Tian guo, the sweet cake
Glutinous rice and sugar steamed through, and it keeps: those going to the south seas used to take a block along.
Pronunciation tián guǒ｜Food and tea｜One entry in the Chaoshan glossary
What it means
Glutinous rice paste with sugar, steamed long and hard: the result is dark, dense and firm enough to slice. The sugar is heavy, and that is why it keeps — in the years before refrigeration, keeping was the reason it could go aboard a ship.
It is eaten two ways, steamed or fried: steamed it is soft, fried it goes crisp on both faces while the middle stays glutinous, and better still dipped in egg first.
When it is eaten
Steamed before the new year and eaten into the last part of the first month. Those who went across the sea used to carry a block, part ration and part the taste of home.
Words easily confused
It is a rice cake, not a sweet pastry. The leavened cake is also made at the new year, but it rises on yeast and splits at the top, taking the sense of prospering, while this one rests on sweetness: each holds one end.
Read next: Chaoshan rice cakes: a kind for every festival.
Same group: guo, the rice cake, the leavened cake, going across the sea.
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Last revised: 3 November 2026