Kei O nut candies, handmade by a Hong Kong family for 30 years and still satisfying sweet tooths in Yuen Long
Jason Wong still makes sweets and pastry the way his father learned in Chaozhou decades ago, though the recipes now have less sugar - and returning customers are pleased to find shop still in the same street it has always been
“The pulling is just for the photos,” Jason Wong says, lifting a gooey sugar mixture that is ready to be combined with peanuts and black sesame in a stainless-steel pan the size of a baby’s crib. “You just have to make sure everything is well combined.”
Wong is making by hand the nut candies for which his family business, Kei O, is best known. His father, Wong Ngok-wing, started the business when Jason was in kindergarten, about 30 years ago.
“When my parents opened Kei O, it was just a regular corner store. We sold all sorts of street snacks, like fish balls and siu mai, as well as cookies and sweets that we bought from wholesalers,” says Wong. “My father started experimenting with peanut candy as another income stream in the mid- to late-1990s, when the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department became stricter about selling cooked food.
“He learned to make candies in his hometown, Chaozhou [in Guangdong province]. The ingredients are generally granulated sugar, maltose, water, cornstarch and any sort of nut. You adjust the proportions to make different textures – softer or harder.”
As a child, Wong spent most of his spare time in his parents’ shop, and learned to make the traditional candies by watching and helping out. The whole family still makes candies by hand on the premises.
