Blogs

Show most people a bag of goji and you get the squint. Then: "raisins?" Sometimes it's cranberries. Fair enough, really. They're little, they're reddish, they're wrinkly and they come dried in a bag, so your brain just fills in the gap for you. They're neither, though. Once you've had a few side by side you won't mix them up again, so here's what goji actually is, how it's different in the mouth, and what to do with a bag once you've got it home. So what are they? Dried fruit, off the goji plant. Lycium barbarum is the posh name....

Saturday 10 October is World Mental Health Day. You'll see plenty of posts telling you to "reach out" and "check in". Good advice, but a lot of people don't really know what that looks like in real life. In a lot of Chinese households, nobody sits you down and asks if you're okay. Someone just turns up with a pot of soup. One of the most common greetings in Chinese is "Have you eaten yet?" It isn't really about food. It means "I'm thinking about you". This post is about that idea: food as a way of looking after people....

Jujube: The Red Dates at the Heart of the Chinese Kitchen If you've followed any of our recipes, you'll have noticed the same ingredient appearing again and again. Jujubes, or Chinese red dates, turn up in congee, in soups, in hot pot bases, in broths and in teas. There's a reason for that ubiquity: they're one of the most useful ingredients in the Chinese store cupboard, doing a job no other ingredient quite does. Here's what they actually are, why they're in everything, and how to use them properly. They Aren't Dates Let's clear this up first, because the English...

Chrysanthemum Tea: How to Brew It Properly Chrysanthemum tea is one of the most widely drunk herbal infusions in China, and one of the easiest to make badly. Most people pour boiling water over a spoonful of flowers, leave it too long, and end up with something bitter and faintly stewed. Done properly it's delicate, floral and gently sweet, and it can be refilled several times from the same flowers. Here's how, plus what to look for when buying. What It Is Chrysanthemum tea is made from the dried flower heads of Chrysanthemum morifolium, known in Chinese as Ju Hua....