The History of ginger candies

Ginger candies have been manufactured in Indonesia for around 75 years by the Yeung family.

Like thousands of other Chinese in the 1930s, the newly married Yeung Chai Huei emigrated to Indonesia. He belonged to the „boat people„ of the Great Depression and hoped, at last, to be able to find a better life in Indonesia. Heavily in debt, because even then the „people-traffickers„ demanded enormous sums, he arrived in Indonesia without a penny to his name.
Yeung Chai Huei finally got his great chance as an assistant to an old Chinese street-trader, who sold Bonbons which he manufactured himself. Together they refined the individual flavours and in the end developed the Ingwerbonbon in its current form. After the death of his old mentor, Yeung took over the business and had great financial success from the get-go. So, after eight years of separation, he was finally able to bring his wife over to join him in Indonesia.

Together, the married couple began the production of BonBons in a small backyard in Pasuruan, East Java.

In the process, they specialised in ginger candies – for several reasons

First of all, the young Yeung Chai Huei had faith in Chinese medicine, in which ginger had played an important role for almost 3000 years.
Second, around the city there were plentiful resources of high-grade, fresh and very pungent ginger.
Third, with his specialisation in ginger candies, Yeung really hit the spot with his customers. Because Indonesians love spicy, pungent food.