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Joyce Yip

The summer of 2016 was unseasonably hot, especially at the Fu Shin Street Wet Market in Tai Po, in Hong Kong’s New Territories, where Chest’N Nuts & Dried Foods had called home for the last three years.
In this area with relatively low foot traffic, the shop’s offerings of traditional confectionery, preserved and dried fruit, and freshly roasted chestnuts were not pulling in enough business.
General manager Tse Yu-man’s solution? Infusing his bestselling staples, such as dried mandarin peel – or chun pei – into ice cream.
“Traditional snacks are an important part of Hong Kong culture, and ice cream is an all-time beloved snack, so why not have both?” he says.
Today, chun pei ice cream remains one of the shop’s bestsellers after ginger and chestnut flavours. Tse has also opened a second branch in Mong Kok.
What is chun pei?
Literally translating to “old skin”, these furled, sandpaper-textured, thick petal-like pieces were first used in dishes to impress emperors during the Song dynasty.
Today, they are found in sweet and savoury soups, teas, sprinkled atop steamed fish, in duck braises and in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). The ingredient is thought to have medicinal powers, including stabilising blood pressure, strengthening the spleen, aiding digestion and enhancing the respiratory system. It is also believed to keep cancer at bay.

To be called chun pei, mandarin peel must be sun-dried every autumn and winter consecutively for at least three years; otherwise, they are just guo pei, or fruit peel.
The peels’ age also determines their price, from a few hundred Hong Kong dollars per tael (37.8 grams/1.3oz) to prices comparable to their weight in gold. In a 2022 auction in Hong Kong, 666 grams of 1950s-produced chun pei from Xinhui in China’s Guangdong province fetched HK$216,000.
So valuable is chun pei that it is often gifted as a dowry in parts of mainland China. The ingredient was even targeted in a theft in Hong Kong’s Sham Shui Po neighbourhood in October 2025, when burglars stole a batch of chun pei along with other valuables from a residential unit.
The pricey mandarin peel’s culinary comeback
While chun pei is prized for its purported health benefits, its earthy, bitter flavour is hardly a crowd-pleaser. But could innovations such as Tse’s ice cream make the ingredient the next matcha or ube?
Tse is not alone: in 2018, Hong Kong cafe chain Pacific Coffee launched its first tangerine peel latte. In April 2026, Italian confectionery brand Venchi debuted its 30-year dried mandarin peel and red bean dessert gelato in partnership with one-Michelin-star Hong Kong restaurant Shang Palace, known for its classic red bean soup with 30-year-aged mandarin peel.
Also targeting a more premium market is Orz Gin, which produces a spirit distilled with native Australian peach quandong, jasmine and chun pei – an ingredient co-founder and director Zachary Chan Tin-ying appreciates for its accessibility and as a symbol of Hong Kong.

Chan admits that his gin is “designed for the masses” and does not have the tannins for which aged chun pei is known. Instead, it is there to craft “a story that sells”.
“[A good story] is the main winning factor in retail, alongside an eye-catching bottle,” he says. “The ingredient appeals to regular gin drinkers because chun pei gin is rare, at least I haven’t found another one in the market yet.”
He attributes Orz Gin’s rising popularity to the nostalgia boom: think the revival of 1980s Cantopop, egg tarts and pineapple buns.
Chun pei in everything from gin to egg waffles
David Tsang Kwong-ching, the founder of snack shop Hong Kong Street Eats, says his frozen chun pei-flavoured egg waffles have not received the same level of popularity as flavours like original and chocolate.
His inspiration for the unique flavour came from French desserts with lemon zest and candied orange peels, he says, adding that while customers in their thirties and forties were “pleasantly surprised”, the general feedback was that the chun pei egg waffle was too gimmicky.
“It sold for the first year, and demand dwindled,” he says.
For his waffles, Tsang uses chun pei from Xinhui, known for its fragrance and reduced tartness. He soaks the pith and scrapes it off before turning the peels into a paste, which he mixes into a batter.

“Egg waffle is a signature treat in Hong Kong, and we wanted to incorporate more Chinese elements into our flavour profiles,” Tsang says. “My parents and grandparents are familiar with these traditional ingredients – something that’s lost with our generation and even more so with our children.
“Putting these traditional ingredients into modern-day, fun foods could be a form of education and awareness.”
Beyond the nostalgia factor, chun pei is also a part of a global TCM movement that has enjoyed celebrity endorsements and the scientific spotlight in the past decade.
The celebrities behind the TCM boom
Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen is an ardent fan of TCM staple lion’s mane mushrooms, claiming that they aid digestion. In 2024, American pop star Ariana Grande and British actress and singer Cynthia Erivo, both cast members from the hit film Wicked, sang the praises of the Chinese cough syrup Nin Jiom Pei Pa Koa.
Beyond Hollywood, the global TCM market is projected to reach US$420 billion by 2032, according to Business Research Insights.
Dr Siu Yan-ho is a lecturer in Baptist University’s Department of Chinese Language and Literature with a specialisation in the city’s food culture. He is sceptical of the quality of the chun pei used in modern creations such as egg waffles and coffee, and calls these products “health gimmicks at best”.

“If you’re really into TCM, then you’d be going for a cup of herbal tea or chun pei soup rather than an ice cream cone,” he says, attributing the recent uptick in chun pei innovations – however small – to an increasing appreciation of mainland Chinese culture.
Siu suggests that these contemporary interpretations of “grandma” ingredients might only appeal to a niche market.
“Generally, mature audiences have less adventurous palates, given that many of them have tried the nice, premium chun pei their grandmas have fished out of their kitchen cabinets,” he says.
“The younger crowds, who are likelier to try new things, meanwhile, either might not know it at all or have yet to develop an appreciation for something as complex,” he adds, warning that exposure to subpar chun pei in these modern creations might deter people from trying better quality versions of the prized ingredient later on.
Pacific Coffee featured chun pei in three of its drinks in winter 2025, seven years after launching its tangerine peel latte.
Chan of Orz Gin now has various restaurant partners – including Hong Kong bar The Doctor’s Residence by Dr Fern (previously Dr Fern’s Gin Parlour) – that are pouring his gin. In April 2026, Orz Gin collaborated with Nordic restaurant Finds in Hong Kong’s Tsim Sha Tsui neighbourhood to create a tipsy mandarin-themed afternoon tea.
So does chun pei have the same pull as matcha on TikTok? Not yet, but gimmick or not, chun pei creations seem here to stay.


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Food and Drinks

In April 2026, Venchi debuted its 30-year dried mandarin peel and red bean dessert gelato. It is one of the many ways that chun pei (dried mandarin peel) is being reinvented. Photo: Joyce Yip

Chest’N Nuts & Dried Foods’ bestselling chun pei ice cream. Photo: Joyce Yip 

Orz Gin is distilled with native Australian peach quandong, jasmine and chun pei. Photo: Orz Gin

Hong Kong Street Eats’ chun pei-flavoured egg waffles use mandarin peels sourced from Xinhui in China’s Guangdong province. Photo: Hong Kong Street Eats

Chun pei is thought to have medicinal powers, including stabilising blood pressure, strengthening the spleen, aiding digestion and enhancing the respiratory system. Photo: Shutterstock

Asian-American mother challenges tough Chinese traditions for new mums with modern recipes

Clarissa Wei is the author of “Sitting the Month”, a cookbook that aims to dispel misconceptions surrounding the ancient Chinese tradition of “zuo yue zi” so new mums can recover after childbirth with confidence. Photo: Lin Hou Jun

Wei lies in a hospital bed in Taipei, Taiwan, with her newborn baby. She was inspired to write her book Sitting the Month after a negative experience at a confinement hotel following the birth of her first child. Photo: Clarissa Wei

The cover of Wei’s book. Photo: Clarissa Wei

Cordyceps flower chicken soup is one of Wei’s stand-out recipes in her cookbook. Photo: Ryan Chen

Wei’s tea made from roasted eucommia bark blended with black soybeans, goji berries and jujubes. Photo: Clarissa Wei

Wei is keen to dispel the notion that zuo yue zi has to mean total deprivation for new mothers; she says she enjoys pizza and even the odd glass of wine. Photo: Clarissa Wei

Chinese desserts like red bean, black sesame and sago soups are having their moment again

Stewed papaya with snow fungus (left) and black sesame soup served at Kai Kai Dessert, Mong Kok, Hong Kong. Photo: Alexander Mak

Dessert classics at Kai Kai Dessert in Hong Kong. Chinese dessert soups like these are regaining popularity. Photo: Jonathan Wong 

Stewed papaya with snow fungus (left) and black sesame soup (right) served at Kai Kai Dessert. Photo: Alexander Mak

Sweet dessert soups at Yup Moment. Photo: Instagram/caedf

Signature Chinese sweet soups along with savoury snacks are served at Soon. Photo: Instagram/soon.dessert

Left: soy milk soft serve at 日日鮮手作店, a soy specialist in Sai Ying Pun. Photo: Instagram/goodcoffeehk. Right: Heartwarming’s signature black sesame soft serve. Photo: Instagram/micng.hk

How luxury traditional Chinese medicine treatments are finding more fans in Hong Kong

Yun Wellness, at the Island Shangri-la in Hong Kong, regularly hosts guest acupuncturists, tai chi masters and bonesetters. Photo: Yun Wellness

Kelly Chain Yeung Pui-kuen, a TCM practitioner at Chain’s Medicare Centre in Admiralty, Hong Kong. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Goods for sale at Chain’s Medicare Centre. Photo: Jonathan Wong

The interior of Chuan Spa at Cordis, Hong Kong. Photo: Karma Lo

Yun Wellness’ spa treatments are built around a holistic philosophy that seeks to revitalise the body and the mind. Photo: Yun Wellness

Jessie Chan, assistant director of Chuan Spa at Cordis, Hong Kong. Photo: Karma Lo

TCM bar in China makes customers drinks based on its doctor’s diagnoses

A bartender prepares shots at Niang Qing, a “TCM bar” in Shanghai, China. Similar bars based on traditional Chinese medicine have popped up in cities across China, epitomising what the country’s stressed-out, time-poor youth refer to as “punk wellness”, or “wrecking yourself while saving yourself”. Photo: AFP

TCM practitioner Ding (left) checks a customer’s pulse and tongue at the Niang Qing bar before prescribing herbs and roots for the bartender to mix into a “health shot”. Photo: AFP

A customer sips a health cocktail following his TCM consultation at Niang Qing. Photo: AFP

A cocktail infused with Chinese medicinal herbs at the TCM-themed cocktail bar Niang Qing. Photo: AFP

Bottles of herbal-infused medicinal spirits, each tailored to a different symptom, are seen on a table at Niang Qing. Photo: AFP

Lifestyle

Food & Drink

Dried mandarin peel was first used in dishes to impress Chinese emperors. Today, it can be found in everything from drinks to desserts


Dried mandarin peel was first used in dishes to impress Chinese emperors. Today, it can be found in everything from drinks to desserts.


Hong Kong

Hong Kong culture

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM)

Chinese culture

Mandarin peel ice cream, coffee, gin? Why chun pei, a TCM ingredient, is gaining favour

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Dried mandarin peel was first used in dishes to impress Chinese emperors. Today, it can be found in everything from drinks to desserts

What is chun pei?

Dried mandarin peel was first used in dishes to impress Chinese emperors. Today, it can be found in everything from drinks to desserts