Xinzhu Steamed Buns Introduction
Tsai Chong-Ming (born in 1951) was originally an employee at the Taiwan Salt Corporation’s Chiayi Salt Field. His wife was a seamstress, sewing clothes for the villagers to supplement their household income. Starting in the 1970s, the emergence of ready-made garment factories significantly impacted the tailoring business, leading to a sharp decline in income. To provide his wife with a side job that would allow her to increase the family income while taking care of the children, Tsai Chong-Ming went to the Wushulin Salt Field in Kaohsiung to learn the methods of making buns and steamed buns from his brother and sister-in-law. His brother and sister-in-law worked at the welfare shop of the Wushulin Salt Field and learned from an elderly man from Mainland China who made buns and steamed buns to increase their income. After mastering the techniques for making buns and steamed buns, Tsai Chong-Ming returned to Xinyuan and began selling them. Initially, his skills were not proficient, so he sought advice from an elderly man known as "Haikongzi" at the Budai office, continuously improving and innovating to achieve the reputation he has today. His son, Tsai Cheng-En (born in 1979), returned to help and learn in 2010 and officially took over the business after getting married in 2014. The process of making buns and steamed buns starts the day before. On the previous afternoon, the dough is kneaded and left to ferment; then at 12:30 AM, he gets up to knead the dough again, shapes it, lets it undergo a second fermentation in a proofing box, and finally places it in the steamer to cook. The first batch comes out of the steamer at 3 AM.
