Chinese jam

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Marmelade in China today:

 

Carrefour's changed hands earlier this year, and it seems they are phasing out some foreign products. Selling them when they get close to their "use by" date bundled two for one. Whenever I am there, I browse by that clearance shelf. This morning's bounty:

 

     

 

 

 

 

 

This was made in Spain from Seville oranges. 23 Yuan for two jars, each containing 370 grams. Had some stirred into a pot of strong black tea 红茶 and some spread liberally on toast 烤面包 as soon as I got home. 

 

[ChTTay]

All this talk of jam and actually ... I don’t like it particularly ?

 

More a peanut butter sort of person. 

[Ha]

On 11/16/2019 at 5:26 PM, ChTTay said:

My wife uses blueberry berry jam sometimes in making a Chinese dish that I forget the name of. Students in my class sometimes have jam sandwiches. 

I would love to know the name of the dish your wife cooks with jam! I used to have a Chinese friend who made (I think) meat with a sauce that included jam as an ingredient. Maybe soy sauce and I am not sure what else, but she always told me it was delicious and I should try it. Unfortunately I haven't had success finding the recipe online. Do you have an idea of what I have described?

[ChTTay]

This one definitely isn’t that! It’s a cold dish with the blueberry sauce drizzled all over it. Still can’t remember the name of the Vegetable though... in either language.  

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On 6/14/2020 at 1:30 AM, Ha said:

I used to have a Chinese friend who made (I think) meat with a sauce that included jam as an ingredient. Maybe soy sauce and I am not sure what else, but she always told me it was delicious and I should try it.

 

Welcome to the forum @Ha -- One off-the-cuff guess is that your Chinese friend was saying "jiang" instead of "jam." Pronunciation is somewhat similar, especially if said fast in conversation. My hunch is she used a Chinese word, not an English word. Jiang 酱 means a sauce or seasoning paste, usually made at least in part from soybeans. Soy sauce for example is "jiang you" -- in Chinese  酱油 . Hoisin sauce is "haixian jiang" 海鲜酱 and so on. Very different from strawberry jam or apricot jam. 

 

Some "jiang" sauces are liquid and can be poured; others are thick and must be added to other ingredients with a spoon. Some are hot/spicy, some are salty, some are sour, some are fermented. Doubanjiang 豆瓣酱， a famous one from Sichuan, is all of the above. Chinese sauces may be sweet, but not always. Plum sauce is both sweet and sour. 梅子酱  

 

Your friend was right about one thing, however: The right sauce can definitely be a factor in making a dish delicious. Interesting sauces are one of the things that can make a Chinese dish special.