Moon cake
The moon cake ( Chinese 月餅 / 月饼 , pinyin yuèbǐng ) is a specialty of Chinese cuisine that can be filled with both salty and sweet. The small cakes are given away to relatives and friends.
It is traditionally eaten at the Moon Festival in autumn, but also on other occasions. The typical moon cake is round, has a diameter of about 10 centimeters and is about 5 centimeters high. It is very nutritious and is usually served with Chinese tea .
Each region has its own moon cake recipes. In Taiwan , the salty moon cakes are filled with egg yolks and meat, the sweet ones with sweet potatoes . A sweet filling made from beans , sesame seeds and pineapple is also common .
The typical moon cake contains a sweet and slightly fatty filling made from sugar, vegetable fat and a paste made from the seeds of the lotus plant. Sometimes it also contains salted egg yolks inside, which are supposed to symbolize the full moon . Salty and sweet in a cake correspond to the principle of the harmony of Yin and Yang . The cake is usually decorated with Chinese characters, for example for "long life" or for "harmony", as well as that of the bakery, besides other symbols are applied for decoration.
They are rarely baked in private households, but are usually bought and then usually given away, often with expensive gifts. Moon cake for personal use is very rarely bought.
According to legend, secret messages were hidden and transported by insurgents in the moon cakes during the time of the Mongols in China. They are therefore said to be the forerunners of fortune cookies .
