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Buns hop off the shelf as chefs display creativity

By Li yingxue | China Daily | Updated: 2023-01-21 08:59

A set of jade rabbit-themed afternoon tea and pastry is launched to celebrate Lunar New Year. [Photo for China Daily]

Zang Chaiyuan has been working from morning to night as people from across the country order her steamed buns, especially the rabbit-shaped, to celebrate Lunar New Year.

Her steamed bun in the shape of a rabbit, dressed in a lion-dance costume, is one of the most popular products and it is fluffy and cute. She started to create different rabbit-shaped huabobo, a flowerlike steamed bun, with a history stretching back more than 300 years, several months ago to be in time to celebrate Spring Festival.

"I usually get 30 to 40 online orders daily, but since December, the number has doubled and my team members have to work at full capacity," Zang says.

As the Year of the Rabbit looms, pastry chefs are using the rabbit element in their creations, whether traditional steamed buns, puff pastry or modern snacks and high tea.

Besides providing various festive pastry choices, they are also infusing their best wishes of the new year to the customers into the rabbit-related designs.

Zang, 26, from Yantai, East China's Shandong province, has given huabobo, the provincial intangible cultural heritage in Shandong, a modern twist with her rabbit designs.

"It's just made of milk, egg, sugar and flour," she says, adding that all the colors are extracts from natural ingredients, such as koji rice for the color red, spinach for the green, and pumpkin for the orange.

According to her, the key to make the steamed bun fluffy is the appropriate temperature and humidity to ferment the dough.

"Rabbits are cute, and I can create many products inspired by rabbits," she says.

She also hosts online and on-site pastry courses to show how to make them.

"The students vary from youngsters to people in their 50s. Some of them like this craft skill that combines traditional Chinese culture, and some want to learn to make them for their loved ones," she says.

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