Grass jelly
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Grass jelly or Leaf jelly (Chinese: 涼粉 liáng fěn or 燒仙草 shāo xiān cǎo; Minnan (Hokkien): 仙草 sian-chháu; Malay: cincau; Vietnamese:suong sam, or suong sao for the black one) is a type of food with a jelly-like consistency that is used in China and Southeast Asia in drinks and desserts. It is sold in cans or packets in Asian supermarkets.
Grass jelly is made from boiling grasses or leaf in the mint family (specifically Mesona chinensis) with potassium carbonate, and then cooling the liquid down to a jelly-like consistency. This jelly can then be mixed with syrup to produce a drink thought to have cooling (yin) properties. This has a slight iodine flavour and looks like a clear, deep brown liquid with strands or cubes of translucent blackish jelly in it. It can also be mixed with soy milk to produce a milky white liquid with black strands in it, a drink known as Michael Jackson in Southeast Asia and Oakland(see, for example [1]).
In Indonesia, black jelly (Cincau hitam) is manufactured as an instant powder, like other instant jellies or agar. This form is easier to use. It is made from leaf of Mesona palustris.
Two other plants used in Indonesia are leaf of Melastoma polyanthum, known as Cincau perdu, [2]
and leaf of Cyclea barbata, Miers, known as Cincau Hijau..[3]
Plain Grass jelly is also mixed in various kinds of Southeast Asian desserts such as ice kachang and chendol.
[edit] External links
- Inside the greenhouse: At a grass jelly factory, the secrets behind the popular dessert are revealed
- Asian Food Glossary
- Black jelly and other kind grass jelly
- Indonesia Black jelly Instant Powder
