Haw flakes

Haw flakes

A roll of haw flakes and a haw flake
Origin
Alternative name(s)	Saan Zaa Beng
Place of origin	China
Details
Type	Confectionery
Main ingredient(s)	Chinese hawthorn fruit, sugar

Haw flakes
Traditional Chinese	山楂餅
Simplified Chinese	山楂饼
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin shānzhā bǐng Yue: Cantonese Jyutping saan1 zaa1 beng2 Southern Min Hokkien POJ san-cha-piáⁿ or sian-cha-piáⁿ

Haw flakes, shānzhābǐng (Chinese: 山楂餅) are Chinese sweets made from the fruit of the Chinese hawthorn. The dark pink candy is usually formed into discs two millimeter thick, and packaged in cylindrical stacks with label art resemblant of Chinese fireworks. Some Chinese people take the flakes with bitter Chinese herbal medicine.

Variety

The new Haw Flakes packaging

Traditionally Haw flakes used to be given to children for the deworming of digestive tract parasites.

Gourmet haw flakes are also available at specialty Chinese markets. Gourmet haw flakes tend to be larger than the Shandong haw flakes (gourmet haw flakes are about 35–40 mm in diameter where as the Shandong haw flakes are about 25 and mm in diameter.)

Regulation

Haw flakes have been seized on several occasions by the United States Food and Drug Administration for containing Ponceau 4R (E124, Acid Red 18), an unapproved artificial coloring. Ponceau 4R is used in Europe, Asia and Australia but is not approved by the US FDA.

Currently, Haw flakes contain Allura Red AC (FD& C #40) as the red coloring. In Europe, Allura Red AC is not recommended for consumption by children, it is banned in Denmark, Belgium, France and Switzerland.

See also

• Tanghulu

External links

• Cardhouse.com - Package Design 19 (Haw Flakes)
• Description of Haw Flakes