Hasma

Hasma

Dried Hasma sold in a box
Alternative names Harsmar, hashima, toad oil
Type Pastry
Place of origin China
Region or state Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning
Main ingredients Fatty tissue found near the fallopian tubes of true frogs
Cookbook: Hasma  Media: Hasma
Hasma
Chinese 1.
2.
Alternative Chinese name
Chinese

Hasma (Harsmar, Hashima) is a Chinese and widely Central Asian dessert ingredient made from the dried fatty tissue found near the fallopian tubes of true frogs, typically the Asiatic Grass Frog (Rana chensinensis). Because of its whitish appearance, Hasma is often mistakenly described as "snow frog fat".[1] The Western pharmaceutical term is Oviductus Ranae.

Production

Hasma is produced primarily in the Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning provinces in China. Previously available only to Emperors, soups made with hasma are available in North American cities with large Chinese populations and in China, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Physical characteristics

Hasma is sold dried as irregular flat pieces and flakes ranging from 1–2 cm in length and 1–5 mm in thickness. Individual pieces are yellowish-white in colour with a matte lustre, whose surface may be covered with off-white pellicles. When rehydrated, dried hasma can expand up to 10-15 times in size.

The dried hasma is rehydrated and double-boiled with rock sugar to create a glutinous texture and opaque color. Dried or rehydrated hasma has a slight fishy smell. In its unflavoured form it is sweet and slightly savory in taste with a texture that is glutinous, chewy, and light, very similar to that of tapioca in a dessert.

Preparation

Hasma cooked with jujubes fruits

Hasma serves the role of providing texture to tong sui, or sweet soups, as well as increasing the perceived luxuriousness of the soup. These soups are usually flavoured with rock sugar. For the uninitiated, this relatively accessible eating experience belies the exotic sounding nature of the dessert. Hasma is widely featured in dessert dishes in high class restaurants in Hong Kong.

Hasma is most commonly paired in sweet soups with:

It is also a key ingredient in making "Three snow soup" (Chinese: 三雪湯; pinyin: sān xuě tāng), which consists of:

Hasma can also be included in more exotic versions of shark fin soup.

Health claims

Hasma is taken for medicinal purposes in Traditional Chinese medicine. Hasma is prescribed to treat respiratory symptoms, though scarce research support this practice.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 Deutsch, Jonathan; Murakhver, Natalya (2012). They Eat That?: A Cultural Encyclopedia of Weird and Exotic Food from Around the World. ABC-CLIO. p. 75. ISBN 978-0-313-38058-7.

External links


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, September 08, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.