Commonly known as chin chow here, grass jelly made from the extracts of Mesona chinensis‘ stalks and leaves makes a great refreshing and cooling drink. June is often the hottest month over here. Besides going for water, there are other cooling beverage options to bring the bodily heat down. One could try barley water, chrysanthemum tea, water chestnut drink, oldenlandia water, cooling herbal teas and grass jelly drink of course.
I love grass jelly. I like to chew on the jelly knowing that it contains the essence of a beneficial Chinese herb. It is slightly bitter on its own but the addition of a sweetener elevates it to the dessert status. One easy recipe for grass jelly is to simply drizzle honey on it. I prefer drinking the jelly instead. The common recipe for grass jelly drink uses white sugar as sweetener but I prefer brown sugar for better flavour. Below is my version.
Ingredients
- ready-made unsweetened chin chow – 1 pack (500 g)
- brown sugar – 6 tbsp
- pandan leaves – 4 leaves, washed and knotted
- water – 1 litre
Method
1) Bring water, pandan leaves and brown sugar to boil, stirring occasionally to help dissolve sugar. Let it boil for 1-2 minutes.
2) Turn off the heat. Discard the pandan leaves. Set aside to cool to room temperature.
3) In the meantime, shred the grass jelly into strips and set aside in the fridge to chill.
4) When the sugar solution has cooled, drain off excess grass jelly liquid using a fine sieve and add the grass jelly to the sugar solution.
5) Stir briefly and cover with cling wrap. Chill the drink in the fridge for at least 2 hours before serving.
Verdict from toddler: Hannah approves :)
Stay cool, folks! :D
Just curious, would it make a difference if it’s white sugar? When did you first introduce chin chow to Hannah? :)
Hi Theresa,
Brown sugar gives that molasses flavour to the drink – something like the taste of honey. White sugar does not do that but will do the job of sweetening the drink just fine.
Hannah tried chin chow drink just last week. So it was around 3 years old. There isn’t much information in the Internet on the recommended age for toddlers to take this jelly. In addition, there isn’t much caution against feeding this jelly to tots too, so I took it that it could be given in moderation. However, do bear in mind that this jelly has cooling properties. I limit it to 1 small cup for Hannah.
Thanks for your advice. My gal has been having flu for many days and I am racking my brains to help her recover faster through “cooling” food!
Poor girl and mommy. We pray that she would get back to the pink of health soon! :)
could I buy jelly grass from ypu?
Hi Alice,
I didn’t make the grass jelly. It was bought. I only prepared the syrup to go with it. :)