Dishes
Brown-sugar tapioca shaved ice
粉圓冰
Also called: 黑糖粉圓冰 · 粉圓 (tapioca pearls)
Shaved ice soaked in brown-sugar syrup with chewy tapioca pearls.
What it is
A bowl of shaved ice with chewy tapioca pearls and brown-sugar syrup, sweet in an old-fashioned way. Shops let you add taro balls, rice balls (tangyuan) or brown-sugar jelly.
Where it comes from
Early tapioca pearls in Taiwan were white. The dark ones common today get their colour from caramel, added for a brown-sugar flavour.
How it is made
Tapioca pearls are balls of starch, usually cassava (tapioca) starch, about 5 to 10 mm across. They go over shaved ice with brown-sugar syrup.
How to eat it
A cheap afternoon cool-down in any season. At Huang Family Tapioca Ice in Kaohsiung you order at a machine, and the house-made pudding is a popular add-on.
In Kaohsiung
Huang Family Tapioca Ice, near Sanfeng Temple in Kaohsiung, is known for keeping its smallest bowl very cheap.
Where to eat it in Kaohsiung
Sources