Monday, December 14, 2009

Some things never change (5)


Last week I visited a small Malaysian town called Yong Peng with my brother Chun Chew (Zen), my sister Pat and her husband KC, and her friend Hui Chen. I will blog about some of the interesting things that we did and saw there later.

We were in a cake shop when I spotted an interesting traditional snack that I have not seen since my kampong days. I don’t even remember its name. I think we called it Kok Kok Tong (candy) in Cantonese. Neither can I remember what it tasted like. I only can recall that the vendor came around on bicycle with a circular alluminium pan at the back just like in the photo below. I think this kok kok candy was white in colour or it was covered with a white powder. The vendor would use a sort of metallic cutter to slice the candy and he would announce his presence by clacking this cutter against the pan.

Anyway, the printing on the box says Biskut Gula Tarik in Malay and Sparkling Candy in English. I hope readers can add more details of this delightful snack from our childhood days.

Related post: Itinerant food vendors of yesteryears

14 comments:

JollyGreenP said...

Tarik translates to pull in English so I presume this a pulled boiled sugar confection. Pulling the boiled mass causes very fine crystals to form and incorporates air into the mix. In English the product is often known as cracknel. Making it the suagr mix is usually boiled to about 300 degrees Fahrenheit then poured onto a slab to cool and take on a plastic consistency. At this stage ropes are made of the malleable sugar and hung over hooks on the wall and then pulled and the ends fed back onto the hook to form a twisted rope and pulled again. This action is repeated several timesto cause the small crystal formation and incorporate air. In the 1960s weput together a mechanical device where the the plastic mass was extruded through a plate with C shaped holes in it to mimic the air inclusion of the traditional hand pulled material. The extrusion process was of course much quicker and produced a more consistent and easier to handle finished product. The product was called Mint Cracknel and I think was sold in Asia under the Mackintosh brand name.

Victor said...

This kok kok candy was hard as a rock. The seller had to use a hammer and chisel to chip off bits and pieces which he would sell to you on the spot. It contrasted with malt candy which was very soft, transparent and malleable. Malt candy was kept in a metal jar. The itinerant hawker, usually a woman, would twirl the candy around 2 short daun lidi (coconut leave) sticks until it becomes like a round lollipop and sell it to you for 5 cents or 10 cents in the 1960s. She advertised her arrival with an ice-cream bell.

peter said...

"kok2" candy almost equivalent to nougget, the angmo version in terms of look and texture. Try not consuming nougget for some months as it becomes rock-hard.

The best nouggat I tried so far was in Australia, the milk content is so rich and so soft (not chewy). You can feel that milk is not diluted version. One time I took, no need to eat lunch.

Lam Chun See said...

Victor is right. The Kok Kok Candy was very hard. But the ones shown here are quite soft and packed individually. Hence the title of my post is actually incorrect. Things have changed.

But I enjoyed this modern version. Soft and not too sweet. Anyone know if they are available in Spore? Otherwise, I will ask my JB friend who works in Spore to get some for me the next time.

From the description in the packing, the producers seem to suggest that this candy originated from Malacca.

Zen said...

Our recent trip to Malacca we came across a modern shop selling a wide range of snacks, confectionery and other foods (including coffee). The shop is San Shu Gong (meaning 3rd uncle) and in their advertisement they claimed to have a long-standing reputation in Malacca for their quality goods, but we found the prices of their sales items rather stiff as compared to other shops. So we just bought some boxes of coffee bags to try and later found out that the quality of the coffee really measured up to their claim.

fighting fit said...

We saw the kok kok candy being sold in Melaka recently too. A young boy and his sister were running the little stall on Jonker St. That candy looked hard, cos he was knocking away with much effort. I think that left an impression on our kids, seeing how the little children there had to earn a living by working.

Tom said...

Tom Said...
I like the hard candy, when I was a wee lad I loved the candy floss a lot better because it melted in your mouth but it was not good for your teeth,I use to watch the lady at the fun fare making it she had a machine that had a spinning heated cup that melts the sugar and forces the melted sugar through small holes as the liquid sugar exits the holes in the cup it stretched into thin threads and cools. its call cotton candy in the U.S.A. what do you lads call it in Singapore?

yg said...

chun see, is it the ting ting tung (cantonese for candy). a picture of it can be found here. the candy man used to carry the tray on his head and he also had a wooden tripod to support the tray. acording to my friend, you can still get this candy at the old people's park complex.

Zen said...

When chun see bought a packet of san shu gong candy at a yong peng eatery, just for the sake of the wrapper, so that he can blog it later on in gmy, I didn't pay much attention then. I was more interested on the food laid before me on the table. Yesterday chun see offered one of the remaining 3 pieces of the candy stored in a packet, I found the candy very tasty indeed - soft, chewy but not too dry, less sweet and make you go for more. This san shu gong company has through the years able to innovate their products to suit current customers who may find the former candy rock-like version, too hard and sweet, not suitable to their taste.

Lam Chun See said...

I think I am hooked on this Kok Kok candy. Anyone know if they are available in Spore. If not, I will have to ask my friend Chia to get them for me.

dotdotdotz said...

I think it can still be found at Suntec City, at the 3rd floor outside Toys 'r' Us where the food pushcarts are. The stall also sells "tang cong bo bing", which is some kind of popiah-like candy. Prices are really expensive though. Kok Kok candy can also be found at the occasional pasar malams...

Tom said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

hello,i wanna buy the tang cong bo bing.can u tell me exactly where can i buy it.It's my memories of my dad buying this for me.thanks a lot!

Tah Chung said...

yg's description of the candy and tripod matches my memory of it. We used to call it ting ting tong because of the 'ting ting' sound when the man chip on the hard candy.

I still cannot forget the crispy tang cong po piah sold by an old man outside chinatown OG.