People are busy making skinworm-shaped candies. [Photo/WeChat account: xishanfabu2013]

The Jiangsu Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism recently announced the fifth batch of provincial intangible cultural heritage items, which includes the candy making techniques in Xishan district, Wuxi.

The skinworm-shaped candy making techniques has a history of more than 100 years. In 2012, the craft was listed as a municipal intangible cultural heritage item and the inheritor is Zhang Wenbo of Gangnan village.

A person stretches the malt sugar. [Photo/WeChat account: xishanfabu2013]

Gangnan produces high-quality rice and wheat, the main ingredients of skinworm-shaped candies, while the numerous temple fairs in the surrounding area provide soil for the snack's survival.

Based on malt sugar, skinworm-shaped candies are filled with sesame paste and made by continuous stretching. Therefore, to make the candies must first have malt sugar. The entire process usually involves 12 procedures, among which fermentation is the most time-consuming and also the source of the candies' flavor.

Skinworm-shaped candies, which are stuffed with sesame paste. [Photo/WeChat account: xishanfabu2013]

Add barley malt to well steamed rice, which will ferment into barley malt syrup, and then stir-fry the syrup until it becomes a solid sugar, which is the malt sugar. The subsequent steps are pressing the fillings and stretching the candies to make them look like skinworms.