Complete Guide to Mooncake Varieties: A Detailed Introduction to Traditional and Modern Chinese Mooncakes
It is already mid-August now, and the Mid-Autumn Festival will soon be here. And when the Mid-Autumn Festival arrives, what food lovers look forward to most is probably mooncakes. There are many varieties of mooncakes, with flavors including sweet, salty, salty-sweet, and spicy-numbing. Fillings include osmanthus, dried plum, five-kernel, red bean paste, rose, lotus seed paste, rock sugar, ginkgo, meat floss, black sesame, ham mooncake, egg yolk mooncake, and more. Different regions have different representative mooncakes, so do you know exactly what kinds of mooncakes there are? Below is a popular science introduction for everyone.
1. Cantonese-style mooncake
Cantonese-style mooncakes are mainly found in Guangdong, Guangxi, Jiangxi, and other places, and their taste suits the palates of southerners. The ingredients and craftsmanship are exquisite. They are characterized by a thin, soft crust, a beautiful shape, delicate patterns, and clear designs, with features such as thin crust, softness, sweetness and fragrance, and delicious filling.
2. Su-style mooncake
Su-style mooncakes originated in Suzhou and are loved by people in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions. Their pastry layers are flaky and loose, their color is attractive, their filling is rich but not greasy, their texture is crisp and crumbly, and they are sweet and savory in a very unique way.
3. Teochew-style mooncake
Teochew-style mooncakes, also known as lao bia, are a famous traditional pastry. They are characterized by a flaky crust and fine filling, oil that does not cloy on the tongue, and sweetness that does not overwhelm the palate. According to the type of filling, they can be divided into mung bean, black bean, crystal, purple taro, and other types, while the core can include egg yolk or seafood, among many others.
4. Beijing-style mooncake
Beijing-style mooncakes originated in Beijing, Tianjin, and the surrounding areas. Their main characteristics are moderate sweetness and a moderate crust-to-filling ratio, heavy use of sesame oil, a delicately sweet taste, and a crisp, loose texture. Their main types include: zilai bai mooncake, zilai hong mooncake, flaky-pastry mooncakes, and syrup-kneaded mooncakes.
5. Snow skin mooncake
Snow skin mooncakes do not have the greasy feeling of traditional mooncakes after baking. The snow skin is soft, chewy, and bouncy, with a snowy white color, and is often paired with various sweet fillings. They are rich in variety, distinct in flavor, and never feel cloying to eat.
6. Lava mooncake
When you bite into a lava mooncake, the rich, mellow lava filling seeps into your mouth, and between your lips and teeth you can feel the dense texture of the filling, making your taste buds indulge in this enjoyment.
7. Ice cream mooncake
The cream of ice cream mooncakes is smooth with a slight coolness. This special filling wrapped in the crust melts as soon as it enters the mouth, so playfully that it has no time to linger in the mouth for even a moment, yet it feels extremely delicious.
8. Crystal mooncake
Crystal mooncakes have a sparkling, translucent appearance and a soft, dense filling, with a fresh taste; the absence of high oil and high sugar makes them both delicious and healthy.
9. Fruit and vegetable mooncake
Fruit and vegetable mooncakes are characterized by fillings made mainly from fruits and vegetables. The filling is smooth and soft, with different flavors. The fillings include Hami melon, pineapple, lychee, strawberry, winter melon, taro, black plum, orange, and more, paired with fruit juice or fruit puree, giving them a fresher, more refreshingly sweet flavor.
10. Seafood mooncake
Seafood mooncakes are relatively expensive mooncakes, with ingredients such as abalone, shark fin, nori, and scallop. Their flavor is slightly salty and savory, and they are known for their sweet fragrance.
11. Tea mooncake
Tea mooncakes, also known as new tea ceremony mooncakes, use fresh green tea as the main filling and have a light, subtly fragrant taste. There is a kind of tea paste mooncake made by mixing oolong tea juice with lotus seed paste, which feels quite novel.
12. Coconut milk mooncake
Coconut milk mooncakes use freshly squeezed coconut juice, evaporated milk, and melons and fruits to make the filling. Their sugar content and oil content are both relatively low, their taste is lightly sweet, and the coconut flavor is rich, leaving a lingering fragrance on the teeth and cheeks. They have refreshing, stomach-strengthening, and beautifying functions.
In addition to the mooncakes introduced above, there are many that have not been mentioned, such as golden cream mooncakes, cooling mooncakes, and others. These are relatively new-style mooncake varieties and have been quite popular in recent years. When it comes to mooncakes, which one do you like to eat most?
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