Tiedan

Also known as "iron egg," Tiedan is a highly-addictive Taiwanese food that are chewy, little eggs dyed black from long-braising in soy sauce. Often made from quails' eggs, the protein balls are cooked for hours in soy sauce then air-dried. The process is repeated over several days until the snacks become tough and acquire the desired amount of chewiness.

The eggs were supposed to have been created by the restaurateur Huang Zhangnian serving snacks to the dock hands in the sea-side town. On one rainy day with less business than usual, Mr. Huang had to continually recook red cooked eggs to keep them warm after taking them out of the soy sauce broth. The recooking and drying process eventually resulted in eggs that were dark, flavorful, and chewy, which was extremely popular with the locals.

Mr. Huang eventually founded a new business based on her iron egg recipe, selling them under the brand Apotiedan (literally: "Grandma's iron eggs"). They can only be created by the use of "chicken, pigeon or quail eggs." They are unlike black eggs because they are unable to be made from duck eggs. The popularity of iron eggs has risen and they can be found in other countries besides Taiwan, such as in Africa and the Middle East.