Ningbo snacks, whether snacks, cakes or dishes, have a unique flavor. Chinese pastry has become one of the twelve schools of pastry food in China. It has the characteristics of strict material selection, fine processing, ingenious modeling and rich nutrition, and has formed the distinctive characteristics of crisp-based, soft and crisp, sweet and salty, soft and fragrant. Ningbo-style snacks, but also pay special attention to the selection of materials. For example, lard dumplings are made of refined white glutinous rice flour, which is embedded with fine lard, sugar and black sesame seeds. Its color is like white jade, waxy but not sticky, oily but not greasy, soft and smooth, and fragrant, which is a must for China.
If snacks such as snacks and cakes are never tired of eating because of their unique flavor, then dishes are more appetizing because of their full color, flavor and flavor. For example, Loumaoji Xianggan in Ningbo, which has a history of nearly a hundred years, is different from Xianggan in Shaoxing, Suzhou, Wuxi and Changzhou. Although it is ugly, it has a unique flavor. Loumaoji Hunan and Jiangxi are made of high-quality Hunan and Jiangxi as raw materials and baked by special technology. Bright color, fragrant, tough but not firm, soft and loose, salty and fresh, fresh and sweet. It is not only delicious to drink and eat, but also a snack. Especially in summer, people like light food. Loumaoji Hunan and Jiangxi is a good drink and food. Now the above snacks can be basically eaten in Ningbo Chenghuangmiao Snack City. On weekends or holidays, a family of three, or friends get together, order a few plates of melon seeds, drag yellow croaker, two bowls of beef vermicelli, jiaozi with lard, put a few cages of fresh meat and taste it slowly in crystal oil bags, which is a great enjoyment of life.
There are many special snacks in Ningbo, among which the Melaleuca Cake in Fenghua Xikou is very famous.
Xikou Melaleuca Cake is one of the three specialties in Fenghua, with a history of 100 years. Its founder, Wang Maolong, began to make it in the fourth year of Guangxu in Qing Dynasty (1878). Today, there are many thousand-layer cake shops in Xikou Street, among which "Wang Maolong Thousand-layer Cake Shop" is run by Wang Lingqi, the fourth generation descendant of Wang Maolong, with high quality and prosperous business.
The real name of "the best cake in the world" is "Melaleuca cake", which was originally a small cake produced locally. The main raw materials are flour, taro powder, sugar, refined salt, vegetable oil, sesame, moss and so on. The method is to mix taro powder with flour, add seaweed, roll into thin slices, then fold and bake with charcoal fire. The entrance is crisp and sweet.
Speaking of this cake, I can't help but mention the innovative Wang Maolong. The farmer in Xikou is very clever. He groped to improve the processing method of cakes, made a special oven with yellow mud, and added several sweet and salty flavors. The Melaleuca Cake he made had a unique taste and later became a famous specialty in Xikou.
But there is another reason to call it "the best cake in the world". Fenghua Xikou is the hometown of Chiang Kai-shek. After Jiang came to power, he missed his hometown specialties very much. He once sent someone to call the descendants of the Wangs to him, specially baking cookies from his hometown for him, and kept asking people to taste them. This kind of biscuit is becoming more and more famous day by day, and finally it is called "the best cake in the world".
This kind of cake uses little oil, especially no animal oil, which conforms to the nutritional concept of modern people. After the cake is made, it is not easy to go bad, and it can be kept for two or three months at room temperature. The development of tourism has also promoted the prosperity of local flavor industries. As a result, there are more and more characteristic cake shops in Xikou. Now besides Wang Maolong's old shop, there are Wang Laotou's Melaleuca Cake Shop, Jiang Shengtai's old shop and Chen's shop. There are dozens of large and small ones lined up on Wuling Road in Xikou Town. Every family has a special oven, which pays attention to baking and selling now. The Melaleuca Cake made by Jiang Shengtai's old shop is made of exquisite materials, and the traditional technology is improved by using nutrient-rich marine plants-moss. Made by thirteen processes, the cake can reach 27 floors and won the "Best Taste Award" in the local flavor making competition.