A simple but pure festival tradition

The zilaibai mooncakes made by China World Hotel in Beijing. Photos provided to China Daily

Although bakery products have changed through the years, some of the most popular recipes remain the original ones, Ye Jun reports.

Like any classic food, the Chinese moon cake has seen a lot of changes over time. But sometimes, traditional styles are still the most popular.

Beijinger Wang Junjie still likes the taste of zilaihong, a Beijing-style moon cake.

"When I was a kid, my family was so poor. We yearned for holidays such as the Mid-Autumn Festival, so that we could eat mooncakes," says the 55-year-old. "But now mooncakes are available year-round. It is like a holiday every day, so I no longer feel that special yearning."

Beijing's traditional mooncakes are zilaihong and zilaibai. The handmade, hard-crust mooncakes are made up of rock sugar, walnut kernels, pumpkin seeds and qinghongsi, candied tangerine peel slices. Zilaihong uses red sugar in the dough, while zilaibai uses white sugar. The taste is simple but pure.

Wang is a Chinese executive pastry chef at Summer Palace Chinese restaurant, China World Hotel. Under his supervision, the hotel produces 12 different moon cake gift boxes, with more than 30 flavors.

These boxes contain the most popular styles of mooncakes: Beijing, Su (Suzhou), Cantonese and Yunnan. They each have their own unique ingredients and combinations.