Mapo Persimmon Cakes

Mapo Persimmon Cakes

　　Mapo Village in Caotown, Fuping County, Shaanxi Province, sits against the mountains and faces the sun. With a unique topography resembling a winnowing basket, the village has 230 households. The locals have long been accustomed to growing a variety of fruit crops. Persimmon, pomegranate, apricot, prickly ash, pear, and peach orchards are spread across the hills, ridges, valleys, and slopes of the village. There are over 2,000 persimmon trees in the village that are more than a hundred years old. After the implementation of the Grain for Green Program, over 800 acres were planted with persimmon trees. Persimmon cake processing is a traditional pillar industry in Mapo Village and also a main source of income for local farmers. Over 200 households in the village process persimmon cakes, ranging from one or two tons to as much as ten tons per household. The village processes more than 400 tons of persimmon cakes annually, and this alone generates a per capita net income of over 4,500 yuan. Central media once featured the village’s persimmon industry in a special report titled “Persimmons Redden Mapo Slope.” For many years, merchants from South Korea and Japan have been purchasing persimmon cakes directly from Mapo Village.

　　　　The persimmon cakes here are purely natural green food, known for their sweet taste, soft texture, and bright red color. The flesh is glossy red, indicating high quality. As early as the Ming Dynasty, they were tribute to the imperial court. Nowadays, they are mainly sold to regions such as the Northeast, Gansu, Xinjiang, and Inner Mongolia, and are also exported to countries like South Korea and Japan. Caotown has become the largest processing and sales hub for persimmon cakes in the province and even the entire northwest region. In 2011, Mapo Village in Caotown, Fuping County, Shaanxi Province (persimmon cakes) was recognized by the Ministry of Agriculture as a “National One Village One Product Demonstration Village.”