Crack seed (Chinese: 話梅; pinyin: Huàméi) is a category of snacks that originated in China. It is highly popular in many regions, such as Hawaii. Crack seed are basically preserved fruits that have been cracked or split with the seed or kernel partially exposed as a flavor enhancement. Common Chinese terms for this type of snack are Li hing mui and see mui . The snack arrived to Hawaii with Cantonese immigrants in the 19th century, when they were brought to work in the plantations.
The flavours are varied, ranging from extremely sweet and salty to sour flavours. Flavours can include rock salt plum, honey mango, licorice peach, or any kind of combination of fruits, flavours and type of preservatives used. The largest flavour innovator in the crack seed market is the Yick Lung Company (translates to 'profitable enterprise'), which produces and distributes many varieties. What originally was a preserved fruit has become a favourite snack in Hawaii and a sample of a cultural food.
Crack seed stores also sell candies such as gummi bears, and Sour Patch Kids, coated with Li Hing Mui.
Famous quotes containing the words crack and/or seed:
“The birch begins to crack its outer sheath
Of baby green and show the white beneath....”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“The ancestral deed is thought and done,
And in a million Edens fall
A million Adams drowned in darkness,
For small is great and great is small,
And a blind seed all.”
—Edwin Muir (1887–1959)