Winter Melon Pastry Filling 冬瓜餡

 

Onward on another new and exciting food filling for our Five Flavors Mini Crystal Zongzi!  This Winter Melon Pastry Filling 冬瓜餡 is a filling that surprised us quite a bit.  I had never realized that the Winter Melon Candy could be used to make a filling!  Even though candied, the winter melon candy still retains the sponginess of the original melon, thus, when transformed into this filling, it soaks up all the flavors it is cooked with, especially the floral hints from the osmanthus flower syrup.  Sweet and delicate, this unique filling is quite delectable!

Osmanthus Chinese New Year Rice Cake 桂花年糕

An important part of the Chinese New Year is the making and eating of the Chinese New Year Rice Cake 年糕.  These perfectly round cakes symbolize the yearly reaffirmation of the whole, the union, the endless unbroken circle of family and life.  So you see how important a role these cakes take on?  

This year I decided to add a twist on the usual sweet rice cake by adding flower blossoms to the mix.  This Osmanthus Chinese New Year Rice Cake 桂花年糕 is made with osmanthus infused sugar syrup, resulting in a cake that has all the wonderful chewy rice-i-ness of the traditional rice cake but permeated with the lightly floral, sweet and mouthwatering fragrance of the osmanthus flower.  

As I have mentioned before, osmanthus is one of my 媽媽's favorite flowers, so this one's for you dearest 媽媽!

Osmanthus Flower Tea 桂花茶糖漿

This post is for my dearest 媽媽.  She loves osmanthus flowers and has always planted an osmanthus tree wherever we lived.  When I was a little girl, our osmanthus tree was just outside my bedroom window and the flower's drifting scent would steal in on the night breezes to soothe me to gentle sleep.  There is something otherworldly about the delicate, enchanting fragrance from these tiny flowers.  

That is why it is my great pleasure to share this very simple to make Osmanthus Flower Tea 桂花茶, which uses the dried flowers of the osmanthus to make a truly wonderfully fragrant and uplifting tea which is 100 percent guaranteed to make your day that much brighter and better!