Snapshots from Asia: I’d Like a Michael Jackson, Please
In Singapore, it is not uncommon for my grandparents' generation to speak numerous dialects, but only a smattering of English. So imagine my surprise when I heard a grandfatherly type holler at a coffee shop, "Lao ban, lai yi bei Michael Jackson." ("Boss, give me a glass of Michael Jackson.")
Michael Jackson? What is this, a new type of beer? I stay to look and it turns out a Michael Jackson is no alcoholic drink, but a virtuous concoction of creamy soy milk and squiggles of immortal jelly.
I haven't a clue why the black jelly is considered "immortal" (I suspect ad man involvement), but it is also known locally as chin chow, or grass jelly. Made by boiling the dried leaves and stalks of the Mesona chinensis (a member of the mint family) in water and potassium carbonate, the strained liquid cools and sets to a gelatin-like consistency. Once set, it is cut into ribbons and served bobbing in simple syrup or added to shaved ice desserts like ice kacang.
Grass jelly has a pleasant, lightly herbal flavor that reminds me of rooibos tea—especially the rooibos and honeybush blends. It is this honeybush flavor, or scent, rather, that makes grass jelly such a shoo-in for traditional Asian desserts like Vietnamese chè and Malaysian cendol. Supposedly, Mesona chinensis's high levels of estrogen also makes grass jelly popular among women seeking to conceive, as it is believed to boost fertility (if you ask me, that's just another reason to indulge in dessert).
Dishonest restaurateurs have been known to pass grass jelly off as the far pricier gui ling gao or tortoise essence jelly (made from ground tortoise shells). Gui ling gao is valued in Traditional Chinese Medicine because it is believed to have therapeutic properties. Although similar in texture and appearance to grass jelly, gui ling gao has a far stronger herbal taste and is unpalatably bitter if eaten plain without its traditional sidekick—honey.
In any case, coming back to the Michael Jackson, I was curious enough to order one, and so pleased with the textural delight of slurping up jelly strands in soy milk that I ordered one to go. When I got home, the jelly had colored the soy milk an appetizing latte brown. Even better, the jelly had flavored the soy milk so it now tasted creamy and caramelly. Very nice!
I haven't been able to find ready-to-cook packs of grass jelly here in the States, but I've definitely seen them in the canned drink aisle at Ranch 99. Canned grass jelly drinks are good on their own (albeit a tad sweet for my taste), and if you're up for something new, you can mix in some unsweetened soymilk for your own Michael Jackson.
About the author: Wan Yan Ling can usually be found in the kitchen procrastinating on "real work" or online, tracking down obscure recipes. Ling thinks eating alone is no fun, and she still believes in hand-mixing.
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11 Comments:
I love those canned grass jelly drinks. I'll have to check out mixing it with other stuff!
Cassaendra at 4:49PM on 09/01/08
Any idea why it's called a Michael Jackson? I could make a bunch of off-colour jokes, but I'd rather hear the real story. :)
piccola at 9:33PM on 09/01/08
Oh, you don't know how good that looks! My sweet (Chinese) MIL won't let me have grass jelly until after my current pregnancy - apparently such "cool-y" things aren't good for Junior. Who knew!
We get our grass jelly canned...and then hack it up and serve it, cold, in a bowl with a few spoonfuls of white sugar. (Erm...a LOT of white sugar.) (It's not a drink...it's just a can, usually near the canned Azuki paste.) Canned is usually pretty easy to find in Ranch 99. I've never tried the stuff in the bag...I wonder if it's different?
Teahlo at 8:33AM on 09/02/08
Teahlo: You know, I'm pretty sure it's the same -- you mean a whole block of jelly within the can, don't you? I'll have to check that out =p
If you believe in TCM, you're also not allowed to have other "cool" foods like watermelon and coconut nectar! Maybe you can have almond/mango/konnyaku jelly instead?
onedaylingers at 2:50PM on 09/02/08
The "immortal" jelly label might be from marketing. But also, it could have been one of he potential immortality medicines that Qin Shi Huangdi tried.
wunami at 9:16PM on 09/02/08
Mum used to make us a summer time treat of shredded black grass jelly, crushed ice, and a spoon of sugar. It was the best way to beat the heat.. Oh the good times.. :)
johnnytakes5 at 2:20PM on 09/03/08
Ha, I forgot about this nickname. A couple years ago I met up with a few food bloggers in Kuala Lumpur and they mentioned that this drink was called a Michael Jackson. I'd never heard of such a thing, but then, no one really drinks black grass jelly in the US.
Krista at 1:47PM on 09/07/08
I love the name - Michael Jackson...I guess the colour of the drink does remind me of Michael Jackson. In the Taiwanese bubble tea places in Vancouver here, they sell a hot grass jelly drink during the winter time, it's like melting grass jelly with syrup, pearls, sweetened beans - it's almost like a thick soup and as it cools when I closer to finishing it up - its texture gets thicker and thicker and I can only describe it as "snot"-like in texture but trust me it's still really delicious and satisfying on a cold winter night! :)
seaurchin at 8:07PM on 06/28/09
The name is great! – and unforgettable. I'm with johnnytakes5: It's a childhood memory to have it with sugary cold water and crushed ice. I still enjoy it but find myself weary to lug home cans of the jelly all the way from Chinatown. But it really might be worth it after this posting!
JustNancy at 5:29PM on 07/03/09
The tortoises that supply the shells for making traditional "guilinggao" are endangered. Most commercially-available guilinggao do not actually contain the tortoise shells.
leesean at 5:50PM on 07/03/09
Never thought about cook-yourself-grass-jelly. I only see it in jelly form canned here (as a giant jelly cylinder, in its unsweetened liquid) or in the drink aisle.
Zelnox at 11:58PM on 07/09/09