SC - More on the bean paste/flour topic...

[Elaine Koogler]

Gene Anderson just sent me further clarification on the sugar and bean
flour/paste questions:

Here's some more detail--the Chinese text unequivocally says white
sugar,
and, yes, white sugar was well known in China at the time.  The Chinese
just says "bean flour," which would normally mean soybean flour (if it
were
mung beans they would have said so--though sometimes Chinese texts will
just use "bean flour" to mean any old kind of bean flour). The egg
whites
would serve to hold the soybean flour together, so the lack of any
gluten
or sticky starch wouldn't be much of a problem.
best--Gene Anderson

Hope this helps clarify things!

Kiri