Yue’s Chasan, a traditional deep-fried dough twist, is well known in Huai’an. The snack has been made by 19 generations of the Yue family and won a bronze medal at the Nanyang Industrial Exposition and a gold medal at Expocomer. In 2014, Yue Yunfei, as inheritor of making Yue’s Chasan, was named Excellent Intangible Cultural Heritage Inheritor in Huai’an.
Making Chasan requires painstaking efforts - rising at 3 am every day and working late hours, yet earning very little money - so later generations in the family quit making Chasan. Yue Yunfei, however, chose to continue his work. In his view, making thin slices of Chasan is not just about supporting his family, but more about retaining the memory of Yue’s family.
The secret of the snack's time-honored popularity lies in its quality. Every day, Yue Yunfei selects 10 kg of patent flour and carefully follows the recipe, which has more than 10 production processes. Yue also updated Chasan's traditional recipe and technique, producing a snack that is much brighter and more palatable.
With the help of his son, Yue started to try introducing industrialized elements to some parts of the production, and exploring new ways of realizing traditional skills-based industrialization while assuring quality.
（A poem for Chasan）
Thin slices of Chasan are not just a kind of fancy food, but reflect the taste of home to the people living in Huai’an. Yue’s Chasan has gradually developed into a “business card” in Huaiyang cuisine.
(Source / english.jschina.com.cn; Photo / jstv.com; Editor / Mengxi Li)
