Guilin Sour Snack Platter

Guilin Sour Snack Platter ("suan ye") is the most "appetite-boosting" street snack, like a "Guilin salad"—fresh fruits and veggies soaked in sour brine, spicy and tangy. To make it, cucumbers, radishes, lotus roots, pineapples, mangoes, etc., are chopped, soaked 2-3 hours in brine of white vinegar, sugar, chili, and garlic water, absorbing the flavors. The platter is colorful—red radishes, green cucumbers, yellow pineapples—appetizing at first sight. It hits with sourness, then sugar's sweetness, finally mild chili heat, layered and appetite-stimulating. On Guilin streets, "suan ye" stalls are iconic: glass jars hold soaked produce; customers mix and match by weight. Perfect before meals to whet appetite or after to cut greasiness—sour radish or cucumber refreshes after rich food. Foreigners will be amazed by the sweet-sour-spicy mix, finding these "pickled veggies/fruits" like "slightly spicy sweet-tart snacks"—unique flavors from simple seasonings.