Stories behind "Oriental Cheese" in Foshan
Foshan China 2022-07-26 10:04

At six oclock, Daliang Jinbang Village in Shunde slowly “woke up” in the morning dew. Li MeiHuan, the founder of Jinbang Milk, put cans of milk slices neatly on window of the store. The tinkling sound of cans and the singing of birds imply the start of a new day.

 

 

Jinbang milk has been available since the Ming Dynasty. At that time, Jinbang Village in Daliang, Shunde had little arable land, and every household had a few buffaloes, selling beef and milk for a living.

 

As it would go bad quickly when fresh milk is exposed under humid weather, people who were good at cooking used vinegar and salt to make buffalo milk into crystal milk slices to preserve it in a can. The skill has been passed down from generation to generation and it gradually became a famous food for the old and young, which is also known as the "Oriental Cheese".

 

 

A small pot of milk and a small pot of vinegar being heating on the coal stove in turns, Aunt Li sit behind the window and skillfully makes it up.

 

The mold made of the old longan tree has been used for 50 or 60 years. Mixing a spoonful of milk and a spoonful of vinegar respectively in a small bowl, and it would be poured into the mold after solidification.

 

 

Aunt Li holds the mold firmly in one hand and presses it quickly with the other. Slices of crystal milk are dropped into the salt water impartially, just like blossoming white lotuses.

 

The prepared milk slices are put into the cans one by one so that the perishable milk is able to be preserved for a longer time in this way.

 

Jinbang Milk has the incomparable milk fragrance of ordinary milk. In addition to selling to various places, the milk would be made into various milk delicacies, including double-layer milk, ginger milk, fried milk and so on, showing people at home and abroad the charm of Foshan, a City of Gastronomy in the world.