Haw flakes
|
A roll of haw flakes and a haw flake | |
| Alternative names | Saan Zaa Beng |
|---|---|
| Type | Confectionery |
| Place of origin | China |
| Main ingredients | Chinese hawthorn fruit, sugar |
 Cookbook: Haw flakes  Media: Haw flakes | |
| Haw flakes | |||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 山楂餅 | ||||||||||||||
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| Simplified Chinese | 山楂饼 | ||||||||||||||
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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.[1]
Variety
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 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.[2][3] 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 was in the past banned in Denmark, Belgium, France and Switzerland.
See also
References
- ↑ RTHK.org. "RTHK.org." Bitter but healing. Retrieved on 2009-05-31.
- ↑ "Enforcement Report for August 29, 2001". FDA Enforcement Report. United States Food and Drug Administration. Archived from the original on 2007-06-13. Retrieved 2007-07-02.
- ↑ "Enforcement Report for August 16, 2000". FDA Enforcement Report. United States Food and Drug Administration. Archived from the original on 2007-06-11. Retrieved 2007-07-02.
