Fuping Liuqu millet candy is a pulled-sugar confection from Liuqu Township in Fuping County — amber malt syrup cooked from saccharified local millet, then pulled and folded until it transforms from translucent caramel to ivory-white as jade (琼), the colour that gives the candy its name. Layered with toasted white sesame and pressed into brittle cakes, it cracks cleanly on the tooth and dissolves in a wave of clean malt sweetness. A stove-god tribute since at least the Ming Hongwu era, it received national geographic-indication protection in 2009 and Shaanxi Province intangible cultural heritage inscription in 2013.
Tradition holds that Liuqu Township has made this confection for over six hundred years, beginning in the Hongwu reign of the Ming dynasty (1368–1398), when villagers prepared it as a stove-god offering on the twenty-third day of the twelfth lunar month, hoping to sweeten the god's report to heaven and secure a prosperous harvest in the new year — hence its older names, stove candy (灶糖) and sesame candy (芝麻糖). By the Qing dynasty, records of the craft appear in local gazetteers, and the candy had become an imperial tribute valued for its jade-white colour and pure sweetness. The production turns on a thirteen-step process: barley malt enzymes saccharify locally grown millet starch into a malt liquid that is slow-boiled in an iron wok until syrupy, then poured onto an oiled stone table and pulled and folded repeatedly by hand until entrapped air bubbles scatter light diffusely and the caramel turns opaque white — the 'jade-fine' appearance from which the confection takes its name. In 2009, the national quality inspection authority granted geographic-indication protection to Liuqu Qiongguo candy, with Fuping County's Liuqu Township as the sole protected origin. The craft was inscribed on Shaanxi Province's intangible heritage list in 2013; recognised transmitter Zhang Jincai modernised the recipe by switching to water-washed, dehulled white sesame, appreciably improving the candy's purity and flavour.
A crack on the tooth — immediate and definitive, no stickiness, no resistance — followed by rapid dissolution into a wave of clean malt sweetness underlaid by the deep, roasty fragrance of white sesame. The sweetness is moderate and dries cleanly on the palate; it does not linger the way sucrose-heavy candies do. A second piece feels inevitable.
Barley malt contains α-amylase and β-amylase whose combined activity at 55–60°C cleaves millet's branched starch chains into maltose and short dextrins. The extracted malt liquid is concentrated by boiling to 110–120°C; at this temperature, water evaporates until the syrup reaches the 'hard crack' stage (approximately 15–20% residual water). Repeated pulling and folding on a stone table drives microscopic air bubbles into the supersaturated sugar matrix; the entrapped bubbles scatter light diffusely, converting the transparent amber to opaque white. The porous, aerated structure gives the candy its characteristic brittle snap and rapid mouth-dissolution rather than the sticky chew of un-pulled toffee. Sesame lignans — sesamin and sesamolin — function as natural antioxidants, retarding moisture uptake and slowing the crystallisation that would progressively soften the candy during storage.
Variations
Walnut Qiongguo candy — crushed walnut pieces folded into the pulled sugar for a rich, nutty layer; peanut version using roasted peanut pieces in place of or alongside sesame; 琼锅酥 — a modern ultra-thin wafer format pressed to under 5mm for maximum crispness; black sesame variant with a deeper, more bitter-roasty fragrance and dramatic colour contrast.
On the Palate
Where Fuping Qiongguo Millet Candy sits in the Chinese flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 8How it's made
7 steps · 30 min
- 145 min
Wash millet thoroughly; steam over high heat for 40 minutes until fully cooked and sticky; spread out and cool to about 60°C.
- 2240 min
Mix the warm millet thoroughly with freshly ground barley malt (about 40% of millet weight); pack into an insulated container or wrap in heavy blankets; hold at 55–60°C for 3–4 hours for saccharification until the sweetness is pronounced.
Watch outHold the mash at 55-60°C for 3-4 hours until it turns pronouncedly sweet — too hot kills the malt enzymes and no sugar forms; taste for that sweetness before pressing.
- 320 min
Bundle the saccharified mash in cheesecloth; press and wring firmly to extract the amber malt liquid; collect all liquid and discard the spent grain.
- 490 min
Pour malt liquid into an iron wok; simmer over medium-low heat, stirring constantly to prevent scorching, until syrup is reduced and thick enough to pull a thin thread between two fingers — roughly 110–120°C.
Watch outBoil the malt liquid to 110-120°C, where it pulls a thin thread between your fingers — under that it won't set, and stir constantly or it scorches bitter.
- 530 min
Pour the thick syrup onto a lightly oiled stone or steel surface; cool to 60–65°C until workable; wearing cotton gloves, begin pulling and folding repeatedly — stretch the mass, fold it double, stretch again — until the colour shifts from amber to ivory-white.
Watch outPull and fold repeatedly until the amber turns ivory-white — that color shift means enough air is worked in for the porous, brittle snap.
- 615 min
Scatter toasted white sesame seeds over the pulled candy; press them in firmly; shape into a flat cake about 2cm thick; cut into rectangular pieces while still warm and pliable.
- 720 min
Allow pieces to cool completely before sealing in an airtight container; store in a cool, dry place; best consumed within two weeks before moisture causes softening.
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