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How to make Hong Kong’s vanishing sweet treats dragon’s beard candy and ding ding tong

One of Hong Kong’s last remaining makers of the once-widespread dragon’s beard candy talks us through the labour-intensive way it is made

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Confectioner Tam Tat-ming is one of Hong Kong’s few remaining makers of dragon’s beard candy (above) and ding ding tong. Photo: Hong Kong Culture Festival
Take a bite out of history with our exclusive series on the delicious ingredients, dishes and techniques behind the unique taste of Hong Kong.
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At his humble stall in Kingswood Richly Plaza in Tin Shui Wai, in Hong Kong’s New Territories, Tam Tat-ming carries a ring of pliable sugar in his gloved hands. He deftly stretches the ring until it is large enough to make an infinity symbol, which he folds into a new ring before repeating the process.

Within a matter of minutes, Tam has stretched the sugar 13 times, and what was once a sticky mass is now fine, delicate strands that are fluffy and white as cotton wool.

Some might say the strands resemble a beard – after all, the 53-year-old confectioner is making dragon’s beard candy, a nostalgic delicacy once sold in the streets of Hong Kong.

Today, dragon’s beard candy is a rarity in the city, and perhaps even more scarce is ding ding tong (also called deuk deuk tong), a maltose confection often flavoured with ginger.

Hong Kong confectioner Tam Tat-ming makes dragon’s beard candy at his stall in Kingswood Richly Plaza in Tin Shui Wai. Photo: Jonathan Wong
Hong Kong confectioner Tam Tat-ming makes dragon’s beard candy at his stall in Kingswood Richly Plaza in Tin Shui Wai. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Tam is one of the few people still making these two traditional treats in Hong Kong, having taken up confectionery making 25 years ago.

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