Huadai: A Generational Walnut Legacy
One
Zanhuang, a time-honored county with a history of thousands of years, has cultivated walnut trees since the Western Zhou Dynasty. Walnut groves are mainly distributed in Lichuangou, Mayugou, Huajiaan, Dashimen, Xiaoshimen and other areas. More than 20 walnut trees over 200 years old still stand here today.
The unique soil of the Taihang Mountains endows Zanhuang walnuts with exceptional nutritional value. Besides their thin shells and rich fragrance, Zanhuang walnuts are rich in fatty oil, abundant protein, calcium, phosphorus, iron, carotene, vitamins B1 and B2, carbohydrates, niacin and other nutrients. They are honored as the "Eternal Fruit", "Longevity Fruit" and "Treasure of Health Preservation". Zanhuang is renowned far and wide as the Hometown of Chinese Walnuts.
During the Sui and Tang dynasties, locals began the primitive processing of walnut kernels by pressing them into oil for cooking. Later, walnut kernels became a key ingredient in mooncakes for the Mid-Autumn Festival. Among them, the Hu family in Zanhuang County gained considerable fame.
The Hu family has passed down walnut cultivation and processing techniques for generations, including walnut oil pressing, walnut kernel mooncakes, peeled walnut kernels, and amber walnut kernels, all kept within the clan.
According to the Village Records of Puhong Village, Zanhuang County, around the 25th year of the Daoguang reign of the Qing Dynasty (1845 AD), the Hu family (Eastern Branch of Puhong) moved from Puhong to Sanliugou Village. Later, some members of the Hu family moved from Sanliugou to Dingmayu Village.
As recalled by Hu Jianliang, an inheritor of the Hu family’s craftsmanship, elders told him that walnut processing techniques in Ximayu Village began with Hu Wanzhi (from the lineage of his father Hu Zhen, the second-generation inheritor of Ximayu Village), who started researching peeled walnut kernels and amber walnut kernels. This continued until Hu Kejian (1916–1985), the seventh-generation inheritor of the Hu family. According to his class composition registration form in 1971, the Hu family had been engaged in processing walnut kernels and amber walnut kernels even before 1949.
TWO
At the end of the 1970s, the spring breeze of reform and opening up revitalized the ancient land of Zanhuang, and the Hu family’s craftsmanship for making amber walnut kernels continued to be passed down.
In 1988, the No.1 Food Factory of Zanhuang County began to produce canned amber walnut kernels and registered the trademark
Silian Brand for its canned amber walnut kernels.
The product was awarded Excellent Product by Hebei Province and Shijiazhuang Prefecture.
The No.1 Food Factory of Zanhuang County won many honors, such as “Contract-abiding and Trustworthy Enterprise” in Shijiazhuang Prefecture, Star Enterprise of Zanhuang County, and Creditworthy Enterprise of the Municipal Agricultural Bank.
It was during this period that the author first tasted and came to know amber walnut kernels.
To increase the market share of amber walnut kernels, in 1991, Hu Jianliang, son of Hu Fuquan, founded Jianliang Dry Goods Firm in the Nansantiao Market of Shijiazhuang City. The firm mainly dealt in dried fruit products such as walnuts, amber walnut kernels and red dates. Amber walnut kernels produced in Zanhuang County became best-selling products at Jianliang Dry Goods Firm.
In June 2001, Hu Jianliang registered and established Shijiazhuang Qiaodong Jianliang Firm. At the same time, he appointed Hu Fuquan as Technical Director, who was mainly responsible for the technical and quality control of amber walnut kernel production, and also passed down the Hu family’s walnut processing techniques to Hu Jianliang.
On this basis, Hu Jianliang expanded the product categories and launched import and export trade. He imported cashew nuts from Morocco in Africa, Cambodia in Southeast Asia and other countries, and walnuts from the United States, Chile and other countries. He established sales outlets in 29 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions across China. Later, he registered Qiaoxi District Huadai Dry Fruit Firm in Shijiazhuang North China Food City.
As domestic and international sales markets continued to expand, and to promote the development of the walnut processing industry in Zanhuang County, Hu Jianliang registered and established Hebei Huadai Dry Fruit Trading Co., Ltd. in June 2011, serving as General Manager with overall responsibility for the company’s daily operation and management.
In 2013, he registered the "Huadai" trademark. On April 20, 2017, the company was renamed
Hebei Huadai Agricultural Technology Co., Ltd.
This marked the beginning of the global "Huadai Wave" as Huadai dried fruits and food products swept across the world.
Three
Since its establishment, Huadai Company has advanced its development through scientific and technological innovation, intellectual property advantages, product standard formulation, and equipment upgrading.
In terms of scientific and technological innovation, the company has built its own R&D institution, which was recognized as a Hebei Provincial (Class A) R&D Institution in 2021. In 2022, the company joined hands with Jiangnan University (a national "211 Project" university) to establish a Nut Food Science and Technology Laboratory, which has been inaugurated and put into operation.
In terms of intellectual property advantages, in recent years the company has focused on the application and protection of intellectual property rights based on R&D and innovation. At present, it has obtained 13 patents for production equipment technologies, including 1 invention patent. The "Huadai" brand has gone global, with its Madrid International Trademark registered in 5 countries.
As a leader in setting product standards, the company proposed and drafted the Group Standard for Peeled Walnut Kernels (T/HEBQIA 120—2022), which was issued and implemented by the Hebei Quality Information Association on the National Group Standards Information Platform.
Production processes and equipment have been continuously upgraded. The company has newly launched an intelligent walnut kernel sorting production line combining X-ray inspection and color sorters, an automatic walnut kernel frying production line, an intelligent walnut kernel peeling production line, as well as a cashew shelling production line supported by 13 of the company’s patented technologies.
After more than 20 years of unremitting efforts and growth, the company has become one of the key enterprises in modern food manufacturing in Shijiazhuang and one of the largest dried fruit processors and distributors in Hebei Province. It has won numerous industry awards, successively being recognized as a Key Leading Enterprise in Agricultural Industrialization of Hebei Province, a Specialized, Sophisticated, Unique and New Small and Medium Enterprise of Hebei Province, a National High-Tech Enterprise, and a National Sci-Tech Small and Medium Enterprise.
The company has passed
ISO9001 International Quality Management System and
HACCP System Certification.
At the end of 2025, the Huadai brand was named among the
first batch of Time-Honored Brands in Shijiazhuang.
In 2025, its sales revenue reached
231.61 million yuan, achieving double-digit growth for five consecutive years.
Rooted in the fertile land of Yanzhao, the company stays true to its original mission of “Invigorating Agriculture through Technology and Boosting Farmers via Industry”. It focuses on the R&D of intelligent dried fruit technologies and the services of the dried fruit agricultural industrial chain, continuously consolidating the foundation for future development.
At present, the main construction of the walnut food deep-processing project, with a total investment of over 40 million yuan, has been fully completed and is expected to be put into operation in 2026. The company’s production environment and products will be upgraded and updated, its digital development level will be enhanced, and the output value of walnut processing will reach 320 million yuan.
By 2030, the company aims to develop into an important high-end walnut food manufacturing base and a processing, trade and export hub in North China, with operating income exceeding 1 billion yuan.
