Bolos de São Gonçalo are unusual Portuguese pastry cakes originating from the village of Amarante. Although there is no set recipe, and the sizes of these cakes vary from one street vendor to another, the cakes have one thing in common – they all have phallic shapes.
Every year on January 10 and the first weekend in June, there's a local celebration of Saint Gonçalo de Amarante, and the penis-shaped cakes are usually sold from street carts, either covered in powdered sugar or filled with sweet cream. It is believed that the practice has its roots in pagan fertility rituals, but the claim hasn't yet been proven.
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Glossy, red, and sweet, candied apples, also known as jelly apples, were invented in New Jersey in 1908, when William Kolb, a candy maker from Newark, made a syrup with melted sugar, red coloring agent, and cinnamon flavoring. He dipped some apples into the syrup and placed them on his shop's window display.
As the treats were priced at a nickel a piece, they spread to the Jersey Shore and were soon adopted by traveling circuses and numerous candy shops throughout the country. The best candied apples should pair the sweetness of their thin and shiny coating with a tart and crisp varieties of apples such as Gala, Granny Smith or McIntosh.
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Dalgona is a traditional and nostalgic candy originating from South Korea. It has recently been popularized by the Netflix hit show called Squid Game. The dalgona is made by melting sugar and mixing it with baking soda. The mixture should start to foam up and look similar to whipped coffee.
It is poured out onto a flat surface and flattened into a thin disk that's imprinted with a mold before it hardens and the texture becomes brittle. When enjoying dalgona, the trick is to eat around the pattern so that it doesn't break, and some street food vendors will give another dalgona to children if they successfully break off the exterior part of the candy while saving the shape.
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Khanom tom is a traditional dessert consisting of boiled rice flour dumplings, coated with shredded coconut, and stuffed with a filling of shredded coconut melted along with palm sugar and coconut milk. The coconut filling is commonly infused with flower fragrance by using scented candles, while pandan leaves or butterfly pea extract are often added to the dough for color, fragrance, and flavor.
These soft and aromatic coconut rice flour balls are available in markets throughout Southeast Asia, but they are also commonly sold on street stalls.
Sangkhaya fak thong is a traditional dessert originating from Thailand. It consists of a pumpkin that's filled with creamy custard. The ingredients include a whole pumpkin, duck or hen eggs, sugar, coconut milk or cream, pandan leaves, cornstarch or rice flour, and salt.
The pumpkin is cut so that the lid, the seeds, and the flesh are removed from the inside. The coconut milk, sugar, and pandan leaves are gently heated, then slightly cooled before they're mixed with whisked eggs and a bit of cornstarch. The resulting custard is placed inside the pumpkin, which is then steamed, cooled, cut into slices, and served.
Daheen is a traditional sweet originating from Najaf, where it is usually sold at street markets. It has a fudge-like texture and consists of flour, milk, sugar, clarified butter, and date syrup. Before serving, daheen is traditionally sprinkled with desiccated coconut.
The dessert is named after the clarified butter used in its preparation, called dihin.
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Maltose crackers are traditional snacks originating from Hong Kong. They were at the peak of popularity in the 1950s and 1960s, when maltose crackers were sold from street vendors. These snacks consist of only two ingredients – maltose syrup and saltine crackers.
In order to prepare maltose crackers, maltose syrup is sandwiched between two saltine crackers. Bamboo sticks are often pressed into the maltose so that the snack looks like a cracker lollipop. These inexpensive snacks are especially popular among children.
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This unusual Turkish dessert is usually prepared by street vendors on small stoves with individual compartments. Each compartment is filled with a thick, colorful toffee paste that the vendor then wraps around a wooden stick, creating a sort of multicolored lollipop.
The candy has a long history, presumably originating during the Ottoman Empire period, when it was mainly used as a health remedy. The modern versions of macun are quite different than the original herbal pastes, but they are characterized by their distinctive sweet and spicy flavor which is achieved by the addition of numerous spices such as aniseed, cloves, turmeric, black pepper, cinnamon, or cumin.
Even though it has Tokyo in its name, this pancake variety is an authentic Thai invention that is prepared with leavened egg batter. The fillings may include sweet options such as various creamy spreads and custards or savory ingredients such as sausages, quail eggs, or ground pork.
The dish is usually made at street stalls, and the pancakes are typically small in size and served rolled. There's also a version called the phiset, which means special, and it consists of a larger crêpe that's filled with crumbled sausage, beaten eggs, Maggi seasoning sauce, and powdered white pepper.
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Kaminari-okoshi, often called merely okoshi, is a popular Japanese confectionery, similar to rice crispy treats. The main ingredient in okoshi is expanded rice, created by roasting rice grains until they pop. A mix of sugar and butter or corn syrup is used to hold the rice together, and after the additional ingredients have been added, the mixture is formed or pressed in trays, left to dry, then cut into square shapes.
This crispy Japanese treat first appeared during the mid-Edo period in Japan and was primarily sold by street vendors in the vicinity of Buddhist temples in Asakusa, one of the districts in Tokyo. Originally, peanuts were added to enrich okoshi, but modern versions also include other nuts, dried fruit, chocolate, or sesame seeds, along with other exotic and interesting flavors such as matcha green tea or caramel.
MOST ICONIC Okoshi
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