MAGICAL MOONCAKES

Mooncakes are Papa Teng’s specialty and he lights up with joy when talking about them in his native Mandarin. Back in Taiwan, Papa learned to make mooncakes from his father at the original Jeng Chi. In the 1960’s the family was making close to 160,000 boxes of mooncakes a year.

Mooncakes are traditionally given as gifts during the popular Mid-Autumn Festival held on the fifteenth day of the eighth month in the Chinese calendar, during a full moon, which is in September or early October. This year, the full moon will be September 29. According to the Tengs, the making and sharing of mooncakes are a cherished tradition of this festival. In Chinese culture, a round shape symbolizes completeness and unity. Thus, the sharing of round mooncakes among family members signifies the completeness and unity of families, according to the Tengs.

According to legend, mooncakes date back to the late Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368 AD). At the time, court rule was cruel and unjust. A plan to revolt was hatched and the communication vehicle for rebels to disperse secret notes would be the mooncake. A note would be hidden underneath the mooncake skin indicating that the revolution would commence on August 15, the Lunar Calendar’s Full Harvest Moon. Fables aside, exactly when and where mooncakes were first introduced remains a mystery.

Papa Teng starts planning for mooncake season in the spring and begins purchasing supplies in May.

Given that Jeng Chi has more than twenty flavors of mooncakes, there is truly something for everyone. While Mama and Papa Teng prefer the traditional mooncakes which are typically made with date paste, bean paste, lotus paste or green paste, Francisco’s goal is to appeal to a new generation of potential mooncake fans. He’s modernized mooncakes with flavors such as passionfruit. To create a passionfruit flavor, the family invested in a machine to freeze dry passionfruit juice into powder to put in the mooncake. Other popular Francisco creations are five-nut, pineapple and coffee with walnuts and rum raisin. He even has a chocolate with candied lemon. Delish!

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