Xinghualou keeps mooncakes traditional, but goes healthy
Time-honored brand Xinghualou joins hands with Coca-Cola, an "East meets West" innovative approach.
Two months away from the Mid-Autumn Festival, Xinghualou, one of the city's oldest brands, has revealed its unique recipe for the seasonal festive snack of mooncakes, adding something special.
Unlike other time-honored restaurants and food stores in the city which pursue novel and sometimes bizarre tastes in mooncakes, Xinghualou with a history dating to 1851 has developed a special mung bean fiber mooncake which highlights health.
"Dietary fiber is added into the mung bean mooncakes with the fiber content reaching 6 percent to satisfy consumers' demand for healthy food," said Chen Zhe, General Manager of Xinghualou Group. The mooncake is also low in sugar.
Xinhualou chefs developed the recipe over a year, and the proportion of fillings went through numerous adjustment to ensure quality, said Chen.
The mooncake is served with fiber cola from Coca-Cola in three gift boxes, an innovative "East meets West" approach.
Each can of Coca-Cola fiber cola contains about 5 grams of dietary fiber.
The cooperation makes the time-honored brand young and international, said Chen.
The formula of Coca-Cola only shared with a small group was placed in a vault, while the secret recipe of Xinghualou mooncake was also placed inside a vault at the Shanghai Pudong Development Bank in July, 1997.
The recipe contains 16 procedures and eight key points in operation.
The design of the gift boxes drew inspiration from white moonlight to cater to young people, but they also feature traditional and classic patterns like peony, and Chang'e, the Chinese goddess of the moon.
Xinghualou mooncakes hit the market in the United States and Canada last year, and they will also be sold in the US this year.
This year's Mid-Autumn Festival falls on September 13.
Cross-industry cooperation is a new trend of time-honored brands to inject vitality into old brands and lure youngsters.
Among them, the Shanghai-based White Rabbit candy company has teamed up with Happy Lemon to produce a White Rabbit candy version of milk tea, and a floral-fragrance flavored alcopop has been produced by Liushen floral water and Rio.
