Take a good look at this bag. It says “Guifaxiang Fried Dough Twist” on the outside, and on the inside is the most insidiously delicious Chinese sweet I’ve ever had.
A Chinese friend at work gave me two of the little packets that come inside the orange bag, saying she didn’t usually see these for sale in the states. On the packet it describes the contents as “Guifaxiang Shibajie Mahua, a traditional food from Tainjin with a long history.” You can see the pastry peeping out of one of them; I’d taken a bite or two, then thought, “O.M.G.! I’ve got to take a picture!”
The ingredients are wheat flour, soybean and peanut oils, sugar, sesame seeds, peanut, ginger, walnuts, orange peel and osmanthus. I found some information about osmanthus at Wikipedia:
“It is cultivated as an ornamental plant in gardens in Asia, Europe, North America, and elsewhere in the world, for its deliciously fragrant flowers which carry the scent of ripe peaches or apricots.” The flowers are called guì huā, meaning “cinnamon flower” or “cassia flower,” and are often mixed with green or black tea leaves to create a scented tea called guì huā chá (桂花茶). I’ve seen the word before, but never knew what it was. Every day an adventure.
NJ SPICE 