🪭 Rushan

Rushan (乳扇, “milk fan”) is a traditional cheese of the Bai people of Yunnan Province in China, above all from the area around Dali. It is made from cow’s milk: the milk is heated and curdled with a sour liquid, without rennet. The fresh hot curd is kneaded, stretched into thin elastic sheets, wound onto long bamboo poles and hung to dry until the sheets turn yellow and leathery. In the Bai language the cheese is called nvxseiz.

Rushan got its Chinese name from its resemblance to a folding fan. It is a popular street food: a dry sheet is warmed over charcoal until it softens, spread with rose jam, honey with rose petals, condensed milk or fruit jam, and rolled onto a stick like an ice pop. It is also deep-fried until golden and crisp.

Rushan is one of China’s few traditional cheeses. Its relative in the same province is rubing (“milk cake”), made from goat’s milk. Unlike mozzarella and sulguni, rushan is dried into thin sheets and eaten hot rather than fresh.