Bamboo Garden's founder, H. K. Wong demonstrates the fine technique of producing Ice-Crispy Dragon Beard Candy

An innovative Hong Kong company, Bamboo Garden, is bringing an ancient Chinese delicacy to the world's food connoisseurs through Hong Kong's premier airline Cathay Pacific.

The company is the only one to have perfected the technique for producing the ancient Chinese "dragon beard" candy with all natural ingredients and a unique crispy texture that lasts.

Bamboo Garden's Ice-Crispy Dragon Beard Candy is served to Cathay Pacific's First-Class and Business Class passengers to give them a taste of traditional Hong Kong on their way here. The company also has outlets at the Hong Kong International Airport, where passengers are entertained with an on-the-spot demonstration of the production technique.

"Our airport is very international, but we selected Bamboo Garden to bring out the Hong Kong element," said Eva Tsang, general manager for retail and advertising, Hong Kong Airport Authority.

"Dragon Beard candy is traditionally Chinese, and Bamboo Garden products are high-quality, well-packaged and fully 'made in Hong Kong'. It's a perfect souvenir for visitors to take back home!" added Ms. Tsang.

Legend has it that over 2000 years ago in ancient China, the Emperor discovered the delicacy made with thousands of silvery-strands extracted from a mass of wheat germ sugar. The palace chef, with his skilful hands, would perform the ritual of making "dragon beard" candy in front of the Emperor's court for immediate consumption afterwards.

"The production technique was perfected by the company's founder, H.K.Wong, after two years of research and testing," said Lavina Yip, marketing manager for Bamboo Garden.

The making of the candy involves extracting crystallised strands from a large chunk of sugar and maltose. The strenuous process is repeated until about ten thousand exceedingly fine threads which resemble the "dragon's beard" are formed.

"Our production process is quite unique as each candy is completely handmade from all natural ingredients. The end result is a delicacy that is extremely fine and crispy, and melts on the tongue when eaten. Better still, our candy can be stored for up to four months without the use of any artificial ingredients," explained Ms. Yip.

Currently, Bamboo Garden has shops in Singapore and Tokyo and a distributor in the US  and is looking to expand wider into other Asian and western markets.

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