Yunnan Ham Mooncakes

Yunnan Ham Mooncakes

　　Yunnan Ham Mooncakes are a distinctive and flavorful delicacy from Yunnan Province, also known as Dian-style mooncakes. They have their own unique charm compared to Suzhou-style and Cantonese-style mooncakes. These mooncakes are made with Xuanwei ham — a specialty of Yunnan — along with ingredients such as honey, lard, and white sugar for the filling, and are baked using purple wheat flour from Chenggong in Kunming for the crust. The surface is golden yellow or reddish-brown, with a hard outer shell that is glossy and rich-looking. The layered flaky crust wraps around the filling. These mooncakes feature fragrant ham and an enticing sweet-and-salty honey glaze, offering a pleasant mouthfeel that is indulgent yet not greasy. As a result, they are an essential food for family reunions during the Mid-Autumn Festival and also make an excellent gift for relatives and friends.

　　Yunnan Ham Mooncakes have a long history. Legend has it that during the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, the Yongli Emperor of the Southern Ming regime, who retreated to Kunming (circa 1649–1656), was constantly worried and lost his appetite. One imperial chef, in a moment of inspiration, ingeniously chopped premium Yunnan ham into small cubes, mixed them with honey and fine sugar to make a filling, and steamed them into a snack called “Yunnan Ham Buns.” Because of its rich aroma and well-balanced sweet-and-salty taste, the emperor was delighted and praised it highly. From then on, it became a seasonal delicacy in the imperial kitchen.

　　Later, this bun recipe spread to the public and gradually evolved from being steamed to being baked, and from bun-shaped to round, flat cake-shaped. During the Guangxu era, in a place called Sanzhuwan in Kunming, a pastry shop named “Hexianglou,” run by a Mr. Hu, pioneered the creation of the “Four-Tael Cake” (each weighing four taels; four cakes equaled 16 taels, just one jin in the old measurement system, hence the name) with a flaky crust. The fillings came in four varieties: ham, white sugar, red bean paste, and sesame. From then on, every Mid-Autumn Festival, the citizens of Kunming rushed to buy the “Four-Tael Cake.”

　　In the early years of the Republic of China, Chen Huiquan, the owner of the “Jiqingxiang” pastry shop, created the first hard-shell ham mooncake based on the original “Four-Tael Cake” red ham pastry. It became hugely popular, business thrived, and the shop expanded from small to large. The method for making Jiqingxiang Yunnan Ham Mooncakes is as follows: First, the ham is cleaned, deboned, cut into large chunks, and steamed. Then it is diced into soybean-sized pieces and mixed evenly with honey, white sugar, and cooked flour to form the filling. This is wrapped in a dough made from white oil, powdered sugar, and honey, and then baked over medium heat until done. These mooncakes are characterized by their flaky, loose, and fragrant texture, and have become a representative and iconic food of Yunnan.