Osmanthus cake () is a traditional sweet-scented Chinese cuisine pastry made with glutinous rice flour, honey, sweet osmanthus and rock sugar.[ Autumn fragrance osmanthus oozes depth] It has crystal-clear appearance and a soft, slightly waxy texture.
History
Sweet-scented osmanthus cake originated in China during the
Ming Dynasty. Though its exact origin is unclear, folk tales have it that the poet
Yang Shen dreamed of visiting the moon in order to take the imperial exam. In the dream, he saw a magnificent palace and a huge and sweet-smelling osmanthus plant. He picked it and brought it back to Earth. Toward the end of the Ming Dynasty, a peddler from
Xindu named Liu Jixiang was inspired by this story to collect fresh osmanthus flowers. He extracted their essential oils, strained them over sugar and mixed them with glutinous rice to produce the familiar form of the sweet we know today. It is now a
Xindu specialty.
See also
