Dessert, Sweet
Pear syrup candy
Pear-syrup candy, also known as lígāotáng or líqīnggāo (梨清膏), is a traditional medicine and confection from eastern area of the Jiangnan region of China, where it was traditionally used to relieve coughing, reduce sputum, and stimulate appetite.[medical citation needed] It has a crystal clear colour. Its main components are pear juice, honey and various kinds of herbs. With modern medical science, it is now rarely used to treat coughing; pear-syrup candy has become a souvenir and a snack, and is a part of Jiangnan culture.
The history of pear-syrup candy can be traced back to 634 (the Tang Zhenguan Eighth Year). According to legend, the mother of Wei Zheng (a renowned official of the Tang dynasty) suffered from a cough, so the imperial court sent imperial physicians to treat her. However, Wei's mother felt that the medicines were too bitter to take, and so she failed to take them on time, and thus curing her took a long time.[citation needed] For this reason, Wei Zheng decided to make his own medicine, combining almond, chuanbei (bulbus fritillariae cirrhosae), tuckahoe, and juhong (red tangerine peel), and adding the combination to pear syrup, and finally decocting the whole thing into paste. Wei's mother took the medicine and was soon cured. After that, Wei shared this prescription to the public, and not only the upper classes but ordinary people produced it, so the method of making the candy became widespread.
During the Northern Song dynasty (960–1127), the production and sales of pear-syrup candy normalized, becoming a huge industry. In Luoyang, the western capital, there were countless shops selling it, and the production technology was quite mature. After the Jingkang incident in 1127, many of the craftspeople involved in its production moved to the Southern Song dynasty (1127–1279), in the south of China. They passed through Yangzhou and settled down in Hangzhou, the Southern Song capital. Thus, pear-syrup candy appeared in Suzhou, Wuxi, Changzhou, and nearby areas. The candy has remained popular throughout Jiangnan since that time.