Mid-Autumn Festival is coming, and moon cakes are coming out. In Anpu town, several cake factories at the entrance of the market are running at full speed, and the faint cake fragrance is overflowing into the street. Take a deep breath, as if you can smell the sweetness in the stuffing. That's the smell of hometown.
In the industrial age, handmade moon cakes are hard to find. Lianxiang Shijia Moon Cake Factory, located at the market entrance of Anpu Town, keeps the manual operation of stuffing making and cake kneading, but does not fully automate the production. Twenty or thirty workers gathered around the big table, and in a huge square iron basin, a basin full of five kernels was filled. With quick hands, the worker quickly grabs a ball of stuffing, rubs it into a ball, hands it to the next person to weigh it, accurately weighs out118g, pinch off more and make up less, and then put it aside. In a few minutes, five-kernel dumplings were filled with a plate, which looked like the famous dish "Lion Head" just out of the pot from a distance.
Hand-made dough.
Every dough has to be weighed on a weighing instrument.
Cantonese people, especially those in western Guangdong, have a soft spot for big moon cakes. The stuffing of big moon cakes is also twisted into balls, like bowling balls. Workers took out a large milky cotton ball from the basin, kneaded it evenly into cakes, and spread it like a warm velvet quilt. The dough is gently covered on the stuffing, and the workers smooth it carefully with their clever hands, so that the dough and the stuffing are tightly attached and kneaded tightly, like a big steamed stuffed bun.
The crust should be even and not thick or thin, otherwise the moon cakes will be uneven in thickness.
There was a muffled sound, and the air pressure pushed the piston of the molding machine, and a big moon cake weighing four pounds was formed. Then spread a layer of golden egg liquid on the dough carefully, and the moon cakes will be sent to the oven, cooked and packaged delicately, and will enter thousands of households.
Hand-wrapped and then molded by machine mold equipment.
Pan Zhiqing, the helm of the cake factory, started from making cakes and cakes, and it has been the third generation since he came here. One month before the Mid-Autumn Festival every year, his cake factory starts to produce moon cakes at full capacity. "The farthest is sold to Beijing, but the quantity is not much. People there mainly taste the freshness of Cantonese moon cakes." Pan Zhiqing said that his cake factory has an annual output value of more than 20 million yuan, and there are more than 70 jobs in the month of producing moon cakes. The workers recruited are paid by the day. This year's orders are not affected by the epidemic, which is basically the same as last year.
Workers sweep the egg paste on the cake surface to prepare for baking.
There is a large-scale Zhenqida moon cake factory at the end of the town. Moringa moon cakes as green as jade are the special products of this cake factory. This plant "Moringa oleifera", which is widely grown in Guangdong, can extract high-grade lubricating oil from its seeds, and its tender leaves can be used as soup, which is delicious. Fresh Moringa leaves can be used as vegetables, tender leaves can be eaten directly, and relatively old leaves can be roasted and made into tea after picking. When the pods turn yellow and dry thoroughly, the harvested seeds can be crushed into powder for making condiments.
The moon cakes are made and shaped by a cake beater and a tray shaker.
"Moringa moon cakes are low in sugar and fat, which can meet the needs of some people who want to eat moon cakes and meet their seasonal needs." Mai Yangming, the head of this bakery, inherited his father Mai Kangqing's ambition more than ten years ago and began to enter the bakery industry. Last year, he developed Moringa Mooncake, which received a good response. This year, he has received many additional orders.
Bake out of the oven.
In Anpu Town, there are many manufacturers of moon cakes and cakes, and there are five or six in the world. At present, these enterprises have established pastry associations, and more than a dozen enterprises have joined them. It is their common vision to be bigger and stronger and make the brand awareness of Anpu cakes.
The moon cakes are baked out.
Anpu Town is famous for its beautiful arcades and various cuisines. "On the night of August 15, children set cake bait to squat down as a confession, take rubble to build a tower, and burn it with real salary, which means burning the tower and drinking under the moon, which means enjoying the Mid-Autumn Festival." The old man in Guzhen said that from the Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, there was a tradition of burning towers in the Mid-Autumn Festival in front of Anpu Guandi Temple. Now the Mid-Autumn Festival activities are more yuan, and people are immersed in joy. The moon cakes on the festival are dazzling in the streets.