It is almost time to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival, and this year, it falls on September 25th. This celebration of the end of the harvest season also honours abundance and togetherness. Falling on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, the mid-autumn festival often parallels the autumn equinox of the lunar calendar. Most festivities have traditional foods that are associated with them, and for this celebration of fall, the moon cake takes centre stage.

Traditionally, moon cakes are made with lotus seed paste and a salted duck’s egg yolk (or two, three or four) encased in the paste. This dense mixture is then encased by pastry ingrained with a symbol of ‘mid-autumn festival’ on the top, or the name of the company who manufactured them - my mom deems Wing Wah as the moon cake gold standard. Nowadays, with consumers being more demanding about variety, there are different flavours and fillings available, as well as healthier options such as low sugar.

I decided to investigate several of the less traditional moon cakes to determine whether they are up to par with the ‘old-school’ version that is ingrained in my memory since I was given my first wedge of the pastry-encrusted lotus seed paste concoction.

When in the Spadina Chinatown, my family likes to frequent Kim Moon Bakery (438 Dundas Street West). My grandma purchased one of their savoury options ($5.85 taxes included), which was a five seed/nut and ham mixture. There were sesame seeds, walnuts, slivered almonds, candied wintermelon and bits of salted ham held together by syrup. I avoided trying this savoury product throughout my childhood because it just did not make sense to me that a moon cake should have ham in it. Finally I caved in, and I realized I was missing out on this flavour explosion for way too long! The texture of all the nuts and seeds was a nice crunch, and a big difference from the thick, mouth-coating lotus seed paste that I am familiar with. The ham gave it a nice salty kick, and I believe enhanced the flavours of the nuts. This is still something to be eaten in small wedges, but is a nice alternative to the norm.

T&T Supermarket (222 Cherry Street and other locations) had several offerings of their store brand mini moon cakes. At $2.48 each before tax, this is a reasonable amount to pay and try something new. I bought one containing a cranberry and green tea flavoured paste mixture, and then another nut/seed mix; this time without the ham. The nut/seed cake had similar traits as the Kim Moon product mentioned above, but I would pass on the cranberry one next time. The cranberries add extra sweetness and tartness, which overpowered the green tea lotus paste’s flavour.

For those interested in a frozen dessert, there are moon cakes known as ‘ice pastry’ or ‘snow pastry’. The only traits these moon cakes share with the traditional ones are their shape and availability at this time of the year. It has become quite the craze in Hong Kong, and in the Toronto area, many stores are importing two of the more popular brands from Hong Kong; Maxim and St. Honore Bakery. These desserts are made with a glutinous rice flour pastry, and the inside is a green or red bean paste base. From here, a multitude of flavours can be developed. I found the Maxim brand sold in Binko Fine Food Speciality in First Markham Place (3255 Highway 7 East, Markham) at $5.50 for two mini sized cakes. Some flavours they carried included green tea, black sesame, wasabi and tiramisu. My family and I decided to try the sago cream with mango and pomelo flavoured moon cake. This is a popular cold soup-like dessert with clear tapioca balls, shredded pomelo and chopped mango in a coconut/mango puree that I absolutely love. Appearance wise, the mango cubes replaced the egg yolk, and on initial bite it was quite refreshing. Unfortunately, it did not taste much like the soupy dessert I enjoy, but more like a frosted, beany cube. The rice flour pastry left a grainy film in my mouth and a lingering aftertaste. It might appear to look like a lighter treat than the traditional type, but 1/8 of the cake (15 grams of a 120 gram cake) still packs in 46 calories. In my opinion, these ice pastry types are for people who are just not into traditional moon cakes, but still want to be able to partake in this food tradition. Or as my dad puts it, “pseudo moon cakes”.

Most moon cake varieties can be found at Chinese supermarkets and bakeries, and several restaurants now offer them as well (e.g. Ambassador Chinese Cuisine). I even heard Costco is selling them in Markham, because of its large Asian population. If anyone has a hankering to learn how to make them, George Brown offers a course in Chinese Festival Cuisine starting in November, or visit the Chinese Culture Centre in Scarborough to partake in their annual mid-autumn event on September 23rd, where there is a how-to make moon cakes demo in the event line-up.