KEEPING COOL

A summer dessert that’s a “life-saver” for Hainan residents

海南甜品清补凉：许你清凉一夏

qing and Macau have been drinking bu liang ever since, often adding supplements like foxnuts, longan, and even chicken and pork. It’s believed to dispel heat and damp, strengthen the spleen, and nourish the lungs. Hainan’s qing bu liang combines the Cantonese version with shuiguo lao (水果捞), a dessert that soaks fruit in milk or yogurt. A cup of Hainanese

could hold dozens of different ingredients: bean jelly, watermelon, mango, coconut meat (or dried coconut shavings), cooked mung bean, red bean, taro, quail eggs… anything the chef can think of. It’s all combined with brown sugar syrup, ice, coconut water or coconut milk, and sometimes a few scoops of ice cream to top the thing off.

There’s a qing bu liang shop on every street corner across the province, with flavors and ingredients varying from shop to shop. For first-time visitors to the capital city, Haikou, the night market by the south gate of Hainan University, and the Historic Qilou Streets (骑楼老街) around Zhongshan Road are highly recommended sampling spots.