A plum blossom flower pancake. [Photo by Chen Yang/provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

In Loude town, Tai’an, traditional Shandong pancakes, or Jianbing in Chinese, are made into various shapes of flowers such as daffodils, with different colors and tastes, which have gained increasing popularity over the years.

Zhang Ping, creator of the colorful flower-shaped pancakes, started his pancake business 2017, and she continues to innovate her sales techniques, such as developing flower pancakes, to make the pancakes more popular.

“The whole pancake flower is edible because it is made with a certain percentage of pigments made from fruits and vegetables,” Zhang said.

“After the colorful pancakes are made, they are cut and then molded together with an adhesive made of glutinous rice glue and honey to form flowers of various shapes,” Zhang added.

Zhang gets the colors from dragon fruit, pumpkins, and spinach, as well as beetroot and butterfly peas.

As the flower pancakes gain popularity, Zhang and her husband have started teaching locals how to make the pancakes. As a result, they have helped their neighbors earn extra cash as well as boost rural vitalization in the town.

The process of molding a pancake into a flower shape with glutinous rice glue and honey. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Zhang Ping (left) teaches local residents how to make flower-shaped pancakes. [Photo by Chen Yang/provided to chinadaily.com.cn]