The soybean skin wrap is made by soaking the soybean skin, cutting it into small pieces and wrapping with stuffing like bean curd, vegetable, radish and sticky rice. This is something that every family in Yiwu knows how to make and that the housewives will surely make at every clear and bright and winter solstice seasons. The soybean skin wrap fried golden and served presents the flavor of soybean in addition to the freshness of vegetable materials inside. It is very popular among the food lovers and therefore a must dish in most local restaurants in Yiwu.
The key to a good soybean skin wrap is not only the fresh stuffing but also the good quality soybean skin. The most famous where soybean skin comes from is Zhudian Village of Chi An Town. According to the aged villagers, almost every family of the village during the past time would set up two or three cooking ranges to boil soybean milk and make soybean skin. They would take the soybean skins that they have made to the market places for sale. Nowadays, Zhudian villagers have established their own factories and the production of soybean skins has assumed large scale production. The Yiwu Aikang Soybean Product Factory is one developed by Zhu Jingyu, a Zhudian resident from original processing of soybean skin. Zhu says that the making of soybean skin has a history of over 100 years in Zhudian and his ancestors were always engaged in soybean skin making with super skills. The biggest difference between their soybean skins and those from Beixing is the greasiness and papery thinness, which requires supreme control of the peeling time by the masters.
The plant where soybean skins come from is full of steam and the masters are seen picking up a thin skin from the boiler, hanging it onto two thin bamboos and having it dried outside. Then the soybean skin product can be properly packaged and distributed to the world. Made from quality soybeans and natural spring water, Yiwu soybean skins are naturally green products and has specially fresh flavor possibly due to the super quality of water from Chi An mountain region.
Chi An soybean skin has exerted the charm of soybean skin wrap to the best extent and the stuffing is also only limited to vegetables. An addition of some meal like the combination of radish and beef will endow the wrap with a different taste. If only meal is used as stuffing, then the soybean skin needs to be fried deeper to present the flavor of fresh meal and crispy soybean skin.
