Local temple begins annual mooncake cooking

Ti Gong

Shanghai’s Jade Buddha Temple began cooking its vegetarian mooncake from today after the abbot and senior monks blessed the traditional Mid-autumn Festival food.

Some 150 senior cookers make about 70,000 mooncakes in over 20 flavors every day. Many of the cookers have been making the traditional food for decades, said Chen Ming, an official taking charge of the mooncake productions.

The traditional Suzhou and Cantonese style mooncakes are being made through stuff making, modeling and baking that can hardly be produced by machines. The vegetarian mooncakes of the temple are made with less oil and sugar comparing with other traditional festival treats, Chen said.

The prices will increase slightly this year, by 0.5 yuan each, due to the rising costs of ingredients and higher salaries.

The temple has a 30-year tradition of making mooncakes for the Mid-autumn Festival that falls on October 4 this year.

Before the boiler was started, the temple’s abbot and senior monks blessed the mooncakes and the production line that people believe will bring good luck. The mooncakes are available in the temple and supermarkets across the city from next Friday.

The mooncake from the temple is especially popular among overseas Chinese and foreign visitors who buy at the temple on Jiangning Road in Putuo District which receives millions of foreign tourists every year, according to Chen.