Ask Mr. Know-It-All: What are those big candy boxes you get at Chinese New Year?
Dear Mr. Know-It-All,
What are those big boxes filled with loads of different candies that you get at Chinese New Year? – Lunar Treats
This box is the chuen hup, the “Box of Togetherness”—one of those translations that accidentally sounds more mysterious and mystical than it actually is. Actually it’s an ornate box with several compartments, with each compartment designed to hold a tasty treat. Each sweet represents one positive idea or good wish, and the box is served to all who come visiting over Chinese New Year as a symbol of good fortune. Here are just some of the morsels you might find in an average chuen hup.
Photo: Denise Chan via Flickr
角仔 (Gok zai)
Flaky pastry dumplings are filled with peanut, sesame and dried coconut and then deep fried until crispy. The shape and the color are said to resemble ancient Chinese golden sycee ingots, with all of the attendant messages of good fortune. Excellent and impossible to stop at just one.
Candied lotus root 糖蓮藕 (tong lin ngau)
Slices of sweet, extra-crunchy lotus root signify abundance and have the benefit of looking really nice in a tray.
Candied lotus seeds 糖蓮子 (tong lin zi)
Crunchy little morsels which also signify abundance and offspring. Besides being seeds, “lin zi” sounds like the Cantonese for “a son yearly,” which is essentially a grandmother’s greatest wish.
Red/black melon seeds 紅瓜子/黑瓜子 (hong gwa zi/hak gwa zi)
Dried watermelon seeds represent fertility and offspring: The more you eat, the more kids you’ll have. The larger black seeds are typically roasted and salted for a sodium-packed snack, whereas the red ones are smaller and harder to open but have a subtler, more buttery taste. Red is also an auspicious color making them all the luckier.
If you’ve ever seen a granny work her way through a bag of seeds in five minutes flat, you’ll know there’s a knack to opening them. Place the seed on its edge between your teeth, nearer the pointed end. Bite down gently and the seed should split open, and you can use your tongue (or fingers) to extract the edible portion of the seed. Time-consuming? Yes. Satisfying? Indubitably.