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Mooncakes (月餅) - Traditional Mid-Autumn Chinese Festival Celebration Treats


goodeats

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Funny, we do not have a thread on this wonderfully, delicious and fattening treat. This year's Mid-Autumn full moon festival falls on Wednesday, September 22.

Although this seems later than usual, it has not stopped folks from buying lots of mooncakes in this area. Thankfully, there are also lots to choose from (Taiwan vs. Hong Kong vs. China brands and flavors).

I am enjoying the 冰皮月餅 (bing pi mooncake) kind, which are ice cream mooncakes, with different fillings found in the local fridge or freezer of the Chinese supermarkets (Great Wall or Maxim's, in my case). The ones found in this area are called Maxim's bingpi mooncakes (美心冰皮月餅) and come in durian, macadamia nut-sesame, and mango flavors. They are a bit pricier than regular mooncakes ($6-7 for 2 little ones), but worth it in my opinion, especially on a hot day.

The weirdest thing is that I love all the little gift bags that accompany the mooncake purchases.

Here is a 2009 Cantonese commercial for the Maxim mooncake product (mango flavor advertised is not available this year), made by HK actress, Kelly Chan. It makes me miss silly Chinese commercials.

2010 slideshow about this year's batch of mooncakes in HK from the Chinese edition of WSJ.

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I have my as-often-as-I-can bloodletting at the Red Cross in Merrifield tomorrow morning and realized that Great Wall is nearby. So, I thought it'd be fun to pick up some mooncakes. My question for you, goodeats, or anyone else is what's a good price to aim for (assuming there are any mooncakes left this late)? I probably can't do the yummy-sounding ice cream ones due to my schedule that morning preventing refrigeration for a while, but the pastry-style ones are doable.

My problem is that the last time I was at Great Wall there were about a zillion different brands of mooncakes with prices from a few dollars to the lucky $88.88 or the like. What is expensive enough to get a good product without being *too* expensive?

I suppose brands or names would also work, but since English seemed to be nonexistent on most packages, I'd need some nice, easy characters like sun, moon, gate, tree, forest...kanji I remember from College Japanese.

(Of course, the correct answer might be *none* of the packaged mooncakes at a market are worth it. Frozen ice cream or at a bakery FTW...)

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I have my as-often-as-I-can bloodletting at the Red Cross in Merrifield tomorrow morning and realized that Great Wall is nearby. So, I thought it'd be fun to pick up some mooncakes. My question for you, goodeats, or anyone else is what's a good price to aim for (assuming there are any mooncakes left this late)? I probably can't do the yummy-sounding ice cream ones due to my schedule that morning preventing refrigeration for a while, but the pastry-style ones are doable.

My problem is that the last time I was at Great Wall there were about a zillion different brands of mooncakes with prices from a few dollars to the lucky $88.88 or the like. What is expensive enough to get a good product without being *too* expensive?

Good for your volunteerism!

Unfortunately, moon cakes are expensive. With a capital E. Having said that, it's a nice splurge. A basic box of 6 or 9 small moon cakes will run about $10-20, depending on the brand. The big ones of 4 run about the same. That is good enough. 1 small moon cake usually sinks like a rock in the stomach. The big ones I usually cut in half.

The brand I like are:
Sheng Ji (Sheng Gee, or the ones with the pretty girls playing instruments on the cover);
Isabelle (usually in pastel colors and has the English name on it); or
Xing dong yang (New East Moon, usually in orange or red boxes).

Read the English ingredients to get a sense of the flavors offered.

Some have salty cooked yolks in the middle, so if you don't like it, don't buy it.

There should still be moon cakes until 9/23, then it's like post-halloween, when people rush in like madmen/madwomen and clear the shelves for some reason.

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Read the English ingredients to get a sense of the flavors offered.

Some have salty cooked yolks in the middle, so if you don't like it, don't buy it.

Thanks for the advice! I'll see what I can find.

I think the last time I had them I was told the flavor I was eating was white lotus, and it had that salty egg. It was a unique flavor. I didn't mind the lotus as much as I did the salty yolk. That was odd.

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Welp, I went to Great Wall around 8 and the cakes hadn't been restocked yet, so only the really expensive ones remained. However, just now I grabbed a banh mi for lunch at New Ben Tre and, huzzah, they had mooncakes they'd separated so you could buy in singles. So, I took the plunge and got a roasted chicken one. Figured that'd be unique!

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Welp, I went to Great Wall around 8 and the cakes hadn't been restocked yet, so only the really expensive ones remained.

Wow. This is the FIRST year I have ever seen the shelves all emptied right before the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival. I wonder if it is because Happy Go Family closed? Either way, once it is gone, they won't restock. Usually, like Halloween candy, they mark them half-price right after the holiday has passed and there always were lots of boxes. Interesting.

Another place to try more traditional moon cakes is Maria's Bakery in Annandale, where A&Js is. They sell individually wrapped, traditional moon cakes.

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This year's festival falls on September 12. Mooncakes can be found at Maxim's, Great Wall, Kam Sam, and H Mart (Merrifield, but not Super H).

Sadly, due to product price increase, moon cakes are even more expensive this year. My box of a giant 4 moon cakes this year cost me $39.99, where as it was probably $29 last year.

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Sadly, due to product price increase, moon cakes are even more expensive this year. My box of a giant 4 moon cakes this year cost me $39.99, where as it was probably $29 last year.

Holy crap. I got just 1 mooncake at Banh Mi DC Sandwich for $5 and I thought I was getting ripped off. It did have two salty egg yolks and was delicious.

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Holy crap. I got just 1 mooncake at Banh Mi DC Sandwich for $5 and I thought I was getting ripped off. It did have two salty egg yolks and was delicious.

Yeah, I might do my single at my local banh mi place as well if the prices are that high!

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Another place to try more traditional moon cakes is Maria's Bakery in Annandale, where A&Js is. They sell individually wrapped, traditional moon cakes.

Btw, this reminded me that Maria's Bakery in Annandale has closed. I wonder whether A&J will be pushed out--it's more deserted than ever.

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It seem awfully befitting that this year's Autumn Harvest Moon Festival is on September 11. I feel like this year's full moon is a warm sign from those lost that day that everything will be alright. I guess because this being the fifteenth of the lunar month that people burn incense and pay homage to Chang E and other lost ones that it seems like my two worlds collide and make sense, for once.

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Goodeats, that is such a lovely sentiment, that I feel strange posting after it. I am eating my first mooncakes in Beijing today for the Autumn Festival. The first ones I saw were this morning at the hotel breakfast buffet, then the housekeeping staff came by a bit later with these. One has bean filling, and the other bean with sesame seeds. They are about the size of a half-dollar coin.

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A student who was my guide today during the holiday brought me this one with strawberry filling. It was such a lovely gesture to include me - how could I not love it?

post-3913-0-02680700-1315817988_thumb.jp

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Finally there is the big box that was a gift from the institute I am visiting.

post-3913-0-04665700-1315818204_thumb.jp

This is one of the mooncakes from inside the large box (that came inside an equally beautiful bag). I am told that they are traditional lotus paste mooncakes.

post-3913-0-29013700-1315818219_thumb.jp

The students today told me the story of Chang E, and then told me that because the Autumn Festival is traditionally spent with family, we would all be family for the holiday. :mellow: Even though the timing will be wrong, I'll bring the big box home to share with my American family.

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lperry - see if you can find the nouveau refrigerated kinds for comparison. They stemmed from HK, I think. The flavors are pretty cool because they are fruity rather than the traditional flavors. Watch out for the dates + pine nuts flavor, given our history of pine nuts on this board... :-)

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Zombie thread...revive!

I suppose the Mid-Autumn Festival is coming up soon and I had a question for the board: anyone ever tried the mooncakes at Cha Kim Phung in Eden Center? I was at EC last weekend picking up some beef jerky and saw these guys have mooncakes...and might make them themselves?

I would have just bought some but, well, mooncakes are expensive so I thought I'd ask if anyone here gives them thumbs up or down.

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Zombie thread...revive!

I suppose the Mid-Autumn Festival is coming up soon and I had a question for the board: anyone ever tried the mooncakes at Cha Kim Phung in Eden Center? I was at EC last weekend picking up some beef jerky and saw these guys have mooncakes...and might make them themselves?

I would have just bought some but, well, mooncakes are expensive so I thought I'd ask if anyone here gives them thumbs up or down.

This year's Mid-Autumn Moon Festival is on September 8.

Kim Phung makes themselves, since they are Sino-based bakery. It would be legit, I think.

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I found lotus paste double-yolk mooncakes this year at the Costco in Pentagon City! They are large, come in packages of two, four to a tin metal box, suitable for gift giving. They are made in Taiwan and the bakery is called "Joy Luck Bakery" - this isn't going to stop me from getting more at Great Wall or Eden Center, but I am comforted to know that these are available.

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