Tasting the Moon

This past weekend’s Mid-Autumn Festival proved to be the perfect opportunity to reacquaint myself with a food I hadn’t eaten in years: moon cakes.  But where to find them?  After some help from the ‘hounds, I embarked on my moon cake mission.  First stop: 99 Ranch Market on Clairemont Mesa Blvd.  I entered and was confronted by an aisle of moon cakes stacked waist-high. 

A search of the bakery department found no single moon cakes for sale.  It looked like I would have to buy a whole box of them.  But how could I pick one out of the dozens of brands?  I wasn't familiar with any of them.  After spending nearly an hour studying each box, reading ingredients (when they weren’t in Chinese), opening lids and peeking at contents (don't worry, all the moon cakes were covered in plastic and I wasn't the only one doing this), I settled on four different boxes. 

Next stop: Huy Ky Bakery at 4550 University Ave. (thanks, Kirk!)

Although the selection of flavors was the same as at 99 Ranch, I was able to purchase individual moon cakes here for about $3 each.

Then I headed home and began eating.  I tasted all the moon cakes together side by side.  My kids enthusiastically agreed to help, but only on the condition that they didn’t have to eat the yolks.

Results (in no particular order):

Pearl River Bridge
Price: $12.99
Made in: Guangzhou, China
Packaging & contents: Red and blue tin with green flowers; 4 moon cakes, set inside gold foil cups with a desiccant underneath, individually wrapped in cellophane; a set of 4 plastic spears and a knife
Specifications: Square-shaped, 3” diameter, 185 grams/6 oz.
Flavor: Red bean paste (1 yolk)

Notes:  These cakes had a dark golden crust with Chinese characters on the top.  The crust was moist, a bit oily, and generally lacking in flavor.  I found the red bean paste filling sweet and mild tasting, with a light molasses flavor.  I didn’t eat the crumbly, dry egg yolks.  My favorite of the red bean paste cakes.

The Garden Co.
Price: $19.99 (the most expensive of the bunch)
Made in: Hong Kong
Packaging & contents: Grey tin with pink and orange flowers; 4 moon cakes, set inside gold foil cups with a desiccant underneath, individually wrapped in cellophane; a plastic knife
Specifications: Round, 3” diameter, 195 grams/6 3/4 oz.
Flavor: White Lotus Seed Paste (with 2 yolks)

Notes:  These cakes contained 2 egg yolks, which were alarmingly runny when I cut into the cakes, so I avoided eating them.  The crust was soft, without much flavor.  The filling had a firm, putty-like consistency, but I liked the sweet, nutty lotus flavor.  My favorite lotus cake.

Sheng Kee
Price: $8.99
Made in: San Francisco, CA
Packaging & contents: Red cardboard box with a picture of a lady playing a yueqin (a Chinese moon-shaped lute); one gold foil tray divided into 6 compartments; 6 moon cakes, desiccant
Specifications: Round cakes, 2” diameter, 55-65 grams/2-2 1/4 oz.
Flavors: 6 small assorted (2 each of bean, lotus, date)

Notes: The crusts had a soft, bread-like flavor and texture. The bean paste wasn’t bad, but didn’t have much flavor either.  Of the 3 red bean cakes, I ranked this one in the middle.  The lotus cake was completely lacking in flavor except for the one or two pine nuts inside.  The date, on the other hand, was nasty—bitter, with an overpowering molasses flavor.

Huy Ky
Price: $17.00
Made in: San Diego
Packaging: Red and blue tin with a picture of a lady holding a lantern and a building in the background; 4 square cakes individually wrapped in plastic.  The name (and number) of the flavor was written on the wrapper in both Chinese and Vietnamese. 
Cakes: 3 1/4” diameter, 175-200 grams/6-7 1/4 oz.
Flavors: Assorted--red bean (#18), lotus (#7), mixed nuts/fruits (#5), and one mystery flavor, a pale yellow paste (#10) that I could not identify.

Notes: The crusts on the 4 cakes varied from a light tan to a dark, almost burnt, brown.  These cakes had the most beautiful designs on the top.  One was a large, open flower with overlapping petals—in the center, were the Chinese characters for “mid-“ and “autumn,” (I think).  The other was a winding dragon and a phoenix encircling the characters. 

The crusts on the Huy Ky moon cakes were my favorite—flaky, with a delicate sweet flavor.  The red bean paste cake, however, had a pronounced off flavor.  I liked this one least of the 3 red bean cakes I sampled, although one of my daughters said it was her favorite.  The lotus moon cake wasn’t bad, with a light, mild lotus flavor, and a slightly dry paste.  I ranked this cake second behind the Garden lotus cake.  The mixed nuts and candied fruit moon cake I didn’t care for at all.  Too reminiscent of American fruitcake.  It had an odd blend of textures—crunchy bits of fruit and soft, boiled nuts, some of which were burned. 

Criteria:
The moon cakes were all purchased at 99 Ranch Market in San Diego on Thursday, September 15, 2005.  Because I could not purchase the moon cakes individually, price limited my selection somewhat.  Most of cakes were packaged in boxes or tins of four, ranging in price from $12-20, although there were a few even larger and more elaborate. I decided to limit my choices (and budget) to four boxes. They were more or less chosen at random with the following guidelines: I selected both domestic (including one local to San Diego) and imported products (one from Guangzhou, where I had lived in China).  I chose a variety of flavors, but wanted at least several of each flavor (red bean and lotus, as these are my favorite) to compare bakeries.  My total purchase amounted to $60 and I received a red gift bag with each tin.

Observations and conclusion:
When I first went to the store to buy the moon cakes, I was initially surprised by how expensive they were.  But after some consideration, I realized this was a fair price when compared to an American-style cake purchased at a bakery.  Since the moon cakes are usually given as gifts, you are also paying for the packaging, but at least the tin box can be saved and reused later. 

Considering how sweet and dense each moon cake is, one box is more than enough to feed an entire family.  Eating more than two entire moon cakes at one sitting, even for the noble purpose of food blogging, is not recommended. 

While they are not something I would eat every week, I still enjoyed this tasting immensely.  It brought back many good memories of the time I spent in China and the students I met there.  I know they taught me a lot more than I taught them.  As with teaching English, I don't consider myself an expert on this subject either. Rather than a comprehensive taste test, I consider this an early experiment, a baseline, and I welcome any comments or suggestions that deepen my knowledge of moon cakes. Now that I am familiar with them again, I can’t wait until next year.

Comments

[Kirk]

Hi Angie - Wonderful post! Beautiful artistic photo's to boot! I'm pretty sure that you're moon caked out, at least until next year anyway.

[yi]

The picture looks great. I am sorry to hear that your children didn't like the yolk. To me, that was the best part. It is made from the salted duck or chicken eggs. It is brined for a long, long time, till the water turn cloudy. As a kid, we watch it everyday till we were bored to death. Then it is ready. Steam it, and we always go for the york. It is bright golen in color, salty and sweet, with oil dripping out. We eat with plain, unsalted jook. Nothing better than that in a chilly December morning. Two childhood memories in 2 days. That is too much. Stop it, Angie.

yi

[Angie]

Kirk--

Thanks--I really had fun arranging the cakes and shooting the pictures. But I think I've eaten enough moon cakes to last me for a while.

Yi--

OK, you're right. Now that the Mid-autumn festival is over, I'll shut up and stop talking about moon cakes.

Actually, you are the one who should be writing about Chinese food, not me. I love that image of you watching the eggs as they brined. Is that the Chinese equivalent of watching paint dry? The jook with the salted yolks sounds delicious.

[Luc]

The "mystery" yellow paste is actually mung bean paste, it is a very popular Vietnamese moon cake filling. Huy Ky's crust is a Vietnamese style crust which explains why it is more flaky and less oily. This is a stark contrast to most of the Chinese style crusts, which tend to be more soggy and oily.

[Angie]

Ah, thanks, Luc!