China News Service, Chongqing, August 9 (Reporter Liu Xian) In Ciqikou, a thousand-year-old ancient town in Chongqing, the 6th Chongqing 88 Twist Festival opened on the 8th. During the event, the "2024 Mahua Industry White Paper" (hereinafter referred to as the white paper) was released, showing the new consumption trend of Chinese traditional snack food Mahua.
"Visiting Ciqikou Ancient Town and eating Chenchang Coho Flowers" is a must-do for many tourists in Chongqing. The traditional making technique of Ciqikou Chenmahua is one of the fifth batch of representative intangible cultural heritage items in Chongqing.
Hu Yi, member of the Standing Committee of the Chongqing Shapingba District Committee and deputy director of the district government, introduced in his speech that Ciqikou Ancient Town receives more than 17 million tourists every year and has been selected into the first batch of national-level night culture and tourism consumption clusters. The catering brand represented by Chenchang Yinmahua has developed into a specialty snack business card of Chongqing. This event will let more people know about Chongqing’s intangible cultural heritage and Chinese pastry culture.
The white paper was jointly released by Chenchang Yinmahua and Shandi Digital.
The white paper states that due to differences in main materials, auxiliary materials, and production processes, my country has formed four major schools of northern twists, southern twists, Tianjin twists and new small twists. The main production areas of Northern Mahua are in Henan, Hebei, Shaanxi and Shanxi. It is as long as chopsticks, salty and crispy. Southern style twists are more refined in craftsmanship and are as thick as a child's thumb. They are produced in the Dongting Lake area such as Chongyang in Hubei and Yueyang in Hunan. Tianjin Mahua is represented by Gui Faxiang's 18th Street Mahua. It is made with low-temperature oil cooking technology and is inlaid with peach kernels, green plums, osmanthus, peanuts, sesame and other fillings. It has a sweet and crispy taste. The new twist technology has been upgraded to reduce the weight of the twist. The surface is coated with fructose dyes such as honey, sesame, brown sugar, and coconut. It is called fruit twist in the industry.
The picture shows the new spinach twist. Photo courtesy of Chen Mahua Company
When analyzing consumer demand, the white paper states that the most important factor consumers pay attention to when choosing to buy Mahua is still the taste of the product, with "ingredients and health" ranking second, and the third being product price. Modern consumers also value the convenience of twist packaging design and use. Young consumers like to try new flavors and innovative packaging of twist.
The white paper puts forward a number of "suggestions for the development of the twist industry." The first is to make products healthy, develop low-sugar, low-fat, and high-fiber twist products to meet the trend of healthy eating; whole wheat flour, natural sweeteners, and healthy raw materials such as nuts and dried fruits can be introduced. The second is to introduce more novel twist flavors, such as turkey, cheese, matcha, etc., to attract young consumers. The third is to improve the packaging design, enhance product portability, aesthetics and environmental protection, and launch small packages, gift boxes, mini twists, etc. to meet the needs of different consumption scenarios; at the same time, launch limited editions and special holiday packaging to enhance brand appeal. (End)
(China News Network)
