Over The Moon With Mooncakes
Some centuries-old customs and traditions live on. The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of them. Also known as Mooncake Festival, mooncakes are regarded as an indispensable delicacy – a custom that goes back to more than 2,000 years. Rituals dictate that to fully celebrate the festival, one must reunite with loved ones and eat mooncakes! Celebrated on the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the Chinese lunar calendar, on a full moon day, the festival starts on 21 September this year.
The traditionally baked round Chinese desserts are usually filled with salted duck egg yolks (one or more) with lotus seed paste or red bean paste draped around the yolks. They are bigger in size (generally 10 cm in diameter and 4-5 cm thick), oily to the touch and have thicker, darker crust largely due to the oil ingredients.
The time-honoured mooncake has come a long way. It now shares the spotlight with a medley of flavourful variations to tempt the palate and, perhaps, appeal more to the younger generation.
Mooncake variations span a hybrid of flavours. The range includes the exotic (truffles, whisky, XO, cempedak), the fruity (melon, raspberry, strawberry, durian, pomelo, banana, passion fruit, blueberry), the nutty (vanilla, macademia, almond, pistachio, walnut) and the sweet and spicy (chocolate infused with chilli flakes, wasabi and seaweed). The list expands every year that we are all spoilt for choice.
Weekly Sparks is over the moon with mooncakes. Here are some that are available in Singapore. Tip: best to pre-order before they get snapped up!
Debbie | ws