Food is Hohhot's most vibrant calling card, with many local specialties available for immediate enjoyment or as souvenirs.
**Air-dried Beef and Beef Jerky:** Made with high-quality beef from the grasslands, naturally air-dried or processed using traditional methods, these meats are firm, savory, and delicious, representing a quintessential grassland snack.
**Dairy Products:**
**Milk Skin:** The golden, crispy skin that forms on the surface of milk during the boiling process, a traditional Mongolian treat for guests, with a unique texture.
**Milk Tofu and Cheese:** Made from fermented cow, sheep, or mare milk, these cheeses range in flavor from slightly sour to slightly sweet, with a rich milky aroma, representing a traditional dairy product.
**Mare's Milk Wine:** A traditional Mongolian beverage, naturally fermented from mare's milk, it has a mellow, slightly sour, and sweet aftertaste, with a low alcohol content, making it an excellent choice for experiencing ethnic culture.
**Oat Noodles:** Wuchuan oat noodles are a geographical indication product, rich in nutrients. You can buy ready-made oat noodles (莜面窝窝, 莜面鱼鱼, etc.), or buy oat noodles to make your own and experience the charm of traditional noodles.
Specialty Staples and Condiments:
Baozi: A traditional Mongolian noodle dish similar to shaomai but crispier, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, a popular local snack.
Qingshuihe Small Fragrant Rice: Plump grains, fragrant when cooked into porridge or steamed rice, a high-quality geographical indication agricultural product.
Tuoketuo County Chili Peppers: A local specialty, spicy but not overly so, rich in Vitamin C, an excellent choice for making authentic Mongolian chili sauce.
Other Delicacies:
Shaomai: Hohhot's shaomai has a thin wrapper and a generous filling, made with mutton, a street delicacy. Buying vacuum-packed frozen shaomai is a convenient option to take home. Sea buckthorn and its products: This fruit, unique to the Loess Plateau, is sweet and sour, and can be eaten fresh, frozen, or processed into fruit peel or wine, offering a unique flavor.