!!!Tortoise Herb Jelly!!! (Guilingao)

Today, I want to introduce my favorit dessert - Tortoise Herb Jelly (Guilingao).

Some people may surprise with "what? tortoise?" --

Right !!! ----

Chinese people must be very familiar with Guilingao,,  is a jelly-like Chinese medicine dessert!

Tortoise Herb Jelly (Guilingao):

In traditional way, It was made from two main kinds of ingredients:

   1.The powder of bottom shell from “Golden Coin Turtle”.

 The golden coin turtle is one kind of endangered turtle, even if it has been commercially farmed in China. Therefore, the traditional-made tortoise herb jelly is extremely expensive and rare.

2.  Chinese medicine herb -China roots smilax glabra (Tu Fu Ling)

China roots smilax glabra is an important herb in Chinese medicine. According to older Chinese pharmacy record, it helps people to excrete toxins and improve circulation of blood.

Since the high price and rarity of golden coin turtle, the turtle-derived ingredients are sometimes replaced by other, more commonly available, turtle species. But, more often in today, turtle herb jelly sold as a dessert, which does not contain any turtle shell powders but has the same herb additives.

The turtle herb jelly is dark brown, not sweet but a little bit bitter. People usually eat it with sweeteners such as condensed milk, syrup, and honey. As my personal recommendation, fruits and condensed milk are the best partners with herb jelly. Moreover, refrigerate better.

We can enjoy this kind of dessert in some Chinese dessert cafeteria,,,however,,,if u r interested in the real traditional Guilingao,,,you'd better go to China !!