Fist of Kitchen presents… Eat it: China!

• 3 sweet oranges
• ½ c. sugar
• 2 tbsp. cornstarch
• 2½ c. water

Preparation

Peel the oranges and remove all the membrane; chop up the pulp. Mix the sugar, cornstarch, and water to a boil; add the pulp and simmer a few minutes. Serve warm.

At the start of the desserts chapter, the Sisters say that while they’ve found that Americans like Chinese food, they’re not so fond of the Sino-sweets, so they’ve included mostly Western desserts that complement the cuisine. Given that, desserts are a strangely large part of the book—second only to pork!

This is basically orange pulp in light, hot fruit cocktail water. As …unusual as this seemed to me, “Orange Tea” is not something found in China. The only thing I’ve found like it is a news clip—a recipe for “Orange Soup / Ch’en Tzu Keng” in the September 2nd, 1937 edition of the Sioux County Capital. Maybe the OBS library and Mrs. Lou Vander Laan shared a cookbook? Best served to three-year-olds.