As this year's Chongyang Festival approaches, Chongyang cake has become the hottest Chinese dim sum of the season. Some long-established community stores have booked more than 100,000 yuan of Chongyang cakes; in major commercial street business circles such as Nanjing East Road Pedestrian Street, some long-established brands can sell tens of thousands of boxes of Chongyang cakes a day.
"The tradition of respecting and loving the elderly has been passed down and developed, and changes can be seen from a piece of cake." Shen Guoxing is known as the "King of Shanghai Cake Dumplings", the third generation of the long-established Shen Dacheng Pastry Department, who has led his disciples to make this year's Chongyang cakes since the National Day holiday. The red Chongyang cake is sprinkled with sesame seeds, and when consumers get their hands on it, it is still hot.
After making Chongyang cake for more than 40 years, Shen Guoxing felt that the process had basically not changed, but there were some fine adjustments in the recipe, which was more suitable for the elderly to taste. In the past, Chongyang cake was mostly sticky cake, but now it is more loose cake, "sticky cake is more sticky, the elderly are not easy to swallow; in contrast, the pine cake taste is crisp, more suitable for the elderly." "At present, most Chongyang cakes are made in a similar way to muffins, where glutinous rice and japonica rice are compared and ground into powder, sifted into custom-made abrasives, and steamed to form. The finished product is soft but not viscous.
Another innovation is that the taste is richer and the accessories are more exquisite. Shen Guoxing said that Chongyang cake is often a filial piety to the elders of the younger generation, and the most important thing is health and nutrition. In Shen Dacheng, candied Chongyang cake and sesame Chongyang cake is a classic product, of which the varieties of candied fruit and sesame seeds are exquisite, "candied fruit has winter melon strips and orange peel, in addition to good looks, but also because the winter melon strips are heat-clearing and detoxifying, orange peel is healthy and healthy, dry and moist phlegm; sesame seeds should be selected with large particles, full, which helps to nourish the kidneys." "In recent years, the price of the new Wuren Chongyang cake is higher than that of the classic product, but there are many consumers who pay for it, because the quality is visible: peach, almond, pine nut, melon kernel, sesame seeds will fill a cake full.
In Shen Dacheng's back kitchen, the reporter also found that the coconut paste Chongyang cake used butter, and the milk aroma mixed with the coconut aroma after steaming was particularly strong. Shen Guoxing said that this is also an adjustment according to market demand, "The Western-style cake using butter is softer after baking, so we learned from this, matched the butter with the coconut, and found that it can optimize the taste of the coconut, reduce the sweetness, increase the aroma and crispness." ”
The Chongyang cake of Qiao Jiazha, another long-established pastry in Shanghai, has also changed in the inheritance. "Old Master" Zhao Jinmei said that Qiao Jiazha's Chongyang cake has a soft and sticky taste but does not stick to the teeth, which lies in making full use of the "soul" of rice noodles, which is a heavy yang cake: glutinous rice and japonica rice are washed after mixing, soaked and ground, and "awake" for several hours before the cake can be made. As for the length of time of soaking and "waking", it is related to the characteristics of japonica rice and glutinous rice from different origins, and the ultimate goal is that the steamed Chongyang cake can not only see the grained rice noodles, but also be soft and delicious, and no leavening agent is added to the whole production process.
"Also, chongyang cakes that are too sweet are no longer popular, so it is very exquisite to use what raw materials to reflect 'a little bit of sweetness'." Zhao Jinmei said that in Qiaojiazhai, steamed red beans replace bean paste, which can not only increase the sweetness of the cake body, but also not too sweet, and is suitable for the elderly to chew; the red dates, peach kernels, melon kernels, pine nuts, etc. on the cake surface can enrich the taste. They also found that the number of young people who like Chongyang cake is also increasing, so Qiao Jiazha's new format "Qiao Coffee" has listed Osmanthus Chongyang Cake that can be paired with coffee. The candy osmanthus is fragrant and slightly sweet, paired with coffee, and takes the popular "seasonal limited model" route.
It is worth mentioning that the color of Chongyang cake is getting richer and richer nowadays. For example, Wang Jiasha launched a combination of Chongyang cakes, red red balls, brown date paste cakes, yellow yellow muffins, white sesame cakes and colorful muffins together, which makes people feel appetizing.
"Although the color is bright, there is no pigment, it is dyed with natural raw materials." The Xinya master team introduced two kinds of Chongyang cakes, among which the red Chongyang cake was ground into the surface of the cake after grinding red yeast rice, dotted with white chicken head rice and golden yellow osmanthus flowers, the color was festive and natural; the yellow Chongyang cake surface layer was yellow millet, sprinkled with red goji berries, the color was natural and gorgeous. Wang Jiasha, Shen Dacheng and Qiao Jiazha's colorful Chongyang cakes are colored in a similar way: red comes from red yeast rice or beets, green comes from matcha powder, yellow comes from yellow millet, and brown is made of date paste.
In addition to continuing the "front shop and back workshop" fresh Chongyang cake, most of the long-established brands have also launched factory-produced pre-packaged products. "'Front shop and back workshop' and factory production have their own advantages and disadvantages, the former eats fresh, the latter can be a little richer in shape, and support online shopping." Shen Guoxing said for example, in Shen Dacheng's pre-packaged Chongyang cake, there are new products in the shape of shou peach, which are very popular among netizens.
"The taste of Chongyang cake will change, the packaging will change, and the way of selling it will change, but the tradition of respecting the elderly will not change." Zhao Jinmei took out a packet of small red flags and told reporters that now for food safety and sales convenience considerations, many Chongyang cakes are pre-packaged for sale, but they still prepared small red flags, which were given to consumers who bought cakes on the day of Chongyang Festival, "I wish everyone to ascend step by step, health and longevity." ”
【Extended Information】
1. Why do you want to eat cakes during chongyang festival? Why is a small flag planted on the cake?
The custom of eating cakes on the Chongyang Festival evolved from the story of Huan Jing, a Runan, of the Han Dynasty, who ascended to a high altitude on September 9 to avoid disasters. But not all regions have high mountains, so people use "eat cakes" instead of "ascending" and planting small flags instead of planting coconuts.
Therefore, the Han Dynasty's "Xijing Miscellaneous Records" has recorded this custom: "On the ninth day of September, pei zhu yu, eating fluffy bait, drinking chrysanthemum wine, the cloud makes people live longer."
Among them, "bait" is "cake", "peng" mainly refers to crops such as black puff and millet, and "puff bait" has gradually become the current "Chongyang cake". In the past, the elaborate Chongyang cake should be made in 9 layers, which means "many" and "high", which means to eat cakes instead of ascending; two small sheep are also cut on paper, which means Chongyang (sheep); and then a small flag is planted instead of planting a cocoon.
At the same time, the Chongyang Festival is on the ninth day of the ninth month of the lunar calendar, and the harmonic sound of "nine nine" is "long-lasting", which has the meaning of long life, health and longevity. Chongyang Festival is thus considered to be a day of respect for the elderly, and chongyang cakes are used to wish the elderly health and longevity.
2. How to save Chongyang cake?
Freshly made Chongyang cakes do not contain preservatives, and the shelf life at room temperature is usually only three or five days. However, many teachers said that Chongyang cake can be refrigerated or frozen, of which frozen can be stored for half a month to a month. Remove the cake from the freezer before serving, place it in the refrigerator to thaw, and steam through the water.
Chongyang cake is also easy to harden after being stored at room temperature, and it can also be steamed in the same way to restore the taste.
Column Editor-in-Chief: Wu Weiqun Text Editor: Ren Chong
Source: Author: Ren Chong