Thong yip (Thai: ทองหยิบ, pronounced[tʰɔ̄ːŋjìp]) or pinched gold egg yolks is one of the nine auspicious traditional Thai desserts. It is usually made for important occasions and ceremonies such as weddings, ordinations, and housewarmings.[2]
In Thai, the word thong means "gold" and yip means "to pick". It is believed that when thong yip is used in blessing ceremonies or as a gift to anyone, it will bring wealth and success in work; a person can turn something ordinary into gold once picked up. Thong yip’s shape resembles that of a flower. The number of folds used for thong yip can be 3, 5, or 8, depending on one's preference.
^Nualkhair, Chawadee; Taylor, Lauren Lulu (2023). Real Thai Cooking: Recipes and Stories from a Thai Food Expert. Tuttle Publishing. p. 80. ISBN978-1-462-92367-0. It is these sweets, created by Christian nuns, that would become the traditional Thai desserts known as tong yip (golden balls), tong yod (golden drops) and foy tong (golden threads). The desserts were brought to Siam courtesy of Maria Guyomar de Pinha, a Bengali-Portuguese-Japanese woman who was eventually enslaved in the kitchens of the usurper king Phetracha following the Siamese Revolution of 1688.