Flavorful Origins

Taking seven years to grow and thirty years to bear fruit,

Chaoshan locals adore its bittersweet flavor

and rich, fruity aroma.

One ingredient has developed into one of the indispensable flavors

in the everyday lives of Chaoshan locals.

CHAOSHAN

The Sanzhong night market is a popular place in Chaoshan to get midnight snacks.

SANZHONG NIGHT MARKET

There is a kind of fresh juice that is rare in other places.

At first, it tastes bitter.

Only by savoring it slowly can you gradually taste the sweetness.

This is one of the favorite delights of Chaoshan locals.

This glass of juice

is made from a fruit grown 40 kilometers away.

JINZAO TOWN, SHANTOU

Though the Cold Dew solar term has passed and rainfall amounts gradually decreased,

Jinzao Town, located in Shantou's Rongjiang Plain,

still has a temperature of 20 degrees Celsius.

The mountains are filled with sweet fragrances.

November is the ripening season of olives.

These olive trees have grown for 80 years

and each tree can yield about 30 kilograms of olives.

This is the harvest Zhen Yang has been waiting for all year.

The Chinese white olive is indigenous to the south of China.

In the subtropical town of Jinzao,

the cold season is short and the hot season is long.

Frost seldom falls here, and this unique weather

provides the perfect environment for Chinese white olives to grow.

The tannins and polyphenols in Chinese white olives

account for its slight bitterness upon first taste.

But after continuous chewing,

the digestive enzyme in our saliva

breaks down the carbohydrate polymers in olives.

The sweetness comes out after this.

When consumed raw,

it has an intricate flavor which many non-locals are not accustomed to.

But Chaoshan locals enjoy the bitterness as if it were sugar.

Within 100 hours of harvesting Chinese white olives,

the fruit's physiological metabolism ends.

The skin shrinks

and gradually dehydrates.

But Chaoshan locals have their own way of preserving the fruit

and retaining its flavor.

Today, Zhen Yang takes the freshly harvested olives

and turns them into unique Chaoshan cold dishes.

Locals call these cold dishes "Zaxian." AGED PRESERVED RADISH

The most popular staple food in the region is plain congee.

RADISH STRIPS

Zaxian goes best with plain congee.

PICKLED CABBAGE

It goes well with the rich, grainy aroma of the rice.

A side dish of Zaxian gives you a good appetite.

After four days of soaking,

the sourness and bitterness wears off

and the fruit fiber gradually softens.

In order to get rid of all the bitterness,

it must be further cooked on a slow fire.

After simmering for 13 hours,

as the fruit turns black,

the polyphenols and tannins

have now dissipated under high temperature.

Its bitter taste has also come to an end,

and it quietly awaits in the pot for its fellow taste to appear.

PICKLED LEAF MUSTARD

When leaf mustard is pickled for half a year,

fermentation produces lots of lactic acid bacteria.

It tastes sour and crunchy and goes well with most ingredients.

Some salt is added for seasoning.

By now, the olives are soft and well done,

and melt in the mouth.

The addition of peanut oil gives the dish a dark and glossy texture

and releases a rich and heavy oily aroma.

The taste of this exquisite stewed dish

can linger in your mouth for up to three minutes.

STEWED OLIVE

In regions all over the world where olives are grown,

the fresh fruit is always processed.

That not only changes the flavor, but also extends the storage life.

In Chaoshan, the bittersweet Chinese white olive

has a shelf life of only three days.

But with tasty stewed olives,

Chaoshan locals can savor the delicious flavor anytime.

Everyday, Zaxian seem simple and ordinary,

but it is the epitome of Chaoshan cuisine.