According to legend, in the Yuan Dynasty, the Han people were miserable under the rule of the Yuan people, and Zhu Yuanzhang fought against the Yuan. However, the Yuan army was tightly controlled and the rebels could not deliver the message. So, Liu Bowen presented a plan of giving cakes to each other in the Mid-Autumn Festival, and put a note inside, which read "Kill Tartars on August 15th" as a signal of the uprising.
Tian Rucheng mentioned in The Journey to the West in the Ming Dynasty: "August 15th is called Mid-Autumn Festival, and people give moon cakes to each other to show their reunion." It can be seen that moon cakes were very popular among the people at that time. In the Qing dynasty, there were books describing the making methods of moon cakes in detail. Qing Yang Guangfu wrote: "Moon cakes are filled with peaches and ice cream is made of icing." There is also a legend that if you want to fight against the Qing dynasty, you can't be too ostentatious. So when someone was fighting against the Qing Dynasty in Taiwan Province Province, he wrapped a piece of paper in a moon cake like today and told the other party that he was going to fight against the Qing Dynasty and regain his sight. Therefore, some people say that the Mid-Autumn Festival originated in Taiwan Province Province in the Ming Dynasty.
[Edit this paragraph] Related records
According to legend, in ancient China, the emperor had a system of offering sacrifices to the sun in spring and the moon in autumn. In the folk, every Mid-Autumn Festival in August, there is also a custom about Yue Bai or offering sacrifices to the moon. The famous proverb "The moon is full on August 15th, and the Mid-Autumn moon cake is sweet and fragrant" tells the custom of urban and rural people to eat moon cakes on Mid-Autumn night. At first, moon cakes were used to worship the moon god. Later, people gradually regarded the Mid-Autumn Festival as a symbol of family reunion, and gradually, moon cakes became holiday gifts.
Moon cakes originally originated from Zhu Jie food in the Tang Dynasty. During the reign of Tang Gaozu, General Li Jing conquered the Huns and returned home in triumph on August 15.
Turpan people who were doing business at that time presented cakes to the emperor of the Tang Dynasty. Gao Zu Li Yuan took the gorgeous cake box, took out the round cake, smiled at the bright moon in the sky and said, "Please invite toad with Hu cake." . After that, share the cake with the ministers.
The word "moon cake" has long existed in the book Old Stories of Wulin in the Southern Song Dynasty. According to the book, moon cakes were steamed at that time. As a must-eat product in Mid-Autumn Festival, this kind of steamed bread in cages is still a popular custom in Shandong, Henan and other places.
The word "moon cake" has been used in the book Liang Lumeng written by Wu in the Southern Song Dynasty, but the description of enjoying the moon and eating moon cakes in the Mid-Autumn Festival is recorded in the West Lake Travel Agency in the Ming Dynasty: "August 15th is called the Mid-Autumn Festival, and people use moon cakes to get together". In the Qing Dynasty, there were more records about moon cakes, and the production became more and more elaborate.
During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, moon cakes have become the delicacies of Mid-Autumn Festival in all parts of China. "The History of the Forbidden City in the Ming Dynasty" contains "In August, I enjoyed Haitang and Hosta flowers in the palace. From the first day, mooncakes were sold ... until the fifteenth day of the first month, every household provided mooncakes and fruits ... If there were any leftover mooncakes, they were collected in a dry and cool place and shared by their families at the end of the year, which was also called' reunion cakes'. " Shen Bang's Miscellaneous Notes on Wanbu describes the customs of Beijing during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, saying: "Mooncakes are given in August, and ordinary furniture is given mooncakes of different sizes, which is called' mooncakes'.
With the development of moon cakes today, there are more varieties and different tastes. Among them, Beijing-style, Soviet-style, Cantonese-style and Chaozhou-style moon cakes are deeply loved by people all over the country.
Moon cakes symbolize reunion and are a must-eat food for the Mid-Autumn Festival. On holiday nights, people also like to eat some reunion fruits, such as watermelons, and wish their families a happy, sweet and safe life.
[Edit this paragraph] Moon cake history
Moon cakes, also known as Hu cakes, palace cakes, cookies, moon cakes, reunion cakes, etc. It is an offering to worship the moon god in the ancient Mid-Autumn Festival, and the custom of eating moon cakes has been formed since it was handed down.
Moon cakes have a long history in China. According to historical records, as early as the Yin and Zhou Dynasties, there was a kind of "Taishi cake" to commemorate Taishi Wenzhong, the "ancestor" of China moon cakes. Zhang Qian introduced sesame seeds and walnuts to the Western Regions in Han Dynasty, which added auxiliary materials for making moon cakes. At this time, a round cake filled with walnuts appeared, which was called "Hu cake".
In the Tang Dynasty, people had bakers engaged in production, and pastry shops began to appear in Chang 'an, the capital. It is said that one Mid-Autumn Festival, when Tang Xuanzong and Yang Guifei enjoyed the moon and ate Hu Bing, Tang Xuanzong thought the name Hu Bing was not pleasant to listen to. Yang Guifei looked up at the bright moon, and her heart surged, and she came to "moon cakes" at hand. Since then, the name of "moon cake" has gradually spread among the people.
The royal family in the Northern Song Dynasty likes to eat a kind of "palace cake" in the Mid-Autumn Festival, commonly known as "small cake" and "moon group". Su Dongpo has a poem: "Small cakes are like chewing the moon, crisp and pleasing."
The screenwriter of the Song Dynasty was thorough. The name "moon cake" was first mentioned in Old Wulin, which described what Lin 'an, the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty, saw.
In the Ming Dynasty, eating moon cakes in the Mid-Autumn Festival gradually spread among the people. At that time, ingenious bakers printed the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon's fairy tales on moon cakes as food art drawings, making moon cakes a necessary food for Mid-Autumn Festival.
In the folk, every Mid-Autumn Festival in August, there is the custom of Yue Bai or offering sacrifices to the moon. August 15th, full moon, Mid-Autumn moon cakes are sweet. This famous saying says.
On the night of Mid-Autumn Festival, people in cities and rural areas eat moon cakes. Moon cakes are mostly used to worship the moon god. Later, people gradually regarded Mid-Autumn Festival as a symbol of family reunion, and mooncakes gradually became holiday gifts.
[Edit this paragraph] Variety Show
Now the varieties of moon cakes are colorful. There are many kinds of moon cakes in China, including Beijing-style moon cakes, Cantonese-style moon cakes, Soviet-style moon cakes, desktop moon cakes, Yunnan-style moon cakes, Hong Kong-style moon cakes, Chaozhou-style moon cakes, Hui-style moon cakes, Qu-style moon cakes, Qin-style moon cakes and even Japanese-style moon cakes. As far as taste is concerned, it is sweet, salty, salty and spicy; In terms of fillings, there are osmanthus moon cakes, plum moon cakes, five kernels, red bean paste, rock sugar, ginkgo, pork floss, black sesame seeds, ham moon cakes and egg yolk moon cakes. According to the crust, there are pulp crust, mixed sugar crust, crisp crust and cream crust; From the modeling point of view, there are smooth surfaces and lace spots.
Characteristics of moon cakes from different places;
Cantonese moon cakes: thin skin, soft, sweet and full of stuffing.
Su-style moon cakes: crisp, crisp, layered, heavy oil but not greasy, sweet and salty.
Beijing-style moon cakes: exquisite appearance, thin skin and soft flesh, distinct layers and attractive taste.
Chaozhou moon cake: heavy oil and heavy sugar, soft taste.
Yunnan flavor moon cake: crispy skin, moderate sweetness and saltiness, yellow color, oily but not greasy.
Hui-style moon cakes: small and exquisite, white as jade, with crisp skin and full stuffing.
Bent moon cakes: crisp and delicious, mainly sesame.
Among them, Cantonese-style moon cakes have become the best among the moon cakes because of their exquisite materials, exquisite craftsmanship and rigorous production, making them thin and soft, golden in color, exquisite in relief, beautiful in shape, rich in fillings, stable in quality, pure in flavor, sweet and delicious, and endless in aftertaste. It makes consumers of different social classes, income levels and life tastes salivate, forming a trend that everyone eats Cantonese-style moon cakes regardless of age. Even overseas Chinese and students in Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia and the United States regard Cantonese-style moon cakes as a necessary product for Mid-Autumn Festival. Cantonese-style moon cake is the largest kind of moon cake at present. They originated in Guangdong and its surrounding areas and have been popular all over the country. They are characterized by thin skin and big stuffing. Usually the ratio of skin to stuffing is 1:4. The oil content of leather stuffing is higher than other kinds. They taste soft and smooth, and the surface luster is outstanding. Outstanding representatives include the Lotus House in Guangzhou, the White Lotus Mooncakes in Jinkou, Guangzhou Restaurant, and the bags in Foshan Hotel.
Beijing-style moon cakes. Beijing-style moon cakes originated in Beijing and Tianjin and their surrounding areas, and have a certain market in the north. Their main feature is moderate sweetness, and the ratio of skin filling is generally 2: 3. They are mainly full of special flavor and crispy. The main products are purple red moon cakes, purple white moon cakes and Wuren moon cakes in Daoxiang Village, Beijing.
Su-style moon cakes. Suzhou-style moon cakes originated in Yangzhou, Suzhou. Their main features are loose shells, five kernels and red bean paste, and their sweetness is higher than other kinds of moon cakes. The exact name of the Su-style moon cake should be called "Crispy Moon Cake". The prosperity of Suzhou pastry industry may be the reason why the earliest Soviet-style moon cakes got their name. Although the formation of "Su-style moon cake" is a little later than that of "Beijing-style moon cake", it has the greatest influence on the cake bait industry in China, and the application scope of "cakes" is very wide, and it has never failed so far.
Yunnan flavor moon cake. Yunnan-style moon cakes are mainly originated and popular in Yunnan, Guizhou and surrounding areas, and now they are gradually liked by consumers in other regions. Their main feature is that Yunnan ham is used as stuffing, the skin is soft, and the stuffing is salty and sweet, which has a unique flavor of Yunnan ham. The main product is Yuntui moon cake produced by Kunming Jiqingxiang.
Qu-shaped moon cakes have their own system, which is the local characteristic of Quzhou City, Zhejiang Province. It is characterized by sesame as an important raw material, so Quzhou moon cake is also called "Quzhou sesame cake". Its main representatives are "Du Zegui Flower Moon Cake" and "Shao Yongfeng Sesame Cake", a century-old brand of China.
Hui-style moon cakes, with crisp skin, are made of refined flour and plain oil, and the cake flames are pickled with wild vegetables (bitter vegetables), mixed with fresh pork suet and white sugar. The main representative is "Hua Mei Moon Cake".
Other types of moon cakes are relatively rare. "The moon cakes in Mid-Autumn Festival are different every year." In recent years, new styles of moon cakes have emerged one after another. Such as ice-covered moon cakes, ice cream moon cakes, fruit and vegetable moon cakes, seafood moon cakes, coconut milk moon cakes, tea moon cakes and so on. Let's take a look at today's new moon cakes:
* Ice-covered moon cakes: The characteristics are that the crust of the cakes need not be baked, and they can be eaten after freezing. The epidermis is mainly transparent ivory, but also purple, green, red, yellow and other colors. The taste is different, the appearance is harmonious and interesting.
* Ice cream moon cake: It's made entirely of ice cream, but it's made of a moon cake mold. August 15 is the Mid-Autumn Festival, but the heat has not been completely removed. Delicious and refreshing, it is also a popular choice for many consumers.
* Fruit and vegetable moon cakes: characterized by soft stuffing and different flavors. The fillings are cantaloupe, pineapple, litchi, strawberry, wax gourd, taro, dark plum, orange and so on. And fruit juice or pulp, so it has a fresh and sweet taste.
* Seafood moon cakes: they are relatively expensive moon cakes, including abalone, shark's fin, laver, lei Zhu and so on. It tastes slightly salty and is famous for its sweetness.
* Liang Na moon cake: It is made of lily, mung bean, tea and moon cake stuffing. This is the latest innovation, which has the effect of nourishing and beautifying.
* Coconut milk moon cake: The stuffing is made of freshly squeezed coconut milk, evaporated milk and melons and fruits, with low sugar content and oil content, sweet taste, rich coconut fragrance and fragrant entrance. Has the effects of moistening, invigorating stomach and caring skin.
* Tea moon cake: also known as new tea ceremony moon cake, with new green tea as the main filling and light and fragrant taste. There is a kind of tea mud moon cake, which is fresh with oolong tea juice mixed with lotus seed paste.
* Healthy moon cakes: This is a functional moon cake that appeared only two years ago, including ginseng moon cakes, calcium moon cakes, medicated moon cakes and iodine moon cakes.
* Image-shaped moon cakes: in the past, they were called pork cakes with hard fillings, which were mostly eaten by children; Vivid appearance is the new favorite of children.
* Golden cream moon cake: the skin is full of cream fragrance, golden color and excellent taste.
* Mini moon cakes: the main shape is small and exquisite, and the practice is exquisite and elegant.
* Miscellaneous moon cakes: The raw materials are miscellaneous grains, which are delicious, healthy and fashionable.
[Edit this paragraph] Local customs
During the Mid-Autumn Festival, people's main activities are enjoying the moon and eating moon cakes.
Appreciate the bright full moon
Mid-Autumn Festival, China has the custom of enjoying the moon since ancient times. There is a record of "autumn twilight and the moon" in the Book of Rites, that is, worshipping the moon god. In the Zhou Dynasty, every Mid-Autumn Festival night, activities to welcome the cold and offer sacrifices to the moon were held. Put a big incense table with seasonal fruits such as moon cakes, watermelons, apples, plums and grapes, among which moon cakes and watermelons are absolutely indispensable. Watermelon must be cut into lotus shapes.
In the Tang Dynasty, it was quite popular to enjoy and play with the moon in the Mid-Autumn Festival. In the Song Dynasty, the Mid-Autumn Festival was more popular to enjoy the moon. According to "Dream of Tokyo", "On the Mid-Autumn Festival night, your family is dressing up and the people are fighting for the restaurant to play the moon". On this day, all shops and restaurants in Beijing have to redecorate their facades, tie silk on archways and sell fresh fruits and refined food. The night market is very lively. Many people visit The Upper Terrace, and some wealthy families enjoy the moon in their pavilions and arrange food or family dinners to reunite their children.
After the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the custom of enjoying the moon in the Mid-Autumn Festival remains the same. Many places have formed special customs such as burning incense, planting Mid-Autumn trees, lighting tower lanterns, putting sky lanterns, walking on the moon and dancing dragons.
Eat moon cakes
People in urban and rural areas of China have the custom of eating moon cakes on Mid-Autumn Festival. As the saying goes, "August 15th is full, and Mid-Autumn moon cakes are sweet and fragrant". Moon cakes were originally used to worship the moon god. The word "moon cake" first appeared in Liang Lumeng written by Wu in the Southern Song Dynasty. At that time, it was just a cake-shaped food like Ling Hua cake. Later, people gradually combined the Mid-Autumn Festival with tasting moon cakes, which symbolized family reunion.
Mooncakes were originally made at home, and the practice of mooncakes was recorded in Yuan Mei's Menu with the Garden in the Qing Dynasty. In modern times, there are workshops specializing in making moon cakes, and the production of moon cakes is becoming more and more elaborate, with exquisite fillings and beautiful appearance. There are also various exquisite designs printed on the outside of the moon cakes, such as "the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon", "jathyapple of the Milky Way" and "Three Tan Yin Yue". It has become the wish of people all over the world to show people's reunion with a full moon, to show people's eternal life with a round moon cake, to pin their thoughts on their relatives in their hometown and to pray for a bumper harvest and happiness. Moon cakes are also used as gifts to send to relatives and friends and to connect feelings.
Other Mid-Autumn Festival customs
China has a vast territory, a large population and different customs. The Mid-Autumn Festival is celebrated in a variety of ways, with strong local characteristics.
In Pucheng, Fujian, women have to cross nanpu bridge to live longer during the Mid-Autumn Festival. In Jianning, hanging lanterns on Mid-Autumn Festival night is a good omen to ask the Moon Palace for children. People in Shanghang County celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival, and most of their children are invited to visit their parents when they are in Yue Bai. When Longyan people eat moon cakes, their parents will dig out round cakes with a diameter of two or three inches in the middle for their elders to eat, which means that they can't tell the secret to the younger generation. This custom stems from the legend that moon cakes contain the message of anti-meta-killing. Before the Mid-Autumn Festival in Kinmen, Yue Bai should worship God.
There is a custom of Mid-Autumn Festival Yue Bai in Chaoshan, Guangdong, which is mainly aimed at women and children. As the saying goes, "men are dissatisfied with the moon, and women don't sacrifice stoves." At night, when the bright moon rises, women set up a box in the yard and balcony to pray. Silver candles burned high, cigarettes filled the air, and the table was filled with good fruits and cakes as sacrifices. There is also the custom of eating taro in the Mid-Autumn Festival. There is a saying in Chaoshan: "River to mouth, taro to eat." August is the harvest season of taro, and farmers are used to using taro to worship their ancestors. Of course, this has something to do with farming, but there is also a popular folk legend: 1279, Mongolian nobles destroyed the Southern Song Dynasty, established the Yuan Dynasty, and brutally ruled the Han people. Mafa defended Chaozhou against the Yuan Dynasty. After the city was broken, the people were slaughtered. In order not to forget the suffering of Hu people's rule, later generations used taro as a homonym with "Hu tou", which looked like a human head, in order to pay homage to their ancestors and pass it on from generation to generation, and it still exists today.
Burning towers on the night of Mid-Autumn Festival is also very popular in some places. The height of the tower varies from 1-3 meters, mostly made of broken tiles. The tower is also made of bricks, accounting for about 1/4 of the tower height, and then stacked with tiles, leaving a tower mouth at the top for fuel transportation. On the night of Mid-Autumn Festival, it will be lit and burned. The fuel is wood, bamboo, chaff, etc. When the fire is booming, rosin powder will be poured to cheer, which is very spectacular. There are also folk rules for burning stupas. Whoever burns the stupa to the whole house wins, and those who fail or collapse in the burning process lose. The winner will be presented with colorful flags, bonuses or prizes by the host. It is said that burning towers is also the origin of Han people's resistance to cruel rulers and Mid-Autumn Uprising at the end of Yuan Dynasty.
During the Mid-Autumn Festival, the folk customs in Jiangnan are also varied. Nanjing people love to eat moon cakes on Mid-Autumn Festival, so they must eat osmanthus duck, a famous Jinling dish. "Sweet-scented osmanthus duck" should be listed in Gui Xiang. It is fat but not greasy and delicious. After drinking, you must eat a small piece of sugar taro and pour cinnamon pulp on it. Beauty speaks for itself. "Guijiang" was named after Qu Yuan's Songs of the South, Little Commandments and Drinking Guijiang to Help the North Close its doors. Cinnamon pulp is a kind of sweet-scented osmanthus, which is picked around the Mid-Autumn Festival and pickled with sugar and sour plum. Jiangnan women are good at turning poems and songs into delicacies on the table. People in Nanjing enjoy the moon with their families, which is called "celebrating reunion", the group sitting and drinking is called "full moon", and the market trip is called "walking on the moon".
At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, there were Moon Tower and Moon Bridge in Nanjing. In the Qing Dynasty, there was a moon-watching building under Lion Mountain, all of which were for people to enjoy the moon, and most people played the Moon Bridge. When the bright moon is high, people go to the Moon Tower to play the Moon Bridge, so as to enjoy watching the Jade Rabbit. "Xiyue Bridge" is located in the Confucius Temple on Qinhuai River, next to the mansion of Ma Xianglan, a famous prostitute. On this night, the literati gathered on the bridge to play the flute, sing songs and reminisce about Niuzhu playing with the moon and writing poems for the moon, so it was called playing with the moon bridge. After the death of the Ming Dynasty, it gradually declined. Later generations have a poem saying: "The romantic Southern Song Dynasty has been exhausted, leaving the west wind to be a long Banqiao, but remember to take the Yuren Bridge and teach the flute under the moon." Longbanqiao, the original Moon Bridge. In recent years, the Confucius Temple in Nanjing has been renovated, some pavilions and pavilions in the Ming and Qing Dynasties have been restored, and the rivers have been dredged. Until the Mid-Autumn Festival, you can enjoy playing with the moon together.
In Wuxi County, Jiangsu Province, incense is burned on Mid-Autumn Festival night. There are silks around the incense barrel, which depicts the scenery in the Moon Palace. There are incense sticks made of thread Kaori with paper kuixing and colorful flags on them. Shanghainese Mid-Autumn Festival Banquet with Sweet-scented osmanthus honey wine.
On the night of Mid-Autumn Festival in Ji 'an County, Jiangxi Province, every village burns crocks with straw. When the crock is red, put the vinegar in it. At this time, the whole village will smell a fragrance. During the Mid-Autumn Festival in Xincheng County, grass lanterns are hung from the evening of August 1 1 to August 17.
Children build a hollow pagoda with bricks during the Mid-Autumn Festival in Wuyuan County, Anhui Province. Curtains, plaques and other decorations are hung on the tower, and a table is placed in front of the tower, displaying various utensils to worship the "tower god". At night, lights and candles are lit inside and out. Children in Jixi Mid-Autumn Festival play Mid-Autumn firecrackers. Mid-Autumn Festival firecrackers are braided with straw, picked up and smashed stones after soaking, making a loud noise, which is a custom in Youlong. A fire dragon is a dragon made of grass with incense in it. When you visit the dragon, there are gongs and drums teams. They tour the village before being sent to the river.
In Sichuan province, in addition to eating moon cakes on Mid-Autumn Festival, people also eat cakes, ducks, sesame cakes and honey cakes. In some places, orange lanterns are also lit and hung at the door to celebrate. There are also children who burn incense on grapefruit and dance along the street, which is called "dancing meteor ball" Jiading County's Mid-Autumn Festival is called "Guanyin Club" for offering sacrifices to land gods and performing zaju, vocal music and cultural relics.
In the north, farmers in Qingyun County, Shandong Province offered sacrifices to the god of land valley on August 15, which is called "Young Miao Society". Zhucheng, Linyi, Jimo and other places have to pay homage to their ancestors in addition to the moon. Landlords in guanxian, Laiyang, Guangrao and Postal City also entertain their tenants in the Mid-Autumn Festival. Jimo Mid-Autumn Festival eats a kind of holiday food called "Wheat Arrow". Banquet for son-in-law at Mid-Autumn Festival in Lu 'an, Shanxi. Datong county calls moon cakes reunion cakes, and it is a custom to keep vigil on Mid-Autumn Festival night.
Wanquan County, Hebei Province called the Mid-Autumn Festival "Little New Year's Day", and there were pictures of Xing Jun and Guan Di reading the Spring and Autumn Festival at night on moonlight paper. Hejian county people think that the rain in Mid-Autumn Festival is bitter rain. If it rains in the Mid-Autumn Festival, the local people think that vegetables must be terrible.
On the Mid-Autumn Festival night in Xixiang County, Shaanxi Province, men row boats and climb cliffs, while women set up banquets. No matter rich or poor, people should eat watermelons. On Mid-Autumn Festival, drummers blow drums along the door to ask for money. In Luochuan county, parents lead students to bring gifts to their husbands, and there are more lunches than school dinners.
Some places have also formed many special Mid-Autumn Festival customs. In addition to enjoying the moon, offering sacrifices to the moon and eating moon cakes, there are dragon dances in Hong Kong, piling towers in Anhui, Mid-Autumn Festival in Guangzhou, burning towers in Jinjiang, moon-watching in Shihu, Suzhou, moon-dancing in Dai and Miao, moon-stealing dishes by Dong and dancing in Gaoshan.
Customs of Mid-Autumn Moon Cake in Changsha
The golden breeze is refreshing, the osmanthus fragrance is fragrant, and it's time to eat moon cakes once a year. This year's Mid-Autumn Festival is in September 18. I heard the old man tell some old stories about old Changsha moon cakes.
Changsha South Restaurant made moon cakes, in fact, it began to prepare after the spring. In that agricultural society, the pace of production will never be too fast. South Hotel needs a long time to process and store the raw materials of moon cakes. Five kernels in the ingredients: melon seeds, hemp seeds and olive kernels should be shelled, and peach kernels and peanut kernels should be peeled after shelling; Before the Mid-Autumn Festival, fresh lard should be fried, ham and lean strips should be diced, and bean paste, lotus seed paste and jujube paste should be boiled or fried. From July of the lunar calendar, the summer heat gradually faded, and moon cakes were listed in Changsha, and the business was booming day by day, until August 15, which was even more rapid. Like today, the moon cakes after the festival are all "donated by autumn fans, and no one cares." Before 1930s, there were only three kinds of moon cakes in Changsha: oil moon cakes, Ma Yue moon cakes and crispy moon cakes, among which the Su style of Jiuruzhai and Shao style of Sanjizhai were the most famous. There are only a few simple kinds of moon cakes, such as "hemp kernel", "crystal", "five kernels", "dried vegetables" and "ham".
In the mid-1930s, a Cantonese restaurant, Nanguo Restaurant, was opened in Changsha, and Cantonese moon cakes only showed their talents in Changsha. Because of its thin skin and many fillings, the unique materials, especially the varieties such as "Lotus Seed Yellow", are moist and refreshing, and are favored by Changsha diners. Since then, the foreign "Guangdong" and "Oil Moon" have been equally divided in Changsha moon cake market.
In addition to eating moon cakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival, Changsha people are also interested in eating water chestnut and lotus root, accompanied by mung bean cake and mint cake. During the Mid-Autumn Festival, officials will also hang couplets. Such as a pair hanging in front of the house, the cloud "Qiong Yu coldly holds the moon shadow; Curling is long, and five nights are divided equally. "
[Edit this paragraph] Nutritional value
Moon cakes often contain plant seeds, such as walnuts, almonds, sesame seeds, melon seeds, hawthorn, lotus seeds, red beans, jujube paste, etc., which have a certain health care effect on the human body. Plant seeds contain high unsaturated fatty acids, mainly oleic acid and linoleic acid, which are beneficial to soften blood vessels and prevent arteriosclerosis; Contains minerals, which is beneficial to improving immunity and preventing zinc deficiency and iron deficiency anemia in children; Lotus seed, adzuki bean and sesame have high potassium content, which can replace intracellular sodium salt, nourish myocardium and regulate blood pressure; From the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine, some raw materials are mostly mild and have the functions of strengthening the heart, calming and calming the nerves. Some seeds are rich in vitamin E, which has the functions of anti-aging, nourishing skin and blackening hair. But mooncakes are rich in oil and sugar, and mooncakes filled with duck egg yolk have high cholesterol. Generally speaking, they are all high-calorie foods, so diabetics and obese people should not eat more.
[Edit this paragraph] Purchase
1. Look at brands and try to choose products with famous brands and time-honored brands.
2. Look at the trademark and buy products with complete production logo specifications.
3. Look at the production date and shelf life.
Note: "sugar-free" moon cakes do not exist.
5. Try to buy from shopping websites with high credibility in big supermarkets, and there are many problems with street vendors.
Logo:
Look at the appearance. First of all, the block size of moon cakes is even and full. Cantonese-style moon cakes are light brown on the surface and creamy yellow on the vertical wall. The egg paste is evenly spread, and the pattern is marked with the name of the factory and the stuffing. Beijing-style moon cakes have no designs and names. For example, the natural red face is brown, not only bald, not raw, not burnt, not running sugar, not showing stuffing.
Two smells. Fresh and high-quality moon cakes can give off the unique tangy smell of moon cakes. Because the raw materials are different, the smell of leather stuffing is different. If moon cakes are made of inferior raw materials or stored for a long time, they will smell a peculiar smell or stink.
The third is tasting. Generally, Cantonese-style moon cakes are thin and stuffed, with pure taste and soft and refreshing taste. The fillings are mainly lotus seed paste, coconut paste, egg yolk, fruit and all kinds of meat stuffing, which are moderately sweet and salty. The skin stuffing of Beijing moon cakes is elaborate and complicated. There are four kinds of mooncake skins: oily skin, crispy skin, clear skin and jingguang skin. Stuffing is divided into three categories: refined stuffing, fried stuffing and kneaded stuffing. The stuffing contains a lot of fruit. After cutting, you can see peach kernels, melon seeds, hemp seeds, sweet-scented osmanthus, green red silk and various fruit materials. Purple red moon cakes also contain rock sugar, which is crisp and delicious, soft and delicate. Poor quality moon cakes are not only hard but also bitter.
Storage:
Mooncakes are generally divided into soft stuffing and hard stuffing. Soft fillers contain a lot of water, which can only be stored for about 7 to 10 days, while hard fillers can be stored for about 1 month. Boxed moon cakes should be ventilated. In addition, because moon cakes contain more fat, attention should be paid to avoiding light when storing them to prevent oil oxidation.
Moon cakes should be handled with care, especially Soviet-style moon cakes, because the skin is crisp and the most easily broken. If the skin falls off, it will not only affect the appearance, but also affect the taste and quality, and it is easy to deteriorate due to moisture.
Moon cakes are rich in oil and sugar, and are easy to mildew and deteriorate when heated and wet. They must be stored in a cool and ventilated place at low temperature. Generally speaking, moon cakes are soft, moist and easy to deteriorate. It is best to put it in the refrigerator and take it out one hour before eating to ensure the taste. At the temperature of 25℃, almond and passion fruit moon cakes can be stored for about 15 days. The storage time of moon cakes filled with bean paste, lotus seed paste and jujube paste should not exceed 10 day; If the temperature exceeds 30℃, the storage time of moon cakes should be shortened appropriately, generally not more than 7 days; As for moon cakes such as fresh meat, shredded chicken and ham, you should eat them while buying them.
When storing moon cakes, it is not appropriate to put them together with other foods and sundries, so as to avoid cross-talk and lose their proper taste and characteristics.
Note: "Sugar-free" moon cakes do not exist.
Sucrose was replaced by maltose.
At present, there are a large number of "sugar-free" moon cakes on the market. As a moon cake with low oil and starch content, it is undoubtedly to make consumers eat healthier. However, the Municipal Consumers Association reminded that sugar-free food in the true sense does not exist. Some "sugar-free" moon cakes actually use maltose instead of sucrose, while some moon cakes can get sweetness by adding unqualified sweeteners in large doses, but it will do harm to the liver and nervous system of human body.
The staff of the Consumers Association reminded: "Because moon cakes contain fashionable foods such as chocolate, cheese, ice cream and fruit, and even fresh elements such as frying, frying and charcoal burning, consumers should also pay attention to whether the quality and hygiene of moon cakes are fresh or not. At the same time, because of the addition of fashion elements, these moon cakes are often sold at high prices in disguise. "
There are many problems in the consumption of moon cakes.
If the mooncake packaging is too luxurious, a box of 8-pack mooncakes will be sold to 200 yuan, which is expensive; Waste happens from time to time. Many consumers don't like moon cakes very much, but they buy them in large quantities as gifts for relatives and friends, which leads to the expiration and deterioration of some inedible moon cakes, which is amazing A few consumers have not mastered the variety and quantity of moon cakes, but eating moon cakes will affect their health.
The Compulsory National Standard for Mooncakes has regulations on over-packaging, luxury packaging and sky-high moon cakes. Taking 500g as an example, the specific size of moon cakes is about 30cm long, 15cm wide and 2.5cm high, and the retail price should be maintained at 100-200 yuan. At the same time, the state has expressly stipulated that the fillings used for moon cakes should be authentic. When using "new name", "unfamiliar name", "brand name", etc. At the same time, the exact name indicating the true attributes of the product should be indicated, and not only the code name, Chinese pinyin or foreign abbreviation should be indicated.
The quality of buying moon cakes is the first choice.
Consumers Association staff reminded the public that when buying and eating moon cakes, they should choose moon cakes that meet their own health requirements and tastes, and should not blindly pursue moon cakes with luxurious packaging, knowing that the most expensive is not necessarily the best! At the same time, we should also carefully check the logo on the moon cake packaging, carefully check the trademark, factory name and address, production date, shelf life and contact number marked on the moon cake packaging, and do not buy "three noes" products or products near the shelf life. High-quality moon cakes have golden surface, reddish brown bottom, milky white wall, uniform fire color, egg-like liquid, and oily skin; Inferior moon cakes do not have the above characteristics. From the shape point of view, high-quality moon cakes are round, uniform in thickness, clear in pattern, without cracks and stuffing on the surface; The size of inferior moon cakes is uneven and the sugar leakage is serious. In terms of taste, high-quality moon cakes are suitable in sweetness, the fillings are oily and delicate, not sticky, and the smell is fragrant and tasteless; Inferior moon cakes are the opposite.
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