Peach Gum Longan Dessert

Peach gums cooked with dried longan and some other ingredients have been quite popular in the dessert scene here. 

Quoted from the web about the benefits of peach gum:

Peach gum has multiple health benefits such as lowering fat, improving blood pressure, reducing high blood fat, and decreasing blood sugar. Also, peach gum is rich in antioxidants and has been known for improving eyesight and relieving stress

I added Tragacanth gum and snow lotus seeds as I was offered a good price if I bought them together with peach gum. So, I just accepted the deal. The the trio seemed to be a good combination for this dessert 😍

I used a thermal cooker to slow-cook the dessert to tender soft even without overnight soaking of the peach gum. I just soaked the peach gum in hot water for about 25 minutes before cooking. In a short while, the other layer was soft enough for all the visible dirt or impurities to be removed using the pointed end of a thin bamboo skewer.

Video for the preparation process of the dessert 

Servings: 4 persons, about 250ml dessert size

Equipment:  1.5L thermal cooker

Ingredients

[A]

1~2 blades pandan leaves

750g water

[B]

10g chinese barley

[C]

1 red date, 2g

1 honey date, 13g

12g dried longan, 8 pieces

50g hot water for soaking and cooking

[D]

4g peach gum, 桃胶 good grade, 4 pieces

3g Tragacanth gum, 雪燕 2 pieces

6g snow lotus seeds, 雪莲子, 4 pieces

[E]

20g winter melon strips, 4 pieces

30~35g honey rock sugar

35g dark brown sugar

Directions

1. Bring ingredient [A] to a boil at medium low heat. As we need time to soak the dried ingredients, so need not boil the pandan water in fast mode.

2. Rinse ingredient [B], [C] and [D]. Soak ingredient [B] and [C] in hot water. For ingredient [C] soak in 50g of hot water. Pour ingredient [C] together with its soaking water to cook later.

For ingredient [D], soak the ingredients in hot water for about 15 minutes. Pour away the first batch of hot water, and replace by another batch of hot water. 

When the outer layer of the peach gum has softened, you can prick and remove any visible impurities from it.

End of soaking 👇

3. When the pandan water from Step 1 starts to boil, pour away the soaking water of ingredient [D] and add the soaked ingredient [D] to the pandan water. Cover and wait for the content to boil again.

4. When the content starts to boil again, add ingredient [B] and [C]. Cover and wait for the content to boil again.

5. When the content boils again, add ingredient [E]. Stir and cover with a lid. Turn down the heat, let the content simmer for about 10 minutes. Stir the content 1 to 2 times before the 10-minute mark.

6. Without opening the lid, transfer the inner pot with the soft boiling content to the outer pot of the thermal cooker.

Lock the lid and let the content simmer for about 6 to 8 hours.

7. The dessert is ready to be served warm 😋😋