🍽️ Dali Milk Fan

Milk stretched into fan, grilled with rose sugar.

Dali Rushan, or milk fan, is a traditional dairy product of the Bai people in Dali, Yunnan. Milk is curdled with papaya acid, then stretched into thin fan-shaped sheets and sun-dried. It can be deep-fried until puffed and golden, or toasted over charcoal until pliable, then dipped in rose-petal sugar, white sugar or condensed milk. Richly milky with a faint tang, it is chewy when grilled and crisp when fried; rose sugar is the most Bai-style pairing. Milk source and the stretching craft matter. It is a ceremonial and hospitality food of Bai families around the Dali plateau. Visitors to Dali Old Town and Xizhou commonly buy a grilled sheet to eat while walking, arguably the most distinctive ethnic dairy taste between Cangshan Mountain and Erhai Lake.