As the weather warms, on the stone-paved Xidajie street in Baoding, Hebei, many tourists can be seen holding bowls of an orange-colored frozen treat, enjoying it as they stroll. This popular summer dessert on the ancient city's streets is the "Baoding Bing Shi" (frozen persimmon), originating from deep within the Taihang Mountains.
Tracing this sales chain leads back to Yixian County, Baoding, located over 50 kilometers away. In the processing workshop of the Baoding Bing Shi Shared Industrial Park in Yixian, bright red persimmons undergo over a dozen processes including de-astringency, saccharification, and quick-freezing, transforming into frost-coated frozen persimmons before being distributed nationwide.
"Our frozen persimmons primarily use local Hachiya persimmons. We use flash-freezing technology to create small ice crystals within the fruit pulp, giving it an ice cream-like texture," said Guo Zilong, Party Branch Secretary of Zhongdule Village, Dule Township, Yixian County, and Chairman of Baoding Wolong Agricultural Development Co., Ltd.
Yixian is known as the "Hometown of China's Hachiya Persimmon," with a cultivation area of 113,000 mu (approximately 7,533 hectares) and an annual fresh persimmon output of about 250,000 tons. The fruit is known for its thick, sweet flesh. However, due to the seasonal nature and poor storability of fresh persimmons, high-quality fruit often failed to fetch good prices. Finding ways to break seasonal constraints and enhance the value of this local specialty became key to local industrial development.
Watching unsold persimmons rot on the trees was heartbreaking for villagers. After being elected village Party Branch Secretary in 2018, Guo Zilong led his team to collaborate with universities like Hebei University and Hebei Agricultural University, attempting to use freezing technology to extend the persimmons' shelf life.
"If the freezing temperature is too high, the texture becomes mushy; if too low, it damages the fruit fibers. The temperature tolerance must be within 0.5°C," Guo Zilong explained. After more than five years of exploration, the team developed a precise temperature-controlled freezing process that locks in the persimmon's fresh sweetness while extending its shelf life. "There are very few domestic peeling machines for frozen fruit; we developed all the components bit by bit ourselves."
As the frozen persimmon product was finalized, Zhongdule Village established a frozen persimmon factory in October 2024. They established a full-process standardized system from cultivation management and product processing to cold storage. After de-astringency and saccharification, each fruit weighs over 250 grams, with daily sales reaching 10,000 units.
This technological breakthrough has "frozen" new value into the persimmons. The increase in persimmon purchase prices has also restored confidence among many farming households. In the packaging workshop, 44-year-old villager Guo Chunxiang from Zhongdule Village skillfully packs products. She mentioned that her family's persimmon trees are managed uniformly by the village cooperative, while she works at the factory. "The factory provides us with training and jobs. Working close to home, I can earn over 30,000 yuan a year."
Over 500 villagers, mostly left-behind women and former poverty-stricken households, have achieved stable employment through the frozen persimmon industry like Guo Chunxiang. Currently, more than 16,500 planting households across the county directly benefit.
While gaining popularity domestically, Baoding Bing Shi has also begun testing overseas markets. On April 27, after passing inspection and quarantine by Baoding Customs, the first batch of 15,000 cups of "Baoding Bing Shi" was shipped from Yixian to Canada, marking the product's first export. Furthermore, "Baoding Bing Shi" was showcased at the 139th China Import and Export Fair, where many international buyers showed interest in this "ice cream on a tree."
Zhu Mingshuo, head of Hebei Taifeng Nongtou Development Co., Ltd., stated that frozen persimmons have been distributed through various online channels and have entered large offline supermarkets like Hema Fresh. "We are already researching export matters, not only to let overseas Chinese taste the flavors of home but also to let more foreign consumers try China's 'ice cream on a tree.'"
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