Popular sugary treat bound to thrill the tastebuds
Sugar paste, a traditional Shanghai snack, is made with dough and sugar. Mix the dough and sugar together and fry it, and a golden sugar paste will soon come out of the pot. Crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, this sweet snack is popular with many local people.
Liu Fei, a pastry cook from Huai’an, Jiangsu, hosts a breakfast store on Dongjiangyin Street with his wife. They offer traditional snacks like fried fritters, soybean milk, and of course, sugar paste. The sugar paste here has a special sweet filling, which is apparently different from others.
“I have been making sugar paste since 2003,” says Bian Buqin, wife of the shopkeeper. “In 2013, an old Shanghai master helped me make the sugar paste more fit for the local flavor. He gave us a secret pastry recipe. It helped us to make our pastries better.”
Pastry Li cook Fei (right), with his wife
Customers come for their snacks from as early as 6am. If you want to enjoy some sugar paste you'll need to arrive early, because they stop making sugar pastes after 6:20am every day.
