Gorgon-fruit peelers sell the newly stripped seeds at a wet market in Suzhou. XU JUNQIAN/CHINA DAILY

The way locals savor it is simple: boiled in water, preferably water from Taihu, and sprinkled with a handful of osmanthus flowers and a spoonful of honey as a finishing touch. Restaurants often use scooped-out pumpkins or papaya as bowls, but it makes no difference to the taste of the dessert. Occasionally, gorgon seeds are stir-fried with peeled shrimps, also from Taihu Lake, as a fancy hot dish.

Fastidious Suzhou natives count the lifespan of these seeds from the shucks to the bowls, by the hour. At Hu's stall, a two-hour-old bowl of seeds can be bought 10 yuan ($1.5) cheaper than the fresh-peeled ones. Older seeds go to tourists or to markets outside Suzhou.