Once again, the time has arrived to chow on some 月餅 Mooncakes for the Mid-Autumn Festival! Before I get into the yummy taste of 月餅, let me give you a little history lesson about 月餅.
Now there are 2 tales related to the history of 月餅. The first is this:
According to the ancient Chinese book recording customs and ceremonies, known as Li-Ji, the Chinese Emperor should offer sacrifices to the sun in the spring and to the moon in the fall. The Chinese Emperor felt obligated to this “rule” because of the belief in the legendary Chang E, who was the mythical moon Goddess of Immortality. Eventually, the 15th day of the 8th lunar month came to be known as the Mid-Autumn Festival, a term dubbed officially by the Song Dynasty.
I know, that tale was a little confusing, right? Probably. Well, here’s the second tale:
Apparently, the 月餅 became famous for its use to overthrow Mongol rule in China in the Yuan Dynasty. The Ming revolutionaries, as it turns out, had sent messages in 月餅. I guess this was how they spied on the government and sent secret letters. But how in the world did this idea come up? And who came up with it? The answer is 2 people named Zhu Yuanzhang (朱元璋) and his advisor Liu Bowen (劉伯溫). These two spread a rumor that there was a deadly plague circulating and that the only way to prevent it was to eat certain mooncakes. Therefore, mooncakes were quickly distributed around China. Now, there were a few ways in which the messages were concealed. One way was to coordinate the message with the Han revolt on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month. Another method was to print the message on the surface of the mooncakes as a puzzle or mosaic. To read the secret message, one would have to cut the 4 packaged mooncakes into 4 pieces each for a total of 16 mooncake parts. Then, the pieces would have to be fashioned so that the message could be read. And then to destroy the message, one would eat it!
Ahhh… the second tale seems more fascinating, no? Hahaha… I enjoy the second tale more. Well, that’s the history of mooncakes. In other words, these tales are the reason as to why the delicacy is so special to the Chinese. Let’s take a short break and take a look at these prized mooncakes, now that you know a little more about them.
Yum. Now that I got your taste buds rolling, I’ll get into why I love mooncakes so much and why I get so excited about them when the Mid-Autumn Festival comes…
So, since I was a child, I’ve always had mooncakes every single year. They are the best tasting things ever! (That is, besides sushi and pocky!) ALWAYS, have mooncakes with tea! They taste soooo good with tea. Anyways, I especially love the pineapple, 蓮蓉 lotus seed paste, and 豆沙 sweet bean paste flavors. The pineapple mooncake is OMGZZZ delicious! It almost kind of tastes like pineapple cakes (famous in Taiwan). The chewy flavor of the pineapple in the mooncake is sooooo yummy!!!!!! *drool* And as for the lotus seed paste mooncake, I love how it tastes so luxurious… It satisfies the taste buds! Lastly, the sweet bean paste is just so familiar to my taste buds, for it is in most Chinese sweets. So, as you can see, they each have their own distinct flavor. Certainly, there are plenty of other flavors out there and so many modifications to the original one. But I love to stick to the original mooncake. Simple. Tasty. Satisfying. There’s only one catch to this lovely delectable. It’s mad expensive!!!!! I would say prices range from $10 to over $100 for a box of them. And in a box, there’s only, like, 6 of them! If you love cultural food, I’d suggest you try these mooncakes if you haven’t already. They’re being sold in stores everywhere (that is, where Chinese peepoz are populated). And don’t forget, these are in stores for a limited time! After the Mid-Autumn Festival time period, you have to wait to eat them again. =( And one more suggestion for those of you who want to try this treat: buy the expensive ones, for they are worth your money. Simply put, the cheaper ones are fake versions of this delicacy and they ruin the delicious taste. XD Now I’m gonna get me some of these mooncakes!
ღ Blank Doodles ღ 