the left sidemade from the seeds has this really distinctiveyellow-ish color – that’s actually a tell-talemarker of a Bingfen made from Shoofly.It’s a bit firmer and toothier than theBingfen made from the powder, which’s alittle more watery.That said, the sort on the right is also perfectlydelicious, so either way, let’s show youhow to dress those up.First up, the hongtang bingfen.There’s a number of different directionsyou can go with these toppings, but thesedays you’ll usually find some rice cakesin the mix.So here we’ll be using about 30 grams ofbog-standard supermarket rice cakes, but alsototally feel free to use some of that poundedrice cake that we went over in our recentpounded rice cake video.Either way, just get it into about a one centimeterdice, and toss in some boiling water.Blanch for about thirty seconds, toss in somecool water to stop the cooking process, andstrain that thoroughly.Then move it over to a bowl… mix with aboutthree tablespoons worth of toasted soybeanpowder to thoroughly coat, and that is goodto go.Then of course, this bingfen also needs itsnamesake… the syrup.This stuff was made from 60 grams of darkbrown sugar, 30 grams of rock sugar, and 180grams of water.Just cook that all over low heat for aboutten minutes, or until the sugar’s completelymelted and thickened slightly.Then besides that, we’ve also got some watermelon,cut into one inch cubes… some toasted peanuts,lightly pounded in a mortar… a bit of toastedblack sesame seeds… and a few raisins tofinish it off.So to a bowl with 250 grams of your bingfenice jelly, toss in two tablespoons of therice cake, one tablespoon of the toasted poundedpeanuts, a half tablespoon of the toastedblack sesame seeds, about twelve or so raisins,a quarter cup of your watermelon cubes, andtop it all off with five tablespoons of syrup.And with that, the nutty syrup-y hongtangbingfen is good to go.Next up, the Leshan-style lemon-y sanxianbingfen, which’s not only our personal favoritebut also probably a bit easier logisticallyto whip up at home.To give this one a bit of texture though,it’ll need some of these… sticky riceballs.Now, you should be able to find these in thefrozen section of your local Asian supermarket,but if not we’ve also got a quick recipefor how to roll these guys yourself in thedescription box.Assuming that you’re working with the frozensort though, just dump them into some boilingwater – no need to thaw – and let thoseboil.Once they’re floating, swap the flame tolow and cook them for another two minutes…then remove and toss in some ice water untilyou’re ready to serve.Then besides that, we’ve also got some Laozao,fermented glutinous rice.Most Asian supermarkets should carry thisstuff, but quick warning that sometimes itseems to be labelled under the English name‘rice pudding’.It’s got a real mellow sweetness to it,which’ll help balance out our lemon.So, 250 gram bowl of bingfen again.First mix a teaspoon of sugar into a tablespoonof freshly squeezed lemon juice, and add thatto the bingfen.Next top it off with two tablespoons of laozao,about two to three tablespoons worth of yoursticky rice balls, and a couple slices oflemon.And that’s honestly it… a pretty easy,super refreshing bowl of lemon bingfen.So Bingfen has like a million kinds of toppings.Another favorite of mine is the one that’ssmothered in this creamy peanut sauce in additionto this like sticky rice cake, nuts, and fruits.It’s really good, and the cool thing aboutBingfen is that it’s like zero calories,so you can totally just like play around withall the toppings.So right, check out the description box fora written recipe… a big thank you for everyonethat’s supporting us on Patreon… and ofcourse, subscribe for more Chinese cookingvideos.\n"