Shandong mooncake market has become a "national trend", with Qilu elements and sugar reduction technology becoming highlights

China News Service, Jinan, September 23 (Li Mingrui) The Mid-Autumn Festival is approaching, and the mooncake market is ushering in the peak sales season. This year, Shandong's mooncake market is full of "new" ideas. Qilu elements such as peonies and pork belly are integrated into the creative design of mooncakes, while traditional flavors such as five kernels and bean paste are updated through sugar reduction technology. "Fancy" mooncakes ignite people's enthusiasm for consumption.

Heze, the "Peony Capital of China", has unique peony resources. Peony fillings have become a highlight of local mooncake innovation, and peony flowers "bloom" into the fillings and shapes of Mid-Autumn mooncakes.

In Juye County, Heze City, peonies "bloom" into the fillings and shapes of Mid-Autumn mooncakes. Photo courtesy of Juye County Party Committee Propaganda Department

On the eve of the Mid-Autumn Festival, in the production workshop of Heze Shengweiyuan Food Co., Ltd. in Juye County, Heze City, workers were kneading fresh peony petals into bean paste fillings, and then pressing them into shapes with peony pattern molds. The baked mooncakes were rich in floral fragrance and unique in shape. "We added peony petals to the bean paste filling to give the mooncakes a unique floral fragrance. The product was welcomed by the market as soon as it was launched," said Wang Jinliang, the company's production manager.

At a mooncake sales point in Juye County, citizen Cheng Chunqiu praised the peony mooncake gift box while selecting it: "The petals are filled with fillings, and the cake surface is printed with peony patterns. It is delicious and beautiful, with a strong flavor of hometown culture."

At present, the concept of healthy diet among the people is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and low-fat, low-sugar and light-burden food consumption have become the new mainstream of food consumption. In view of the industry pain points of traditional mooncakes being high in oil and sugar, Tai'an Tianbao Town Fuqiang Food Co., Ltd. has accurately responded to the new market needs, deeply engaged in formula improvement and process innovation, broke through the shortcomings of traditional pastry production, and successfully developed a series of new healthy products such as buckwheat mooncakes and sugar-free mooncakes. On the basis of retaining the mellow taste and authentic flavor of traditional mooncakes, the product optimizes the sugar and oil ratio, reduces dietary burden, accurately adapts to the healthy dietary needs of contemporary consumers, and has accumulated a stable and high-quality market reputation.

At present, the annual sales volume of the healthy series of mooncakes of the above-mentioned enterprises is stable at around 500 tons. At the same time, the company continues to enrich diverse flavor categories such as five kernels, egg yolk meat floss, and salt and pepper, breaking the seasonal production and sales limitations of mooncakes and achieving year-round normalized production and sustainable sales.

Haidailou Zhongshuge, located in Zhangdian District, Zibo City, launches cultural and creative mooncakes with the theme of Qi culture, integrating the Qi style into Chinese dim sum. The design of the mooncakes not only draws on the beauty of architecture, taking the Haidai Tower as the inspiration for the shape, but also deeply explores the essence of Qi culture, launching a variety of distinctive shapes such as "Qi Guo Dao Coin" and "Single Horse Carriage".

Haidailou Zhongshuge in Zhangdian District, Zibo City launches cultural and creative mooncakes with the theme of Qi culture. Official photo provided by Haidai Tower Zhongshuge

In terms of production technology, the pastry chef cleverly mixes two different colors of ingredients and presses them into shape using a mold to create an "ink painting" effect with oriental aesthetics. The cake crust not only has a natural color, but is also engraved with exquisite cultural symbols.

Mokomoli Pastry Shop in Dongchangfu District, Liaocheng City innovatively launches the "Eight Water Transport Realms" cultural and creative mooncakes. Taking the Grand Canal as the main line, it integrates Liaocheng's water transport trade, ancient city context, intangible cultural heritage ingenuity and human fireworks into the mooncake design. On top of the cake, there are not only the sparkling blue waves of Dongchang Lake, the majestic eaves of Guangyue Tower, the ancient carvings of Shanshan Guild Hall, but also the meaning of fortune and fortune carried by Dongchang gourd, allowing citizens and tourists to taste the profound heritage and unique style of the ancient canal capital in a sweet bite.