When you wander along the bluestone roads of Shanghai’s Yuyuan Garden or stroll through the Shikumen lanes of Tianzifang, a sweet aroma mixed with a faint herbal scent will inadvertently linger around your nose – this is the unique fragrance of pear syrup candy, one of Shanghai’s most representative intangible cultural heritage (ICH) delicacies. For foreign tourists coming from afar, this small candy is not only a sweet snack, but also a key to unlocking the history and Culture of old Shanghai, carrying a hundred years of Shanghai’s food memories and Medical wisdom.
The history of Shanghai pear syrup candy can be traced back to the Tang Dynasty, and a warm story of filial piety has added profound cultural connotation to it. It is said that the mother of Wei Zheng, a famous prime minister in the Tang Dynasty, suffered from a long-term cough but refused to take herbal medicine because she hated its bitter taste. Knowing that his mother loved eating pears, the filial Wei Zheng squeezed pear juice, mixed it with Chinese medicinal materials such as fritillary bulb, almond and platycodon grandiflorum, added rock sugar and simmered it slowly to make a sweet and delicious paste candy. After his mother ate it, her cough was cured quickly, and this recipe spread among the people, becoming a classic example of traditional dietary therapy. After thousands of years of inheritance, pear syrup candy took root in Shanghai. In 1855 (the fifth year of Xianfeng in the Qing Dynasty), the first special store “Zhupinzhai” was founded, followed by “Yongshengtang” and “Deshengtang”. After the public-private partnership in 1956, the three stores merged into Shanghai Pear Syrup Candy Store, which has continued to this day and become the core carrier of guarding this ICH craft. In 2021, the production technology of Shanghai pear syrup candy was successfully included in the fifth batch of the National Intangible Cultural Heritage List, officially becoming a national cultural treasure and known and loved by more people.
The reason why this small candy can last for thousands of years lies in its rigorous production process and natural ingredients. traditional pear syrup candy adopts the “thirteen-flavor herbal formula”, with fresh snow pears as the core raw material, matched with more than a dozen mild Chinese medicinal materials such as bitter almond, fritillary bulb and loquat leaf. It does not add any essence, pigment or maltose, and is purely boiled with the flavor and nutrition of the ingredients themselves. Its production process is extremely cumbersome, requiring more than a dozen steps including ingredient preparation, sugar boiling, sand turning, sugar pouring, sugar leveling, sugar cutting, sugar breaking and packaging. Each step tests the patience and skill of the craftsmen. Among them, sugar boiling is the most critical and difficult step. Craftsmen need to simmer on a low fire, stir constantly, and judge the concentration and heat of the sugar syrup based on years of experience to ensure that the candy is neither overcooked nor undercooked; the sand turning process endows the pear syrup candy with a crispy taste, making it melt in the mouth without being greasy; sugar cutting and breaking require precise techniques to ensure that the candy is neatly shaped and evenly sized, and each piece can be called a handcrafted work of art. In the old days, selling pear syrup candy also had the characteristic of “three parts selling candy, seven parts singing ballads”. Vendors would compose and sing ballads to publicize the effects of pear syrup candy, which not only attracted customers, but also made the Culture of pear syrup candy inherited orally. The ballad “A pack of ice chips makes pear syrup candy, two parts of strong medicinal spices, three parts of hawthorn and malt for digestion, four kinds of herbs for children’s weakness” is still well-known among old Shanghainese.
For foreign tourists, understanding the types of pear syrup candy can help you better choose the right flavor according to your own needs. Today’s pear syrup candy is mainly divided into two categories, taking into account both taste and efficacy. One is medicinal pear syrup candy, which focuses on relieving cough and resolving phlegm, promoting fluid production and moistening dryness. Its formula is mild and has no side effects, suitable for people with sore throat and frequent voice use. It is a natural dietary supplement, which has a significant effect on relieving mild cough and dry throat, especially suitable for consumption in autumn and winter. The other is taste-type pear syrup candy, also known as fancy pear syrup candy. On the basis of retaining the traditional flavor, it has added a variety of flavors such as mint, rose, almond, kumquat and coffee, with rich and diverse tastes to meet the taste needs of different tourists – mint flavor is cool and refreshing, suitable for people who like fresh taste; rose flavor is rich in aroma, integrating flower fragrance and pear fragrance; almond flavor is mellow and long-lasting, with a faint nutty aroma, and each flavor can bring a unique taste experience. In addition, modern technology has also derived drinkable autumn pear syrup and portable granular pear syrup candy, allowing tourists to taste on site and take it home conveniently to share this sweetness from Shanghai with their families
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