Delicacies for the Chinese market at the Amsterdam World Exhibition 1883

 

The 19th world exhibition took place in Amsterdam from May until November 1883. In the main building countries and trading companies presented their newest inventions and export products. In the colonial section the hosting country exhibited thousands of objects and products from its most important dependency, the Dutch East Indies.

 

The Staatscourant (official gazette) of November 10 (1883) announced that His Excellency Li Fong Pau, envoy extraordinary and plenipotentiary minister of the Emperor of China has donated objects from the Exhibition to the National Museum of Ethnology. The donation existed of the products Li Fong Pau did not think worth shipping back to China. Among them glass jars, labeled in Chinese and translated in French as ‘Radis doux’ (soft radish), ‘Olive chinois‘(Chinese olive), ‘Comcombre rouge’ (red cucumber) and ‘lee- chee où guoué–yen’ (lychee). Furthermore green glass bottles filled with different rice wines (Fan-Tsang, Shao-hing and Hing-Tchang, 1st quality) and flower essences. The preservation of the generous Chinese donation has not been very secure. The bottle with rose essence was ‘thrown away because of deterioration by frost’. The sealing wax of two bottles was broken, causing the evaporation of a bottle with flower essence and one filled with rice wine. The paper sealing of the glass jars was broken as well, causing fermented radish and moldy ‘Chinese olives’.

 

Products from Siam

In a small corner of the main building the public could look at products from Siam. King Rama V had shipped ethnographic objects, materials (cobra skin, buffalo horn), minerals and an interesting variety of exotic edible products and delicacies. The Staatscourant (official gazette) of November 22 (1883) announced that King Rama V donated this collection to the Netherlands. The ethnographic objects and the edible products would be added to the national ethnological collection. But not all of them reached the museum. Some were thrown away because they were rotten, tainted, decayed or contaminated during exhibition time. 41 edible objects remained and were registered in 1884. Now, 126 years later, a bottle with ‘best quality cardamom’, a salted fish, a special kind of lard and a box with seeds are missing, but 37 objects are still to be found in the museum depot. Among them the black sludge which can be identified as glutinous black rice, furthermore dried shrimps and mussels, different kinds of peas and beans, lotus seed, fish oil, salt, betel-nuts, pistachio nuts, ‘bastard cardamom’ and long pepper. The Siamese shipment also contained delicacies for the Chinese market: sea cucumber, abalone, fish bladder, shark fins and birds’ nests. A diligent museum worker repacked some products in wooden cigar boxes marked “Trobo Royal, Licht en Geurig” (Trobo Royal, Light and Fragrant), “Emir” and “Corona/La Accepta”. In the exhibition catalogue all products are named, but the identities of ‘lukrabas’ and ‘duai’seeds will probably remain a mystery for ever.

 

Cigar box with dried birds' nests

Siam (Thailand), 1883

 

A special small kind of swallow plasters his nest with spittle. These nests are a much loved delicacy, in particular in China. There are differences in quality, the almost white, translucent ones being regarded as the best. In Chinese restaurants small bowls of deepfried potato strings are also called 'birdnests'. The real ones, however, are sold dried.

They have to be soaked in water for 3 hours before being cooked.

 

 

Jar with sea cucumber or trepang (Siam, 1883)

 

This curious animal lives on the sea floor. Outside Asia it is rarely available fresh. After being caught the sea cucumber is cooked, cleaned of tentacles and innerds, smoked and dried. Before use, the dried animal has to be soaked in water so it will swell and soften again, after which it can be prepared further. Like shark fin, the trepang has the slippery texture loved in Chinese cuisine. But it is also reputed for having medicinal and virility increasing effects.

 

In the seas near China there are too few sea cucumbers to cope with the enormous demand. Therefore from early on a lively trade developed with Siam (Thailand), and the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia). Chinese middlemen settled in ports outside China, in particular on Java. The Dutch had no grip on this profitable trade. There was no appetite for trepang in Europe and thus no demand.

 

Cigar box with dried shark's fins

Siam (Thailand), 1883

 

Long filaments of the dried gristle from shark's fins: they form the crucial ingredient of shark fin's soup and give it that velvety (some would say slimy) texture that Cantonese Chinese in particular are so fond of. The huge demand for shark's fins since the 90-ties of the past century gave rise to the horrifying spectacle of fishermen cutting fins from living sharks (‘finning’), then throwing the creatures back into the sea again. This caused a decease of the shark population and led to a European ban on the ‘finning’ practice.

Nowadays one can order a cheap variety of 'shark fin's soup' in Chinese restaurants. Instead of using the real thing, the cook squeezes a beaten egg through a sieve into the chicken broth.

Alternatively, Chinese winter melon or ziu tsju kwah is used. They form the same kind of filaments after having cooked for a long time.

 

restaurants. Instead of using the real thing, the cook squeezes a beaten egg through a sieve into the chicken broth.

Alternatively, Chinese winter melon or zioe tsjoe kwah is used. They form the same kind of filaments after having cooked for a long time.

Bottles with different varieties of Chinese rice wines and flower essences (evaporated)

China,1883

Jar with black glutinous rice. Siam, 1883

Jar with unknown kind of 'peas'

Siam, 1883

Jar with ‘bastard’ (black) cardamom

Siam (Thailand) 1883

 

Cardamoms are the seedpods of a 2 to 5 meters high scrub, native to southern India. The pods are harvested when almost ripe and then dried. The best quality cardamom is green. However, many European and American import traders prefer the lighter, bleached cardamom. Indian producers regard this treatment as unnecessary and so the lighter lesser quality pods can be marketed as well. Brown pods are less ripe than green ones but the taste and oil come from the seeds. Therefore, it is important to buy whole, undamaged pods. Size has no bearing on taste, but the larger cardamoms are usually more expensive.

 

The Indian government has created a qualification scheme ranging the types and qualities of cardamom using over 30 criteria. The best Indian Queen of Spices has the Agmark quality stamp, is unbleached and, of course, dark green. India still is the largest producer of cardamom, but Guatemala is now the largest exporter of the spice that was first planted there a century ago.

 

In India cardamom is used in curries, in Arabic countries and eastern Africa it is used in coffee and mixtures like ras el hanout (Maroc), berbere (Ethiopia, Eritrea), baharat (Saudi Arabia) and zhoug (Yemen). Germans add cardamom to their Lebkuchen, the Dutch to spekulaas and in Scandinavia, pies are spiced with them. There is 'real' or green cardamom (`Elettaria cardamomum) and black cardamom (Arnomum subulatum). The last one is rarer, stronger in taste but less aromatic.

 

cardamom to their Lebkuchen, the Dutch to spekulaas and in Scandinavia, pies are spiced with them. There is 'real' or green cardamom (`Elettaria cardamomum) and black cardamom (Arnomum subulatum). The last one is rarer, stronger in taste but less aromatic.

Jar with dried lychee's

China, 1883