362291 Sat Jan 20 19:16:02 -0800 2007 22 27 General Chowhounding Topics 0 2209791 Someone was looking in Manhattan for haw flakes and another poster responded about a few local Hong Kong snack shops ... http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/361864#2208668 "Hong Kong snack shop Aji Ichiban in Chinatown sells an enormous variety of haw snacks. They have little bowls of the snacks so you can taste before you buy ... " "As well as haw snacks, Aji Ichiban has various plum and sweet olive based snacks, all of them somewhat perplexing to my Western tastebuds although a friend of mine loves these plums which look as if they are coated in hay but actually it is tiny bits of licorice. The taste is dissonant yet makes you crave more." That sounds interesting ... especially the part about being able to do taste tests. I don't think we have anything like that in SF that allows tasting, so I'm looking for suggestions on what might be good in Asian markets. About the only thing I've tried are dried plums. Anything else that would be interesting to look for and try? P.S. I'd also appreciate links to any snack topics anyone might remember. I swear I've read Asian snack topics, but search wasn't turning up anything. Sat Jan 20 19:16:02 -0800 2007 10264 rworange 1 2211063 There is an Aji Ichiban in Cupertino Village if you're looking for one in the SF area. However, Aji Ichiban isn't the best place for Chinese candies and snacks (both in Hong Kong and the SF bay area) as the stuff they have tends to be overpriced and/or lower quality. Sun Jan 21 04:56:45 -0800 2007 2209791 10832 Humbucker 1 2211207 There's an Aji Ichiban in SF Chinatown, at 905 Grant Avenue, but I don't know if they give free samples. (NOTE: It's recognizable as "Munchies Paradise" but it's the same operation, known as Aji Ichiban Munchie's Paradise.) There also was, and may still be, an Aji Ichiban on Kearny St. near Chinatown, too. Sun Jan 21 06:44:25 -0800 2007 2209791 10255 Gary Soup 1 2212375 I love the red ginger (it's hot & salty) The preserved plums come in so many variations. My favs are the soft black seedless ones that are sometimes sold individually wrapped, and the super-salty/sour dried ones (my mouth is watering just thinking about them). The boiled peanutes are good too. I also like the salty plum pellets (look for small rabbit droppings) they are sometimes sold in a vial. And I like the agar candies that are wrapped in rice cellophane. Oh, and one more . . . the preserved lemons. Sun Jan 21 22:06:00 -0800 2007 2209791 45908 orangewasabi 2 2228012 That's funny, my brother and I used to call the plum pellets, "rabbit food"! Thu Jan 25 19:48:28 -0800 2007 2212375 13950 chowmeow 3 2228724 The common name I've always heard referring to the plum pellets were "bei si," which is Cantonese for booger. Fri Jan 26 05:15:48 -0800 2007 2228012 22285 dpan 4 2229317 Literally "nose sh*t", n'est-ce pas? Fri Jan 26 08:32:05 -0800 2007 2228724 10255 Gary Soup 1 2213198 Dried squid, sometimes seasoned with sugar and soy, is fun to pull apart into thin fibrous strands and chew chew chew. A little bit satisfies a hunger need. Mon Jan 22 03:46:19 -0800 2007 2209791 17562 FoodFuser 1 2215625 I used to love haw chips and those sweet plum packages in the white paper wrappings when I was a kid, but lost all interest in all the overly sweet stuff now. At Hawaii people loved the le hing mui flavoring, which is how some of the plums are flavored. I am too sensitive to sourness to like it. I tend to go for the slightly sweet but savory snacks like the above mentioned squid/cuttlefish strands, jerkies, or better yet the seasoned tofu snacks. I am also partial to the shrimp chips (my coworkers called them fish baits). Mon Jan 22 22:19:19 -0800 2007 2209791 46671 notmartha 1 2217010 The problem with this question for me is that there are too many things to list and I know I'd forget some. Starters: peanuts in sesame coating, red bean jelly, dried olives (and variations of dried fruit), dried squid/cuttlefish, beef/pork all jerkies, raton caramel candy with that rice paper that melts in your mouth, pockys, baked shrimp chips, chestnuts in vacuum bags, wasabi peanuts, dried seaweed, mochi w/ red bean paste in the middle,... This is why I avoid the snack food aisle at the Chinese market. Tue Jan 23 04:33:06 -0800 2007 2209791 39874 chowser 2 2220605 Yes, I know there are just so many ... and I appreciate all the tips. Might give those dried fish a shot. I've had pocky's of various flavors and shrimp chips. I used to work a block from Chinatown in SF and a coworker would bring back little snacks to sample but I wasn't paying close attention ... there is one great thing I had ... and I'm forgetting even the category, but a trip to the snack shop should refresh my memory if I see it ... I'll report back ... thanks again. Wed Jan 24 00:18:43 -0800 2007 2217010 10264 rworange 3 2221867 re dried fish snacks: the bags of 1" dried anchovy/sardines: niboshi: I once spent 2 days during the Japanese monsoon season on a camping trip marooned in a 4-man tent with 3 Japanese hikers and the only provisions that bolstered our spirits during the deluge were several kilos of the tiny dried fish and a few quarts of whiskey. Musing back, I like to believe that it was the fish. Wed Jan 24 10:10:40 -0800 2007 2220605 17562 FoodFuser 4 2229337 Mmm, crunchy fish. I have an empty jar of Thai seasoned anchovies with sesame ("Shing Shang") sitting on my desk here. Wish it wasn't empty! Also brings to mind the Korean-style caramelized anchovies served as banchan. Not quite as portable -- too sticky. Fri Jan 26 08:37:25 -0800 2007 2221867 10322 the_MU 5 3238885 My Japanese Great Aunt gave me a jar of Thai "Shing Shang" for Christmas. They're sweet and spicy, just barely fishy, and they look rather awful -- like bugs. She went to a lot of trouble to find them in Washington D.C., where she lives. She thought I'd like them, because I like spicy things. I...guess...I do. No one else in my family will touch them. Do other people like them? Wed Dec 26 20:55:14 -0800 2007 2229337 11231 Glencora 1 2220630 I like the japanese dried fish snacks at my local grocer (im in boston). I like the sesame and sugar coated tiny whole crabs (size of a quarter) and the minature fishes - not the anchovies. I forget what its called...but its sweet, delicious, and oh so crunchy. I'm also a big fan of whole dried squid or octopus and cuttlefish shreds with peanuts Wed Jan 24 01:01:36 -0800 2007 2209791 24546 bitsubeats 1 2226845 Now that it's closer to Chinese New Year, I noticed that my local Chinese Supermarket are stocking up on more varieties of snack food - a lot more on candied fruits and such. How can I forget - one of the essential snacks are the watermelon or pumpkin seeds! Nowadays they come in strange flavors like green tea coated. Another somewhat familar to American palate snack are the baked flour squares. They are like an Asian version of Rice Crispy Treats, but I think they are better. Thu Jan 25 14:11:20 -0800 2007 2209791 46671 notmartha 2 3238899 I've seen these new-fangled mint-flavored dried plums. There's also a whole new segment of ginger-type candy creations. Wed Dec 26 21:03:35 -0800 2007 2226845 11583 ipsedixit 1 3239014 This brings up a question I have had forever. I will start a new topic if no one knows....My mother used to get these bags of ginger snacks from chinatown, they were kind of like crystallized ginger snacks, but they don't look like any ginger snacks I see these days on websites for asian snacks. They were dark reddish brown tiny strips and they kind of resembled little brown worms with crystallized sugar, I guess, for the lack of a better description. I see crystallized ginger online but its always whitish or yellowish and they are just not the same. In any event, I am not even sure the ginger was meant to be a snack but that is how my mom ate it and it would take a good while to finish the bag. Heck it may have taken years, only a little nibble every other day or so. It was really good though! I would love to buy some to remember the taste but I have gone on asian snack sites and can not find it. Any ideas? Wed Dec 26 22:21:24 -0800 2007 2209791 152569 HelloTiffy 2 4178491 Are they chewy, and sort of gummy-like? Do you mean Ting Ting Jahe? It's a candy from Indonesia. http://market.treasureshidden.com/images/703989.jpg Sun Nov 16 16:44:11 -0800 2008 3239014 16363 mogo 1 3239689 spicy dried squid (i think it is labeled as cuttlefish but is really squid) "fruit flavored" Chinese beef jerky dehydrated Chinese New Year fruit salted dried plums tamarind candy (it has the texture of fruit roll up and comes in a small plastic box) peanut brittle sesame brittle those agar agar fruit jelly candies prawn chips Chinese brands of seeds like watermelon seeds, etc. Thu Dec 27 08:42:18 -0800 2007 2209791 118120 luckyfatima 2 3242552 I so wish that Jimmy's Beef Jerky was still around. Boy do I miss their version of Chinese fruit flavored beef jerky. :( Fri Dec 28 09:10:16 -0800 2007 3239689 77080 justagthing 1 3242555 Lychee jellys...I miss the old versions that use to cause people to choke. They tasted so much better. Fri Dec 28 09:10:54 -0800 2007 2209791 77080 justagthing 2 3250623 Mango jellys. Freshly made spicy pork jerky that you buy in specialty stores in HK Mini shrimp rolls - they are like mini spring rolls with shrimp 'seeds' inside - spicy and addictive - and very fattening I'm sure Mon Dec 31 19:54:25 -0800 2007 3242555 85530 caitlink