Haw Flakes – $0.03/roll

All Over Malaysia and I Suppose China Too

We interrupt the regular Taiwanese broadcast to bring you a lil snack I’m binging on right now.

Haw Flakes! I think they come from China, as the company responsible for this is Qingzhou Jiahe Food Co Ltd. I’ve never found these in other countries, I suppose Malaysia is the only importer of these very badly packaged yet ridiculously satisfying snacks. But I’m sure other countries have it hidden somewhere in a dark corner of a dingy Chinese grocer in Chinatown, you just gotta look for it. Granted, if I never grew up on these I’d probably be quite wary of its contents, China and all. But no, I’ll risk a 3rd nipple (if that is all that will happen) for the sugary goodness.

These lil wonders come in a pack of 10, costing a whopping 1 ringgit. That’s 30 cents in USD. So a roll is only 3 cents. Granted, they are small and you could probably pop a few rolls into your mouth at one go, but somehow each flake has enough flavour, so don’t want to pop in more than a couple per time. I go with 1. Attached is also a picture of how small a roll is, each flake no more than 1mm thick.

So what exactly is haw?  No clue? Me neither. But wikipedia mentions (there’s a wikipedia entry on Haw Flakes!) that it’s the chinese  hawthorn fruit. Interesting, the only Hawthorn I know is the location of my uni campus in Australia, and an old side-scrolling platform game, never knew it was a fruit.

Anyways, the taste is tangy but primarily sweet. You should give it a try if you find it.

Haw Flakes!