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Mooncakes

Mooncakes
The mooncake is a Chinese pastry that is shared among family and friends during the Mid-Autumn Festival or Moon Festival, one of the most important holidays in China and many other Asian countries. The Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar. Family and friends gather at a time when the moon is the brightest and largest to celebrate the harvest and share in eating mooncakes. This year, the Mid-Autumn Festival will begin on Tuesday, September 21.

Mooncakes commonly contain a rich and dense filling of sweet lotus seed paste or sweet red bean paste. Some mooncakes have a salted duck egg yolk in the center to represent the moon. Countries such as Taiwan, Korea and Vietnam also celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival and have developed their own food traditions and mooncakes. Today, you can find mooncakes with various fillings including taro, pineapple, green tea or even chocolate.

Here are a few the different types of mooncakes that you can find at our stores.

Cantonese-style Mooncakes

The most popular type of mooncake, Cantonese-style mooncakes have a thin, golden-brown, soft outer crust with a decorative pattern embossed at the top. Fillings are traditionally sweet pastes made from lotus seed, red bean, mung bean or black sesame. These mooncakes often contain salted duck egg yolks, which represent the moon. Savory ingredients like nuts, dried pork floss, and cured meats are also popular additions.

Taiwanese-style Flaky Mooncakes

Traditional Taiwanese Mooncakes can be identified by their round shape, and flaky outer skin that’s often topped with black sesame seeds, or with a decorative red dot, or red bakery symbol. Sweet green bean paste is the most traditional filling, but red bean paste and lotus seed paste are also common. Additionally, salted egg yolk and even mochi are popular.

Snow Skin Moonkcakes

Snow Skin Mooncakes were developed in the 1960’s to attract people that might have wanted something new and less calorie dense than traditional mooncakes. The outside of snow skin mooncakes is made up of a mochi-like dough made from a blend of glutinous rice flour, rice flour, and cornstarch. Fillings range from sweet bean pastes to chocolate, custard and a variety of fruit fillings. For fans of the “King of Fruits”, Mei-Xin Bakery’s Durian Snowy Mooncakes are a must try!

Lava Mooncakes

One of the more recent mooncake variations, Lava Mooncakes have a tender buttery crust, wrapped around a creamy egg custard filling and molten salted egg yolk core. Like with most other mooncakes, Lava Mooncakes can be eaten at room temperature, but are best eaten warm. A quick spin in the microwave for 3-4 seconds should be enough to get custardy lava flowing.

Mooncakes are available at all Uwajimaya locations while supplies last.