Mooncake
It is almost that time of the year again… Mid-Autumn Festival… And with Mid-Autumn Festival we have… Mooncakes!!!
A box of mixed mooncakes
Before I continue, I have a personal relationship with this celebration. I will not elaborate but, to give you a better idea of the extent, I will only say it is at par with the other biggest Chinese celebration, Chinese New Year.
So, what’s the deal with Mooncakes? Well, just like turkey, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie are associated with Thanksgiving Dinner, mooncake is some traditionally eaten during this time of the year. And, oh, boy, I simply can’t wait! OK, that’s not actually true. When I was living with my parents, we would either buy a box (like the one above) or get one from friends. Yes, it is something often given as gifts – in my case, ever since I came to Canada, I have given a box to my friend Chuck, whom I stayed with when I moved here. Back to the box of mooncakes: since it is really heavy and dense, a single mooncake was usually enough as dessert for my family for two days.
Now, just like for pies, where you could have strawberry-rhubarb, blueberry or apple pie, there are different filling for mooncakes as well: lotus seed paste, red bean paste, jujube paste and nuts-and-seed. Out of all these, lotus seed paste (specifically, white lotus paste) is my favourite followed by red bean paste. And, I will confess I have not had any of the new snowy mooncakes.
I haven’t have any yet this year and i am not sure if I will. Again, buying a whole box is overkill, not to mention they are not cheap (the box above was ~$25). But, then again, I could buy a single one instead (~$5, depending on the bakery). However, there are other reasons I should not have any: to dietitians, this could be categorized as one of the worst possible things you could eat – they are usually loaded with fats, oils and sugar. On the other hand, it is a once-a-year treat so I might as well have some!
Have you had mooncakes before? If so, which is your favourite?
Wiki’d the autumn festival. It’s September 14 this year. If it’s still on when I get to HK on the 18th would you like some mooncakes from there?
Thanks but there is no need. I must mention something really funny: Since mooncake is celebration-specific treat, the day after the celebration, they will go on sale to get rid of the excess inventory! And the mooncakes sold here can be either imported (usually HK) or local – the one in the picture is made in HK.