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 A cup of winter melon punch in front of a winter melon at a Taiwanese street vendor's stall. | |
| Alternative names | Winter melon tea |
|---|---|
| Type | sweetened fruit drink |
| Place of origin | China |
| Region or state | East Asia |
| Serving temperature | Cold |
| Main ingredients | winter melon,brown sugar orcaramel |
| Ingredients generally used | lime orcalcium hydroxide |
| Variations | addition oflemon juice,oolong tea,tapioca balls,nata de coco, ortangyuan |
| 17 kcal (71 kJ) | |
Winter melonpunch, also calledwinter melon tea inEast Asia (Chinese:冬瓜茶;pinyin:dōngguā chá), is a drink made from winter melon and sugar that has been boiled for some time.[1] It is popular in East Asia, especiallyTaiwan.[2]
| Winter melon punch | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese | 冬瓜茶 | ||||||
| |||||||
The punch is prepared by peeling, slicing and removing the seeds of awinter melon. The winter melon slices are then placed in boiling water withbrown sugar orcaramel and stirred for several hours. The mixture is filtered with agauze orsieve to remove any undissolved sediment, leaving concentrated winter melon juice that can be cooled, stored or refrigerated before drinking. It can bediluted with the aid of ice.
The concentrated winter melon juice can also bereduced to form "winter melon candy". After the reduced juice is poured into a pan and left to cool, the solid is commonly cut into cubes and sold. The winter melon candy cubes can be cooked in tea.
A sugar-free version of the winter melon punch is made for people withkidney issues anddiabetes.
The winter melon slices can alternatively be soaked inlime orcalcium hydroxide to preserve the melon's original flavour by hardening the flesh before boiling with sugar, caramel, and water.
There are many variations of winter melon punch throughout Taiwan.Lemon juice andoolong tea can be added to winter melon punch to change its taste, or alcohol can be added to create acocktail. Street vendors may also addtapioca balls,nata de coco, ortangyuan to winter melon punch and sell it as a dessert.
