Raisins
Xinjiang is known as the "home of fruits and melons." Apricots, cantaloupe, and pomegranates all have claims on the local palate, are heaped in local bazaars next to bins of saffron tea and walnuts, and are sent to other markets throughout China as well as other parts of the world. Yet, the raisin gets lauded even against the very stiff local competition.

The raisin, a wrinkly translucent fruit, is a 2,000-year-old snack in Northwest Chinas Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, a dessert in the desert. Known as the "green pearl" of West China, it is a cheap delicacy, and an everymans staple. The dried green pearl retains its taste longer in an exposed outdoor market than do vacuum-packed moist raisins.

In Turpan, a combination of low-lying lands, long hours of sunshine, cool nights, and hot days produce a seedless white grape inordinately sugary when harvested in August. Forty days after being plucked from the trellises (wooden fences supporting the grapevines) and dried in adobe houses, the green-pearl raisin is ready for shipment to other parts of China as well as all over the world.

The chocolate raisin and the yogurt raisin are also famous kinds in Xinjiang.

The raisins are rich in natural fructose, protein, vitamin, cellulose and various microelements, with no additives and pigments. They are healthy food that can be used to help treat cancer.

Seedless White Grapes
Seedless white grapes produced in Xinjiang (of Northwest China), in the elliptic shape, are crystal-clear, crisp, and juicy, with thin skin. Fresh grapes contain more than 24 percent of sugar, while raisins contain 75 to 80 percent of sugar.

Seedless white grapes are not subject to plant diseases and insect pests, so farmers do not need to spray pesticides on them. Both fresh and dried grapes are natural green fruit.
Hami Melons
Hami melons are grown in the Tarim, Junggar and Turpan basins, and the Hami Prefecture. It is said that the Hami melon was not originally produced in Hami but in the nearby Shanshan. Because King Hami sent it to the Qing (1644-1911) emperor as a tribute, which praised the fruit greatly for its incomparable honey aroma, the melon was so named "Hami melon."

The sweet and tasty Hami melons are reputed as the "king of melons." One melon contains a great amount of vitamins, four to seven times of those in watermelons, six times of those in apples, and 1.3 times of those in apricots.

Hami melons have more than 180 varieties in different shapes, sizes, and flesh colors, with their sizes ranging from as large as a cannonball of over a dozen kilograms to as small as a coconut. They are mainly elliptic in shape and come in colors of yellow, green, brown and white, with various dapples (color patches).

Hami melons are not only delicious, but also rich in nutrition, and especially have high medicinal values. A Hami melon can allay a fever and dispel the heat, so it is a healthy choice on hot summer days. It also helps to improve peoples hematogenous (blood) function and treat nephropathy (kidney disease), stomach bug, cough, anemia, and constipation, and so on.

Xinjiang Milk Tea
If you visit Xinjiang, the hospitable hosts will show their welcome by offering you savory milk tea upon receiving you. Milk tea is such an essential drink that the local people would prefer having no food to having no milk tea.

It is not without reason that milk tea is a daily drink among the minority peoples in Northwest Chinas Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. In such a pasture area that is high in altitude and cold in temperature, a lot of meat with comparatively few vegetables is eaten. People in this area need to drink milk tea to get more minerals and to help with their digestion. Besides, the special drink can help them drive away cold in winter and heat in summer.

The way of preparing milk tea is quite simple: Break the tea (which comes in dry hard blocks) into parts and boil in a copper pot. Pour milk into the tea when it is boiling and then add some salt before drinking. When treating guests at home, the hosts always prepare the drink for immediate consumption.
Rice Eaten with Hands
Shou Zhua Fan, or "rice eaten with hands," is another special Xinjiang cuisine -- rice cooked with fresh mutton, carrots, onions, vegetable oil, melted sheeps fat, and raisins, and so on. It is eaten with the hands, hence the name Shou Zhua Fan.

There are more than 10 kinds of this rice dish, including mainly mutton, chicken, and vegetarian, with the most common being the one that uses mutton as the main ingredient. The dish is soft, delicious and nutritious. Shou Zhua Fan is not only a kind of well-nourishing cuisine, but also a feature of festivals, funerals, and weddings.

Since to cook one pot of the mixed rice takes six hours, at restaurants it is usually cooked early in the morning, and heated by microwave oven whenever ordered. Hence, the chewy texture and some of the taste might not be as good.

Almond
The almond is one of the most treasured dried fruit of the Uygur people. It is actually not a nut, but a plant of the almond tree subgenus in the peach genus. Its nutrition is many times higher than that of beef of the same weight. A kernel typically contains vegetable oil (55-61 percent), protein (28 percent), and amylum (a complex starch) and sugar (10-11 percent), as well as vitamins and 18 trace elements.

The Almond has more than 40 varieties of 5 families in Northwest Chinas Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous area. Better almonds can be made into relieving medicine that can make it easier to expel phlegm from the chest or lungs, exert a restorative influence on the intestines, and improve bowel movement.

The almond is also often used to cure diseases like hypertension, neurasthenic (general listlessness and so on), hypersensitive skin, tracheitis (windpipe inflammation), and infantile rickets.

In short, the almond, with its tonic effect, is the best choice for the Uygurs to keep healthy.

In addition, almonds can also be pressed into almond oil and used as an industrial product.

Xinjiang sweet almonds are the traditional product for export and an indispensable material from which almond tea, almond icing, and almond chocolate are made.

Shish Kebab
Xinjiang Shish Kebab is as famous as the roast duck of Beijing. It is a popular snack nationwide -- found in the streets and bazaars throughout China, and a lot of people like it very much.

As the most famous of Xinjiang snacks, shish kebabs are chunks of fatty and lean lamb meat skewered on a wooden stick and roasted over charcoal. The kebabs are turned continually, and when they are almost done, salt, pepper, and other seasonings are sprinkled on them. Kebabs are crispy outside and tender inside, and slightly salty and hot with their peculiarly strong flavor of Ziran (a kind of aniseed). They are not greasy and have no unpleasant smell.

There are two reasons why shish kebab is so delicious. One is because of the excellent Xinjiang mutton; the other is because of the special spice. The fuels used are always blind coal and firewood. Nowadays, there is a kind of oven that is healthier and more economic, convenient.

When in Xinjiang , it is a pity if you do not have a taste of shish kebab.

Nang
Nang, or pancake, is a daily staple food for the Uygurs, just like steamed bread in northern China and rice in the south. It has a history of more than 2,000 years, with over 50 varieties.

Making a nang is similar to making a pancake. The materials include wheat flour, corn flour, or sorghum flour, with such seasonings as sesame seeds, onions, eggs, vegetable oil, butter, milk, salt, and sugar. When the surface turns golden yellow, the crispy and delicious nangs are done.

It is invariable round in shape, but there are about fifty different kinds of nang. The most common is meat nang.