Shophouse, 22 Pottinger Street

Hi there,

This is the shop with the very old tangerine peel for sale.  I am pretty sure there are other suppliers, but this one is sort of high profile if food and cooking related stuffs are concerned.

Best Regards,

T

I have some vague memory that the G/F used to be a gun shop before the food shop occupy it. Anyone has memory of it?

Hi There,

I remember the Hong Kong Gun Shop was on that street, but I could not remember exactly where.   That was not a shop for everyone anyway.  There used to be a stationery store called Che San (致生) there, but that building had been redeveloped quick a while ago.

T

Greetings.  I am impressed the way they display their products - high up on the wall.  Quality old tangerine peel can be expensive.  Sweet memories from my HK time are red bean congee cooked with old tangerine peel, green/mung beans with rue, and lotus seeds with hard boiled eggs. I tried drying different kinds of orange peels and growing rue, but they just cannot replicate the smell and taste this young boy got from dai pai dong's years ago.  It is likely part of the aging process.  Regards, Peter    

Hi Peter,

The best Aged Tangerine Peel (陳皮) are those produced in San Hui (新會).  Autumn is the season for producers to collect the Tangerine Peels for drying and further processing.  Beginning after Mid-Autumn road side fruit vendors would started peeling off Tangerines from San Hui en mass.  Usually they would also bag the skinned tangerine and sell them at a bargain as the profit from the peel is much higher.

Those Tangerines, especially those from old trees, are much valued (like Vieilles Vignes in the Wine business).

T

Greetings.  Thanks tngan.  Some herbal/dried food shops in Toronto Chinatown might have the San Hui product so I will make a trip there.  I might be lucky enough to buy the fresh fruit to have it home-dried.  ​It may be too late to buy such fresh fruit and we are getting the first taste of winter and snow today.  Regards, Peter

Exact address was 22 pottinger street. Founded by Wong bai. After his death this was the only gun shop operated by her daughter Mable Wong and husband until her death in mid 2000. I was a customer between 1972 - 1978.