Word: hong
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...help but think of Willy Wonka when you meet Tsang Heh-kwan. While walking around her factory in Hong Kong's New Territories, the 80-year-old giggles as she offers samples of a candy product she's developing. The subtly sweet ginger confectionery is a delight, and Tsang - hale and lively - declares that she has finally perfected the formula that prevents it from sticking to teeth...
Candy may be in the pipeline for her 35-year-old company, Fu Kee Food Co. But gourmet sauces sold under the brand name Yuan's, www.i-ho-yuan.com, are what have earned Tsang a fanatical fan base from Hong Kong to Amsterdam. A 125-ml bottle of Yuan's soy sauce retails for $21 - the most expensive in the world, Tsang brags. "Why is it so expensive?" she asks. "Because it's an ancient Chinese recipe, and no one can steal it because it's in my head." (See pictures of Hong Kong...
...trained biochemist, Tsang moved to Hong Kong from her native Guangzhou in the 1950s and soon became an apprentice to one of the city's last traditional soy-sauce masters. In 1974, she struck out on her own and founded Fu Kee with the help of just two employees. The company now sells a range of Yuan's sauces in England, Australia and several Asian countries, but amazingly, the original trio of employees continues to handle all aspects of the operation. Tsang travels 90 minutes by bus to get to the factory every day, where she still concocts recipes, monitors...
...look like much - it is typically sold in heaps resembling cow patties - but one mug of these aged leaves can fetch up to $1,000. The drink is touted for its health benefits and is loved for its light, earthy taste. It is already a hit in Hong Kong, where rare teas are a status symbol among the city's élite, and it is generating hype outside China, too. Three high-profile Silicon Valley techies recently tweeted and blogged their way through a Puer tea tour of Yunnan. Dieters, meanwhile, are buzzing about rumors that Victoria Beckham, the svelte...
...Yunnan farmers, that originally perfected Puer. Zheng Mukun, a tea master from Guangdong, says the province's claim dates to the Qing dynasty, when tightly packed leaves were fermented over the course of the three-month journey, by horse, from Kunming to Guangzhou. The blackened leaves became popular in Hong Kong and industrious southerners began to experiment with fermentation. At the 1957 Canton Fair, Zheng says, local tea masters shared their recipes with colleagues from Yunnan. Ever since, the provinces competed to produce the best teas. Earlier this month, at a trade fair in Hong Kong, a table of Guangdong...