Today, I revisited the Food Place food court, located at Pavilion Mall. The food court is located beside the Oriental Kopi Restaurant. It is time to try another stall.
This time, I ordered the Toast Place Double Boiled Peach Gum with Longan from the Toast Place stall, which cost RM9.00 per bowl.
Double-Boiled Peach Gum with Longan (桃胶桂圆糖水), served warm or cold at Toast Place in Food Place, Pavilion Bukit Bintang. It is a classic Chinese-style sweet soup (糖水, tong sui) that is prized for its light sweetness and comforting texture.
the dessert contains Peach gum (桃胶),Dried longan (桂圆),Red dates (红枣) and Palm sugar.
The flavour is gently sweet rather than sugary. The longan gives a caramel-like sweetness, while the peach gum has very little flavour on its own but provides a pleasant jelly-like bite. It's a light dessert often enjoyed after a meal.
Peach gum has been used in China for centuries. It is not a fruit, but the natural resin that seeps from the bark of peach trees when they are injured. After drying, it forms hard amber crystals that are soaked overnight before cooking. Ancient Chinese herbal texts, including the Compendium of Materia Medica (本草纲目) from the Ming Dynasty, recorded peach gum for traditional medicinal uses. Today, however, it is primarily enjoyed as a dessert ingredient rather than medicine.
The dessert belongs to the Cantonese tradition of tong sui (sweet soups). In Hong Kong, Guangdong, Malaysia, and Singapore, sweet soups are commonly served after meals or as an afternoon snack. Peach gum desserts became especially popular over the last decade because they are often marketed as a more affordable alternative to bird's nest desserts.
However, despite popular marketing claims, peach gum does not contain collagen because collagen is only found in animal tissues. While it can be part of a balanced diet, there is no strong scientific evidence that it improves skin or provides anti-ageing effects.
Overall, Double-Boiled Peach Gum with Longan is a comforting, traditional Chinese dessert. It's an excellent choice if you're looking for a traditional Chinese dessert that is lighter than ice cream or cakes while still offering a satisfying sweet finish.
