Silkly Smooth & Crisply Crunchy

The sweet foods in this chapter are not necessarily served at the end of a meal in south China, or indeed anywhere in the country. The communal Chinese meal has never been structured to embrace desserts as a final flourish. More often than not, only Chinese tea and perhaps some fresh fruit are served as a palate cleanser. Sweet things are generally regarded as between-meal snacks, or for special and festive occasions like the Lunar New Year, when sweet buns and dumplings of every hue and shape make a splendid show as offerings to deities.