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Asian market find: grass jelly drink

grass jelly drinkI swear Asians have the weirdest things to drink. This was first made clear to me when I would take a small can of an orange juice-like drink called Sac Sac to school. The drink has lots of the tiny mandarin orange pulp sacs, which is really not all that different from fresh squeezed range juice that hasn't been strained of its pulp, but the name, Sac Sac was weird. I won't even go into the grape drink that has peeled whole grapes in it that feels like I'm eating eyeballs.

Now comes Grass Jelly Drink, which I tried for the first time a couple of days ago and am now thoroughly addicted. Grass jelly (in Chinese: sh?o xi?n c?o) is an Asian food made by boiling a special type of grass in the mint family with potassium carbonate. As the liquid cools, it gels. The jelly is cut into tiny cubes and mixed with a sweet, flavored liquid to make the drink. Mine was litchi flavored.

The only bad thing about the drink is that the grass jelly sinks to the bottom of the can. You have to shake it before you drink it, but unless you pound the whole thing in one big gulp from the can, the grass jellies sink back to the bottom. 

I've also seen grass jelly as an "add on" in boba teas.

Filed Under: Vegetarian, Raves & Reviews, Ingredients, Drink Recipes, New Products
Tags: america, asia, asian foods, chinese foods, drink, drinking, drinks, fruit, grass jelly, juice, soda, soft drinks, vegetables

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

Sir Not Appearing in this Blog

5-05-2006 @10:52PM Sir Not Appearing in this Blog said... Sounds interesting. Where did you find it?
Reply

Bruce Dearborn Walker

5-06-2006 @12:43AM Bruce Dearborn Walker said... You can swirl the can around and around before each swig. You can't sip this in genteel fashion. I also haven't had any luck trying to pour it into a glass.

Like many Asian foods, this is actually a medicinal preparation. Drink it on a hot day, and you will notice that you feel a bit cooler and more comfortable. Not as good as an air conditioner, but still.

Grass jelly is also served sweetened on shaved ice with syrup as a dessert or as a cooling snack. The Vietnamese and Indonesians have some "interesting" concoctions that include adzuki and mung beans, boiled and softened, canned sweet corn, green coconut meat, and they taste very strange and very good, especially when one has tramped all over Canal Street looking for jewelry and whatnot with one's wife on a hot August afternoon.

It is also for sale canned and unsweetened. It comes out looking like a black translucent tube of canned cranberry sauce. I blended it with milk, sugar, and a little vanilla extract, and it actually tasted good, once my in-laws got over the color.
Reply

Finished.Law.School

5-06-2006 @4:43AM Finished.Law.School said... Sac sac with grapes tastes great. I never had the feeling that I was drinking/eating eyeballs...
Reply

Wondering

5-08-2006 @6:25PM Wondering said... sh?o xi?n c?o is actually a different drink - hot grass jelly. This is just plain xi?n c?o.
Reply

4 Comments / 1 Pages

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