Mooncakes And Gerberas

A bouquet of gerbera with a wooden box of 6 pieces of mooncakes.

Spring Festival, Dragon Boat Festival and Mid Autumn Festival are the three important festivals in China. People eat different food on these festivals. They are rice glue ball, zongzi and moon cake.

The Spring Festival is the most important festival in China. People eat different food. The rice glue balls, which are eaten on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, or the Lantern Festival, are the last items for the spring festival. On the lantern festival, it is said that every household eats glutinous rice dumplings. People in the north and south call it differently and make it in different ways.

In north, people make it by roll. The fillings are made with grounded sesame, peanuts or bean paste, mixed with sugar. The fillings are then dipped with water and rolled in the glutinous rice flour until it is big enough. Most people are busy now. So they normally buy it instead of making it themselves. Street hawkers make it. But the rice glue balls sold by some famous long-standing stores, are warmly welcome.

Comparatively, people in the south would like to make it by themselves. They first mix glutinous rice flour with water. Then they make the fillings with grounded chestnut, peanut, sesame, jujube paste or bean paste. Then they start to make it. In south China, the rice glue balls made by Ningbo in east China and the Lai Tang Yuan made in Chengdu in southwest, are very famous.

The rice glue balls, cooked by boiling, tastes sweet and soft. People who like sweetness would find it delicious. People eat glutinous rice dumplings as a wish for reunion.

The glutinous rice dumplings, or zongzi, are eaten on the Dragon Boat Festival, or the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. It is wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves. People in different regions use different materials to make it. In east China, like Suzhou, Jiaxing and Ningbo, the fillings would be bean paste, chestnut, jujube paste or fresh meat. In north China, it would be jujube or preserved fruit.

As a kind of food for festivals, zongzi has been eaten for a long time. The folklore goes that people ate it to commemorate a patriotic poet, Qu Yuan. It is said that in the 3rd century B.C., the poet committed suicide because his country had been invaded. People commemorated him by throwing glutinous rice, stored in bamboo tube, into the river. Later they wrapped it with reed leaves and strings. That’s how the food developed. Some people give it as a present when visiting friends and relatives on the Dragon Boat Festival.

The Mid Autumn Festival falls on the fifteenth day of the eight lunar months. People eat moon cakes for family gathering. The cake is round, like the full moon, with fillings inside. There are some patterns on the surface of the cake. During the mid autumn festival, people would place some cake and fruit. Moon cakes are different in different regions. Those made in Beijing, Suzhou, some areas of south Guangzhou and Chaozhou in Guangzhou are most famous. The fillings can be made of sugar, jujube paste, bean, ham, fruit, or cream, etc. It is also one of the presents that people can take with them when visiting friends and relatives on Mid Autumn Festival.

Source: http://www.admissions.cn/merchandises/180787.shtml

Mooncake, a Chinese sweet cake usually made with a special shape and traditionally filled with ground lotus seeds and duck egg yolks, is never a stranger to all Malaysians, Chinese or otherwise. This is because it had somehow popularized to sort of a pop culture, it is something to be enjoyed together at certain time of the year, which is the Mid-Autumn Festival (sometimes known as Mooncake festival). But for the older Chinese folks they do see these as important for the cultural meaning behind it. Though the real reason behind it may be lost to many of us in this current generation, I am sure if shared, it may still very much be enjoyed and cherished by all.

There was no real account on when Mooncake was started to be consumed during the mid-autumn festival, but there was a trace back to 14th century that might contribute to its origin. It was during the time when China was against the Mongol, a general had disguised himself as a Taoist priest to penetrate the besieged city and distributed moon cakes around which holds hidden message to organised with the troops outside the city, where in the end aid in its victory. But of course there is also another legend, Chinese people love their folklores, where it is about a lady on the moon, yes you heard me right, and she is an immortal goddess by the name of Chang E, who as legend foretold is the wife of the best archer in the land – Hou Yi. Hou Yi had been asked by the emperor to shoot down the 9 of the 10 suns that plagued the earth at that time, and after that was awarded with an immortality pill, which Chang E had took from him and fled to the moon where she lives until today. The people on earth will offer mooncakes to her during the Mid-autumn festival, reason to why we offer the lady of the moon was not really explained.

When I was young, mooncake to me was always a treat that I look forward to, being unable yet to go out and buy myself, I always delight in the sight of t when my dad lugs it back. He used to get a lot of mooncakes from various friends and clients, as it is in the spirit of giving and sharing that makes mooncake eating so exciting. I am not one of a big fan of the yolk that are in some of the variations of the mooncake, I always seek out the plain ol’ ones of smooth, silky, and slightly sweet lotus seed mooncake, the most common Cantonese type of mooncake at that time. My sister on the other hand, loves the yolks to bits and so we form the best pair to indulge in all the mooncakes at home. At times when I do not have a choice of plain ones, I would even naughtily take a mooncake, remove the yolk and enjoy the lotus seeds filling. Miraculously, the yolks that I left inside the box would disappear after that – point in case we all know who the most likely suspect is! Later on when I was older and had the chance to try out more varieties, I found a liking to the five kernel mooncake consisting of various nuts and seeds and sometimes candied winter melon and Chinese dried ham, so you can imagine the myriads of flavours meld together to form a unique taste that is certainly only acquired by quite a selected few. A colleague of mine just commented to me today that “isn’t that type of mooncake is only eaten by old people?” Not to judge, but I for one have yet to met one from my generation who likes this type.

In Malaysia right now, the mooncake scene has grown tremendously, from the yesteryears of giving each other traditional Cantonese style mooncakes, we have now come forth with many other region’s traditional mooncakes and not to forget coming up with many new contemporary varieties. Cantonese style mooncakes are made of thin biscuit-like dough that are baked to dark brown covering various paste like lotus seed, red bean, white sesame and Chinese red date. Then quite traditional was also the ping pei mooncake (commercially known as snow skin), whereby the skin is made of glutinous rice flour and then chilled in oppose to baked while the fillings are quite similar to its baked sister’s. The new contemporary mooncakes had pop up like mushrooms after the rain, it became really hard to keep track of, especially some debuts only in a year and disappear the next base on its popularity. It ranges with traditional skin but new assorted pastes, naming a few are green tea (quite a strong favourite that has been appearing year after year), honeydew, strawberry, chocolate, cheese and there are even luxurious ones like bird nests. The latest, latest craze was apparently hyping on the get-healthy bandwagon, which is actually jellies shaped and mould into shapes of mooncake. I personally enjoy these versions too for its creative fillings, favourite was durian paste with light jelly skins.

In the end though, regardless what type of mooncake one is consuming, be it traditional, ping pei, contemporary or even the jelly versions, and also regardless whether it is for sake of pop culture or truly to observe the tradition, it is the act of sharing mooncakes collectively that is really the fun part. It is the spirit of sharing the mooncake that gives the significance to it, exuding spirits of reunion while strengthening the ties. I have many fond memories of sharing a small pieces of mooncakes, which was usually cut into 8 slices for its famous Chinese auspicious numbers that signifies fortune, with family, friends and recently even colleagues, where normally the eating of the mooncake will be followed with loads of laughter and sharing of comments on which mooncake taste the best this time around. Also not to forget is the act of giving mooncakes to each other, so head on out now when there is still time to buy a box to share with the people that you care about and also to give to them so that they can also spread the joy of sharing around!

Source: http://travelmalaysiaguide.com/sweet-cakes-for-the-moon-lady/