You'll be over the moon for these Mid-Autumn Festival treats
Fall celebration marked by many Asian cultures falls on Sept. 25 this year
The Mid-Autumn Festival is coming up, and that means eating mooncakes.
The fall celebration is marked throughout Asia on the 15th day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar. This year, it takes place on Sept. 25.
Step into any Asian grocery store or bakery at this time of year and you'll see all sorts of mooncakes — dense pastries that serve as the culinary centrepiece of the traditional family feast.
"Many come in elaborate, luxurious gift boxes, some covered in silk, paintings, and even real gold," On The Coast food columnist Gail Johnson said.
"Traditionally, these pastries are about the size of a hockey puck and are round in shape, symbolizing family harmony and unity. Fillings vary, with the most common being lotus-seed paste, adzuki-bean paste, or nuts.
"But you can find savoury fillings, like meat, pork, ham, duck, and roasted mushrooms."
Johnson says Boss Bakery and Maxim's in Chinatown are popular spots to buy mooncakes. T&T has dozens of varieties, too, including some in different animal shapes, which are aimed at kids.
Saint Germain Bakery could be the biggest mooncake retailer and wholesale manufacturer in North America. It carries the most popular Chinese mooncake, which has double-salted yolks and lotus seed paste. It also offers assorted snowy mooncakes — served cold — including one with strawberry and cream cheese.
Soirette has launched a cool collection of snowy mooncakes, including its "Straits of Asia" collection.
She says there are also opportunities coming up for people to learn how to make mooncakes.
On Sept. 22, instructor Jessica Yue will teach how to make ice mooncakes as well as baked ones at Mackin House in Coquitlam.
The True Nosh Company, a health-and-lifestyle company in Vancouver, will have several mooncake-making classes coming up, including one Sept. 15 at Renfrew Park Community Centre.
"What makes her take on mooncakes is unique is that she offers a healthier version than those you find at most grocery stores," Johnson said.
With files from CBC Radio One's On The Coast