Chinese snacks and dried fruits
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601 S King St International District
206 / 624-1684
-preserved fruits and nuts sold by weight
(prices have changed since this interview was recorded; now $7.99-$10.99 / pound)
-samples available
Interview with manager, Vivian Chau
“My name is Vivian Chau, the manager in New An Dong.”
New An Dong is a Chinese-style grocery and herbalist where Vivian works alongside her parents.
“We’re originally from Vietnam; our ancestors are from China. My grandfather was an, in the old time you call a “foot doctor,” where they do a lot of herbal stuff and plus acupuncture. Yeah, so it’s kind of like a family business.
“Well, we mostly sell herbs, tea, and vegetarian food also--which is a lot of frozen food--and dried goods like dried fruits. Because people in the old days they don’t have candy. They have to dry things and they kind of use this like snacks: a good snack besides candy.”
Stored in rows of glass jars, those snacks are one of the first things you see when you walk in the door.
“Some of them from Taiwan, mostly, and Hong Kong, and China. Most of them are $6.99 a pound to $8.99 a pound.”
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dried orange peel
with licorice |
“I didn’t count them but there’s a lot! There’s quite a few. Different gingers, plum, mango, guava, lemons. Yeah, a lot of different type of plums...”
Depending on whether it’s dried, salted, pickled, or spiced, the same fruit or nut can take on a range of different flavors.
“It’s preserved differently. Yeah, some them are sweet, some of them are sweet and sour, some of them are kind of salty-sweet-and-sour at the same time.”
Vivian uses those flavor categories to help new customers get their bearings.
“So I usually ask them if they want something sweet, something salty, something sour, or a combination and then just let them try it. Some of them get hooked on it and some of them don’t like it. It’s up to the individual.”
Many customers eventually find a favorite flavor.
“Mine is, I like sour stuff, so I like the lemon. And the mango--the dried mango. They’re kind of sour, a little salty, a little sweet. So I like to eat it like that and sometimes I like to put in my 7-Up.”
And if you’re in the mood for something stronger than 7-Up?
“You can do a cocktail from them, yeah! ”
Some customers also find that these healthy snacks can help with conditions ranging from colds to diabetes.
“The Chinese, the Asia people they like to have the kumquats and the plum, to help with their sore throats, or the colds, or they’re losing their voice, or things like that. You know, just something to help with the phlegm.”
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| spicy-sweet chunks of preserved ginger |
“The black ginger is made out of kind of like sweet vinegar ginger. It looks nasty, but it tastes good. It’s good for people who have post-partum. And the people who are diabetic they say they eat that and it helps with the diabetes.”
“There’s many kind of olives here. Some of them are salty, some of them are sweet. These are kind of pickled-sweet and it’s good for your throat.”
“I can’t even imagine what that would taste like!”
“You want to try it? This is good for people who lose their voice.”
“That’s one of the strangest-looking things I’ve ever seen...and it’s really crunchy!”
And if black ginger or sweet olives aren’t on your list, look for the rice jelly candy.
“People like the jelly rice candy, it’s jelly rice candy with different flavor fruits and then there’s a rice paper wrapping around it; that’s from Japan. That’s, a lot of people addicted to it. You can eat eat the rice paper wrapping around it; most people don’t know that they can. They just try to peel it off, but you can eat that.”
