Red Bean Mooncakes & White Lotus Mooncakes (Traditional Types)

Red Bean Mooncakes & White Lotus Mooncakes (Traditional Types)

　　The lunar calendar, used since the Han Dynasty, divides the year into seasons: January to March as spring, April to June as summer, and July to September as autumn. The 15th day of the 8th month falls midway through autumn, hence the name "Mid-Autumn."

　　Mid-Autumn Festival began taking shape during the Han Dynasty, and by the Tang Dynasty, the customs of moon-gazing and moon-appreciation were already established. By the reign of Emperor Taizong of the Northern Song Dynasty, the 15th day of the 8th lunar month was officially designated as Mid-Autumn Festival. The festival involves moon worship, moon appreciation, and eating mooncakes. Among the three major traditional festivals, Mid-Autumn has the most pleasant season—crisp autumn air, fragrant fruits, ripened grains, and harvested crops filling storage. People have always held Mid-Autumn Festival in high regard. Since mooncakes are eaten during the festival, it is also called the Mooncake Festival; because fruit is consumed, it's known as the Fruit Festival; and as family reunions are central, it's also referred to as the Reunion Festival.

　　In the old days, traditional Beijing-style Mid-Autumn mooncakes mainly consisted of Red Bean Mooncakes and White Lotus Mooncakes, supplemented by Syrup Mooncakes and Flaky Mooncakes. Pastry shops would get busy as early as the beginning of August. Back then, Red Bean Mooncakes were quite small—about twenty to a jin (500g)—and time-consuming to make. To make them appear larger, the filling was not packed tightly, leaving about half the space inside hollow. They were sold ten to a package. For gift-giving, six to ten packages could be tied up in a pu-bao (a pouch woven from calamus leaves), which was then topped with the pastry shop’s red "ticket"—printed with the shop’s name, address, and phone number. This served both as advertising and assurance for recipients, ensuring they could return or exchange the product if there were any issues. For well-known brands, it added an extra touch of elegance.

　　Red Bean Mooncakes and White Lotus Mooncakes weigh the same and are similar in size, yet their flavors differ—so what sets them apart?

　　Red Bean Mooncakes are made with vegetable oil, mainly sesame and peanut oil, resulting in a crispy crust and a filling primarily of white sugar, rock sugar, candied citrus peel, and melon seeds. White Lotus Mooncakes, on the other hand, used white oil (i.e., lard) in Han Chinese pastry shops. There were specialized oil-refining workshops that produced white oil by rendering pork back fat, yielding a pure flavor that was supplied to pastry shops as seasoning. As a result, White Lotus Mooncakes had a softer texture and more varied fillings, such as white sugar, hawthorn, and date paste. Then there’s the “Flaky Mooncake,” which sounds unusual but is actually a type of flaky crust pastry—larger than regular flaky pastries—with snow-white, ruffled layers resembling goose feathers. It was one of the most alluring varieties in pastry shops at the time. (Continued from page 25) Back then, starting from the beginning of the 8th lunar month, fruit stalls across the streets and alleys would be piled high with all kinds of fruits: pale green-to-yellow pears, half-green-half-red "tiger carts," blush-colored crabapples like a young girl’s cheeks, purple quinces dusted with white frost, flat and yellowish Beijing pears, and purple-and-yellow plums. Grapes came in purple "dragon eyes" and pale green "mare’s milk" varieties, while crisp flat persimmons and apples from the Western Hills wafted a refreshing fragrance. In those years, Beijing had few apple varieties, low yields, and high prices. Apples were mostly bought for gifting in fruit baskets, and only twenty-five pieces, called a “table offering,” were considered proper. Ordinary citizens mainly purchased common fruits like crabapples, quinces, and "tiger carts." "Tiger carts" may sound unfamiliar today, but only old Beijingers know the term. In fact, they still exist—just rarely called by that name anymore. Known for their delicate fragrance, they were once called "fragrance fruits," but now they’re simply referred to as "perfumed fruit," alongside crabapples and quinces as popular Mid-Autumn fruits for locals. People would buy them ahead of the holiday and place them at home to fill the air with fruity scents, enhancing the festive mood—hence another name for the festival: the Fruit Festival. In the past, pastry shops also made large red mooncakes weighing between five to ten jin, printed with patterns of the moon palace, osmanthus trees, and jade rabbits, which organizations or wealthy families would buy as reunion cakes.

　　For ordinary families, the reunion cake was usually homemade. The process involved kneading fermented dough into three equal-sized round pieces. A layer of brown sugar was spread on one piece, covered by another, then topped with red dates and other fruit ingredients, and sealed with the final layer. Once steamed, it became a multi-layered reunion cake.

　　In the past, every household would steam such a reunion cake during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Everyone would gather to share it, each receiving a portion as a symbol of unity. If a family member was absent, a slice would be saved for them to eat upon their return. One year during Mid-Autumn, I was away and couldn’t come home. Months later when I returned, the first thing my mother did was hand me a piece of the reunion cake—which had gone dry and hard—and asked me to take a bite. Only after I finished did she seem to feel her wish fulfilled, showing just how much this tradition meant to her.

　　Now, decades later, every Mid-Autumn Festival, I often find myself nostalgic for that sweet, fluffy reunion cake—and even more so for the joyful moments of sharing it with family.

　　How to Make White Lotus Mooncakes:

　　Also known as White Mooncakes, they are flat and round, with a milky-white surface and golden-bottomed crust. They have a crumbly texture, sweet taste, and distinctive aroma of fruit fillings and osmanthus.

　　Ingredients: Flour, standard flour, white oil, osmanthus, hawthorn, walnut kernels, white sugar, melon seeds, rock sugar, candied citrus peel

　　Preparation Method

　　:

　　1. Mix sugar and white oil until smooth, then stir in flour to form the dough.

　　2. Blend white sugar and white oil, then mix in standard flour. Add hawthorn, rock sugar, walnut kernels, melon seeds, osmanthus, and candied citrus peel to make the filling.

　　3. Divide the dough into portions, roll into smooth wrappers, wrap the filling, seal the edges tightly, and press into a flat round shape.

　　4. Place the unbaked mooncakes sealed-side down on a tray and bake in an oven preheated to 180°C for about 16 minutes until done.