Chinese Food  Anhui Cuisine   Auhui province is located in east China. Anhui cuisine, one of the eight major cuisines in China, features the local culinary arts of Huizhou, a city close to Huangshan Mountain, which is not only the most beautiful mountain in china, but also provides abundant products for dish cooking. The major ingredients in Anhui cuisine, such as stone frog, mushroom, bayberry, tea leaves, bamboo shoot, dates, pangolin, etc., are from mountain area. One distinctive characteristic of Anhui cuisine is the elaborate choices of cooking materials. The chef uses fresh and high quality material to prepare dishes. Anhui dishes preserve most of the original taste and nutrition of the materials. Some of the Anhui dishes actually are also medicine cuisine, which it good to health. For example, Chukka has tender flesh and a sweet taste. It can be boiled in clear soup or braised in soy sauce. The dishes help relieve internal fever and build up vital energy. Huangshan bamboo shoots are tender and delicious; it can be made into very delicious food. Shitake is also very tasty, and it helps prevent cancer. Anhui Cuisine chef were trained to master the art of the strict control of the temperature and the cooking process, which is the key to good taste and color of dishes. Anhui Cuisine chefs are good at braising and stewing. They are experts especially in cooking delicacies from mountains and sea. Generally the food here is slightly spicy and salty. Some master dishes usually stewed in brown sauce with stress on heavy oil and sauce. Chinese Ham is often added to improve the taste and sugar candy added to gain freshness. My favorite Anhui dish is the Taros with Honey Juice, and it is really easy to make. Here is the recipe: Materials: 1000g red taros 200g honey 125g crystal sugar 1. Choose some orange-colored taros which have "sweated", wash, peel, chop into pieces which have two pointed ends. 2. Put a bamboo steamer in a casserole, add water and crystal sugar, when the sugar melts, put in the taros and honey and simmer for one hour. 3. When the juice has boiled down, transfer the taros to a plate and pour on the juice.     Read also: Chinese Cooking: Sauces & and Spices  Peking Duck Recipe  Cashew Chicken Recipe Chinese King Crab with Mushrooms and Snow Peas