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Snow Fungus Soup
This snow fungus soup (雪儿糖水) is a simple & nourishing Chinese dessert (tong shui/糖水) to make at home. It is often cooked during Chinese New Year and auspicious occasions (I remember having it at my friend’s house on the morning of her wedding). Its sweetness symbolises sweet blessings (甜甜蜜蜜). Check out the ingredients and step-by-step photos in this post.
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This is also a simplified form of our local Cheng Tng dessert (usually Cheng Tng comes with more ingredients such as lily bulbs, sea coconut, sweet potato and barley). Snow fungus is highly nutritious and it has health benefits such as improving blood circulation, and strengthening one’s respiratory system. Because I cheated (as usual) by using instant ginkgo nuts (where the nuts are sold shelled & boiled), the steps and effort for this recipe are greatly simplified.
INGREDIENTS
Snow Fungus aka white fungus (银耳) is the main ingredient of this recipe.
SELECTION OF FUNGUS
White plate: This is a quality piece of whole snow fungus. The colour is vibrant yellow and it is very fragrant.
Green plate: These are the fragments in the bag of the whole fungus I bought. Don’t throw them! They taste the same (and easier to eat for elderly) even though they are broken. Don’t serve them during auspicious occasions though.
Grey plate: This is a plate of average quality fungus. The colour and smell are not as good in the dried form, and they are usually sold in chunks instead of whole. But they are still delicious when cooked and won’t ruin the dessert (tried-and-tested).
REST OF THE INGREDIENTS
Rest of the ingredients are pandan leaves (tied to a knot), dried red dates, dried longan meat & rock sugar. This is one dessert which makes the kitchen smell so good as it is simmering away.
Gingko nuts (白果) – I only use vacuumed pack (or canned ones) as the nuts are already removed from the shell & boiled. Such a big time saver! The brand (pictured above) I got from Sheng Siong does not contain the black dirt in the middle of the nut. If you found a dirt in the middle, use a toothpick to pry it out as it is bitter tasting.
MAKING THE DESSERT
Soak the fungus in hot water until puffy and turns a whiter shade (I use less water so I flip it over midway).
Discard the dark hardened parts on the underside of the fungus (white plate). Cut the fungus to bite-sized pieces.
Making the dessert is too easy! Just dump everything except the rock sugar into the pot.
Add water and bring to a boil.
Partially open the lid and simmer until the fungus is softened to liking. It should not take more than an hour. Add rock sugar and top up water only during the last few minutes of cooking. Enjoy this sweet & nourishing dessert.
First posted in Jul 2010, updated in May 2020.
Lovely. I like white fungus texture a lot.
will it be different if we use fresh longan?
You can use fresh longan, just add them to the soup when serving. Traditional Chinese desserts always use dried longan but you can always substitute :)
wow! healthy chinese dessert :D
My version is with quail eggs, and without gingko nuts. :) Will make this soon.
Look forward to your version. quail eggs sound good!
I love this dessert very much – so ‘cheng’ (hokkien for clear). Whenever I make this, I have to give away. My family doesn’t eat this. :(
Oh I wish I stay next to you, so that you can give away to me hehe
wow judy, we can cook together and enjoy teh cheng. I usually order this from hawker centre, now we can enjoy together. What do you think+
what a mouth watering dessert.
Gorgeous, Wiffy! Yes, more Chinese desserts, please!
Add some taro and it’ll be one of my favorite desserts. :)
That’s Vietnamese style? I’ve yet to try with taro, sounds delicious :)
More Trieu Chau/Chiu Chow style. Make little balls of the mashed taro paste.
Love this dessert! It’s pretty hard to find dried longan here, wonder if we can use the fresh one instead? Hope you have fun on your holiday trip :)
Yes you can use fresh ones, add them at the end (no need to boil) :)
Love the white fungus soup … esp. when they are chilled. Perfect summer dessert.