Sweet Soups · FFET10278
Bing tang xue li (rock-sugar snow pear)
Snow pear cored and filled with rock sugar, goji and red dates, then steamed soft and eaten warm or chilled as a sweet.
A round white porcelain plate holds two pale snow pears steamed soft, tops and cores removed, red goji berries inside, red dates alongside and clear syrup pooling around them, with wooden chopsticks resting beside the plate.
Sweet soups served as dessert, such as mung bean soup.
Rock-sugar snow pear is a sweet of pear steamed or boiled with rock sugar, often with goji and red dates, eaten warm or chilled. In one method, the top of the pear is cut off, the core is scooped out, the cavity is filled with rock sugar and other ingredients and the pear is steamed for 40 to 60 minutes; in another, cored pieces are boiled for 15 to 20 minutes. It is traditionally used for thirst and cough; that is a traditional claim, not a medical finding, and no dated record of the dish was found.
What
Rock-sugar snow pear is a sweet of pear, usually a snow or Asian pear, steamed or boiled with rock sugar, often with goji and red dates, eaten warm or chilled. Snow pear is a cultivar of the sand pear.1,2,3,5
When
No dated record of the dish was found. It is traditionally used as a cough remedy; traditional claims about pear relieving heat and cough are linked to the Bencao Gangmu, but the account gives no date and does not mention rock-sugar pear.1,2,3,5
How
In one method the top of the pear is cut off, the core is scooped out, the cavity is filled with rock sugar, goji and red dates, a little water is added and the pear is steamed for 40 to 60 minutes. In the other, cored pear pieces are boiled with rock sugar for 15 to 20 minutes.1,2,3
Why
It is traditionally used to soothe thirst, dry cough and a sore throat; a 2020 article also links it to autumn dryness. These are traditional claims and are not given here as medical fact.1,2,3,4
No tale about this food has been found.
Grandma Li
This is a simplified home version, not the traditional restaurant method.
This is my home way with steamed pear, the plainest version, without white fungus or fritillary bulb. I read two recipes that name their authors. The ingredients and amounts follow one of them (1 pear, 4 pieces of rock sugar, 1 teaspoon of goji, 1 red date); the steaming times of the two are close, about 40 minutes and 45 minutes, so I take that range. The amount of water is my own choice.
Ingredients
- Snow pear (or Asian pear) 1
- Rock sugar 4 pieces
- Goji berries 1 teaspoon
- Red date 1
- Water a little, a few spoonfuls; my own choice
Steps
- Wash and peel the pear and cut a slice off the top to serve as a lid.
- Scoop out the core with a small spoon to leave a cup-shaped cavity, taking care not to cut through the bottom.
- Rinse the goji, wash the red date, put both into the cavity with the rock sugar, add a little water and set the lid back on.
- Set the pear in a deep heatproof dish and steam it for about 40 to 45 minutes, until a chopstick slides easily into the flesh (I test it that way myself).
- Eat it warm, or let it cool and eat it chilled; the recipes give both.
Tips
- The recipes say it soothes thirst and cough; that is the traditional view and not medical advice, and I eat it as a dessert.
- I add just a little water, because too much spills over while it steams; that is my own experience.