liuzhou

This is just another 5-nut mooncake but, as you can see, a 'family size' type. It isn't however the largest I've ever seen. I've seen them 'more 'neighbourhood size'. About the size of a truck's wheel. The largest according to the Guinness record people is This pales in comparison.

Yes. Common on Chinese airlines.

Here, no matter what the package says, most people eat one pot each. I've never seen them being shared. You don't really 'cook' them, but rather, reconstitute them. The various packs inside containing sauce and powders and dried vegetables etc are poured on top of the noodles, boiling water added and the pot recovered. Back in the day, I would light a cigarette and leisurely smoke it. When the ciggie was done, the noodles were ready to eat. I quit smoking on May 20th, 2003 and have rarely made pot noodles since. Railway stations and even trains still have free boiling water here for the purpose.

Those two are the most traditional types, so I'm unsurprised that's what they are stocking. White lotus paste tastes of nothing much at all, but is sweet.

I saw that, too. Interesting However, I would point out that they're not all mooncakes in the image. Only he round ones are; the circular shape resembles the moon and is an important part of the symbolism. The pig shaped one in the centre is a 猪仔糕 (zhū zǎi gāo), Zhuzaigao, piglet cake. These are also traditionally eaten at the mid-autumn festival, but were originally made for children. They consisted of the same mooncake crust as the traditional Cantonese type of mooncake, but were not stuffed with the heavy contents. Instead they were solid crust., which was thought would be better for kids who wouldn't be able to stomach the heaviness of the regular mooncakes. Today, they are sometimes sold stuffed, but just as often, not. The fish shaped cake to the pig's tail end is not related to the mid-autumn festival, but is a 新年魚年糕 (xīn nián yú nián gāo), New Year Fish Shape Cake. They are one type of 年糕 (nián gāo), Nian gao or New Year Cake and are made from steamed glutinous (sticky) rice. These are traditionally served at Chinese New Year. It may be that someone has taken the Niangao shape and turned into a "mooncake" but the fish still remains symbolic of New Year in Chinese culture. I have no idea what the red rabbit-looking thing is.

No. It is purple sweet potato. a I understand it, ube is yam.

I said few days ago that that the trend in 2025 is for mixed nut mooncakes. Now I’m re-considering. It seems it may be being evasive about what kind of mooncakes you are actually selling! These are described as 奶酥皮紫薯雪媚娘 (nǎi sū pí zǐ shǔ xuě mèi niáng), which translate as ’creamy crusted purple potato and snowy bride’, whatever the hell that means. No further information available.

They still do here, at least. And yes nitrogen; not CO2. Did anyone else experience the cans that came with a syringe to inject the nitrogen? I think they were only sold in Ireland.

I'm struggling to understand why an undoubtedly deplorable scandal 17/18 years ago is suddenly being resurrected now. In fact, the company, Sanliu mainly involved was a joint Chinese-New Zealand joint venture. Two executives on the Chinese side were executed, three were given life sentences and two more lesser but still long sentences. Several government officials with supervisory roles were dismissed. Since then, the testing of food products has been massively increased, albeit far too late. But back to chicken. Chinese shoppers, especially the older generations, shun supermarket chickens. They buy live organic chickens in the market and do the nasty at home, ensuring freshness. I'd say, the best chicken I've eaten is here. They aren't inbred for larger breasts for example and certainly not chlorine washed!

I feel the same. My favourite and historical market in town has been completely overtaken by post-covid 'tourists' intent on taking their next social media video and buying nothing. Fortunately, there are many other markets around town, one in particular I frequent. All of them sell great chickens.

@Smithy Smart chicken thigh? AI?

I’ll happily admit I don’t know what the hell these are and I’ve no intention of finding out. Made in a dedicated mooncake building in the grounds of the Liuzhou Hotel, a historic 5-star* hotel next door to my last home, they are highly prized in Liuzhou and cost about 16 times more than your average mooncake. The first line reads 柳州饭店银柳月饼 (liǔ zhōu fàn diàn yín liǔ yuè bǐng), “Liuzhou Hotel silver willow mooncakes” 安定underneath 雅风银柳 (yǎ fēng yín liǔ), “Elegant silver willow”, which I read as a tribute to the city – the liu part of Liuzhou means “willow”. That’s all the information they give. Nothing in the way of description, ingredients of flavours. Just pay up and move along! *The government owns the hotel and the government awards the stars in China, so take that with a tablespoon of salt.

Century old? It is old but not that old.

I mentioned mulberry earlier. Here is a variation on that theme. These are described as 米月饼 (黑芝麻／桑葚) (mǐ yuè bǐng (hēi zhī ma / sāng shèn)) which is rice mooncakes (black sesame / mulberry). I think I’d prefer just the mulberry on its own. Not a fan of black sesame paste.