Juhong Gao (Chewy Rice Cubes)
Small pink cubes of soft glutinous rice paste flavoured with sugar and a hint of tangerine peel or rose, dusted with fine rice flour and sold by the bag as a traditional sweet.
How to eat it
The cubes are coated in dry rice flour to stop them sticking, so shake one off and put it in your mouth whole; they are the size of a sugar cube. Chew slowly, as the texture is dense and elastic and a mouthful of several is hard to manage. They are eaten at room temperature with tea and are not heated or cooked. Keep the bag closed and away from heat, or the cubes fuse into one block. A few at a time is the usual amount; they are sweet and filling.
The story behind the dish
Soft rice-paste sweets of this kind are made in several towns of northern Zhejiang, and the pink, citrus-scented version is a familiar item in Huzhou and neighbouring Deqing, where it is sold alongside the tea cake and other local snacks. The name refers to the colour and the tangerine flavouring rather than to any place. It was traditionally a New Year and wedding sweet, made at home from the year's glutinous rice, and shops later took over production. There is no origin story attached; it is simply part of the region's sweet tradition and one of the cheaper edible souvenirs to carry home.
For reference
Every kitchen does it its own way. What follows is the typical version — ingredients, heat and price shift from city to city and from one restaurant to the next, so take it as a guide rather than a fixed recipe.