Qingtuan, or green rice balls, is a popular food in spring for Shanghai people. Most traditionally made with sesame, bean paste,salted egg yolk or meat floss fillings, the green rice balls now have various new tastes produced innovatively by time honored brands in Shanghai.

Dexing Restaurant on Shanghai’s Zhonghua Road has launched fresh green rice balls with new fillings like pine nut with bean paste, and black truffle with vegetable and meat, costing 4.5 to 12 each.

According to Wang Xiang, the head chef of the eatery, in consideration of the preference of neighboring residents, they upgraded the traditional shepherd’s purse and meat filling by adding homemade black truffle sauce.

(green and yellow rice balls with durian)

In a Ningbo Glutinous Rice Ball store in Yuyuan Garden, green rice balls with durian fillings, a newly developed variety over the past years, have been upgraded this year with the dough skin being yellow not green. Chefs made the skin with pounded pumpkin instead ofmugwort, mixed with glutinous rice.

Innovations were also made by time-tested brand Old Chenghuang Temple which has launched new products with green plum wine flavor. A person in charge of the brand’s online flagship store said that the new product research was inspired by ancient green plum wine.

“The brewing history of green plum wine can be traced back to the Song Dynasty. Green plum that has been naturally fermented for more than 12 months has a very soft and sweet taste and is very popular among young consumers," said the man.

In recent years, innovations made by old brands have greatly boosted the sales of products by attracting the attention of customers from different age ranges, making the brands even longer lasting.