Jinhua shortbread facts for kids

<mapframe latitude="28.960089" longitude="119.937744" zoom="2" width="200" height="100" align="right" /> Jinhua Shortbread, also known as Jinhua Crispy Cake, is a yummy, traditional snack from Jinhua City, Zhejiang Province, China. It's famous for its many thin, crispy layers and tasty fillings.

How Jinhua Shortbread is Made

Jinhua shortbread is made with simple ingredients like white flour, dried potherb mustard, and a bit of fatty meat. It also includes sesame seeds, vegetable oil, caramel, and honey for flavor.

To make it, the dough is rolled into a small, round cake, about the size of a crab shell. Then, it's filled with a mix of dried vegetables and meat. After being stuffed, the cakes are baked until they are golden on both sides. Finally, they are covered with sesame seeds. Each shortbread has more than ten super thin, see-through layers on the top and bottom, making it extra crispy!

The Story of Jinhua Shortbread

A Look at Its History

Jinhua shortbread has a long history! It was first mentioned in a book called "Zhongzulu" during the Southern Song Dynasty in China. This was a very long time ago! Back then, the shortbread was filled with honey, which is a little different from the fillings used today.

In the 1980s, Jinhua shortbread got some cool updates. People started making new kinds, like ham shortbread, beef shortbread, sweet shortbread, and even spicy ones! The way it was baked also changed from using charcoal ovens to modern far-infrared ovens. Even the packaging got an upgrade, from paper to safe plastic bags. Today, Jinhua shortbread is recognized as an "Excellent Product" in its province. You can find Jinhua shortbread shops everywhere in Jinhua City. More than 40 big companies make this snack, producing about 60,000 pieces every day! They sell these tasty treats to over 20 cities across China.

The Legend of Cheng Yaojin

There's a fun legend about how Jinhua shortbread first came to be! It's said that the original creator was a man named Cheng Yaojin. He was known as the "Hunshi Devil" and later became one of the 24 founding fathers of the Tang Dynasty.

When he was younger, Cheng Yaojin made a living by selling biscuits in Jinhua. One day, he made too many sesame seed biscuits, and they didn't all sell. To keep them from going bad, he placed them next to his stove, hoping the heat would preserve them. The next morning, he found something amazing! The oil in the biscuits had been roasted, making the crust even more oily and super crispy. It had turned into a "shortbread"!

When customers saw how different and delicious these new cakes were, they all rushed to try them. Cheng Yaojin was thrilled and shouted, "Come on! Sweet and crispy shortbread!" Other biscuit shop owners even asked him for his "secret recipe." Cheng Yaojin just laughed and said he didn't have one!

These new shortbread cakes were round like teacups, shaped like crab shells, and had a golden color with sesame seeds on both sides. They smelled wonderful with their dried vegetable and meat fillings. Even after Cheng Yaojin became famous as a leader in the Tang Dynasty, he never forgot his early days selling cakes. He always recommended this special snack, helping Jinhua Shortbread become widely known. The tradition of making it has been passed down through many generations, making it a famous local specialty.

It's also rumored that during the Ming Dynasty, the emperor Zhu Yuanzhang and his advisor Liu Bowen tasted shortbread in Jinhua. Later, during the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom period, people in Jinhua even used shortbread to cheer up a general named King Li.

How Jinhua Shortbread is Produced

Traditionally, Jinhua shortbread was baked in big wooden barrels. But nowadays, it's more common to use modern ovens.

Making Jinhua shortbread involves five main steps:

• Meat and Filling Preparation: First, the meat is cut into small pieces. Then, dried plums are added to the meat along with some salt. This mixture is stirred well to create the tasty filling.
• Dough Preparation: Next, a special dough is made. It uses 225 grams of all-purpose flour, 90 grams of lard, 30 grams of icing sugar, and 63 grams of water. This mix creates a soft, oily dough. Once kneaded, the dough is divided into small portions, each weighing about 20 grams.
• Shaping the Dough: Each small dough portion is rolled into a shape like a beef tongue. Then, it's brushed with corn oil and rolled up tightly. This step is repeated to create many thin layers. The dough is then covered with a cloth and left to rest for about 20 minutes.
• Adding the Filling: After resting, each dough portion is rolled flat again. The prepared meat and plum filling is then placed in the center. The dough is carefully folded around the filling, just like making a dumpling.
• Baking: Finally, the filled portions are placed on a baking tray. Two small cuts are made in the middle of each one, and they are sprinkled with sesame seeds. The shortbread is baked at 180 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes. Then, the temperature is increased to 220 degrees Celsius for another 5 minutes to give the shortbread a beautiful golden color.