🧑🤝🧑 Cantonese
Also known as: Cantonese people
People of Guangdong province in southern China; their dairy classic is double-skin milk, a dessert made from buffalo milk.
The Cantonese are the people of Guangdong province in southern China. Milk was historically not a staple of their cuisine, but some areas of the Pearl River Delta developed their own dairy tradition based on buffalo.
Its best-known symbol is double-skin milk from Shunde district. Buffalo milk is boiled and cooled so that a skin forms on top, then mixed with egg white and sugar and steamed, which creates a second skin. The result is a delicate milk pudding eaten warm or cold, sometimes with red beans or fruit. Buffalo milk is valued for its high fat content, although the local swamp buffalo give little of it. Legends about the dessert’s origin date it to the late Qing dynasty.
The skills of making double-skin milk are on the intangible heritage lists of Shunde and, according to available information, since 2018 of Guangdong province. Today the dessert is served in dessert shops throughout Hong Kong, Macau and beyond China.
How it connects to milk
🧑🤝🧑 Cantonese → live in → 🌍 East Asia ← milked in ← 🐄 Cow → gives → 🥛 Milk
Links
- Where they live
- 🌍 East Asia
- Traditional products
- 🍮 Double skin milk
- Similar and different
- Chinese
Frequently asked questions
What is double-skin milk?
A Cantonese milk pudding from Shunde made of buffalo milk, egg white and sugar; one skin forms on the cooled milk and the second on the finished pudding.
Why is buffalo milk used for double-skin milk?
It is richer than cow’s milk, so the pudding comes out smooth and dense.
Where does double-skin milk come from?
Shunde district in Guangdong province, southern China.
What to read next
- 🍮 Double skin milk — Cantonese milk pudding from Daliang (Shunde, Guangdong): buffalo milk, egg and sugar in a 10:1:1 ratio; two skins — after boiling and after steaming. Provincial intangible heritage since 2018.
- Chinese — The people of China, whose traditions on this site include tea and gongfu tea, the Spring Festival, baijiu, hand-pulled noodles, soy milk and Cantonese double-skin milk.
Similar
🧑🤝🧑 Bai · 🧑🤝🧑 Japanese · Chinese
ℹ️ This page describes the people only through food: what they grow and make, and which foods and drinks matter in their traditions. History, language, religion and other parts of the culture are not covered here.
What it includes
- Traditional products