Never before were tea-eggs pre-packaged. Marbled Tea Eggs (cha ye dan) are one of the most popular and typical Chinese snacks, sold solely by street vendors and in night stalls in most Chinese communities throughout the world.
The XuanHui pre-packaged tea eggs, to be found in the supermarket refrigeration section, are shrink wrapped giving it a bulbous packaging.
It is a pity that the industrial process has violated the appearance of the product itself. Instead of their surface having a blurry cracked pattern, somewhat reminiscent of marble, the pre-packaged eggs are indifferent brown. Obviously the egg shells have been removed before the second boiling session, where as in the original home-made process the shells are only lightly cracked without peeling, to allow the eggs to absorb flavours during the second boiling. The lightly cracked shells grant the surfaces of the egg white to colour giving it a marbled appearance.
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