Brief content: Mooncakes are best when fresh, not stale. Eat fresh, not old. Because mooncakes contain a lot of fat, storing them for too long can easily lead to spoilage. Fresh mooncakes are round, plump, have good appearance, strong fresh flavor, and are delicious. Stale mooncakes have oxidized and rancid oils, losing their original flavor and even producing an unpleasant "rancid" smell, which is even less healthy. It's best to buy and eat them immediately.
Urban life is tense and busy, and people often neglect their dietary requirements. In fact, from the moment you drink your first glass of water in the morning, your day's diet has already begun. What nutrients do vegetables of different colors contain? How to reasonably combine meat and vegetables for breakfast, lunch, and dinner? To help you avoid discomfort or even diseases caused by dietary misconceptions, the Life Editor has carefully gathered various health and diet information for you, tailoring a healthy diet just for you!
The Mid-Autumn Festival is approaching, and mooncakes, which are sweet and symbolize family reunion, have once again appeared on people's dining tables. Although the reunion festival is a happy occasion, everyone should not eat too many mooncakes due to excessive joy, leading to unnecessary trouble and pain. Citizens are reminded to eat mooncakes scientifically and to have a light diet.
Most mooncakes nowadays are high in oil, sugar, and calories. After eating mooncakes, the day's diet should be light and not too greasy. For the three meals a day, if you eat mooncakes for breakfast, lunch and dinner should be low in oil and sugar. Use less oil when stir-frying, replace greasy dishes with other cooking methods—change stir-frying to cold dressing, and braising to stewing. Replace some meat dishes with vegetables and fruits.
Experts recommend eating mooncakes in the morning. Mooncakes are high in oil and sugar, so eating them in the morning can replenish the energy needed for the morning and is less likely to cause weight gain. At the same time, pair them with protein-rich foods like milk and soy milk, and you can also add some fruit.
Some special groups need to be extra careful when eating mooncakes. For diabetics, be cautious when eating sugar-free mooncakes. Some sugar-free mooncakes use sugar alcohol sweeteners, and excessive consumption may also cause diarrhea. Moreover, the oil content in sugar-free mooncakes is no less than that of regular mooncakes, and the calorie content is still high. People with high blood lipids and high cholesterol should not choose meat-filled or egg yolk-filled mooncakes, as these types are too high in fat. They can choose five-nut mooncakes, but they must also control the amount consumed. People who are controlling their weight should eat fewer mooncakes to avoid excessive calorie intake.
I. Selection of Mooncakes
1. Ingredients of Mooncakes
Traditional mooncakes are a seasonal food made from flour, oil, sugar, nuts, bean paste, pepper salt, and other auxiliary ingredients through baking. Mooncakes are highly nutritious, containing rich sugar, fat, protein, inorganic salts, and vitamins, especially high in calories.
Improved and innovative mooncakes do not truly meet the requirements of nutrition science; they only relatively reduce the use of sugar or use sweeteners, flavor enhancers, etc. The applicable groups and scopes are targeted, only to increase the range of consumption for some people with special diseases, allowing more people to enjoy the traditional festive food culture during the holidays.
2. Food Hygiene of Mooncakes
Mooncakes are easily contaminated by bacteria. When selecting mooncakes, check their quality. High-quality ones have uniform shape and size, are flat and full, have a crisp and non-flaking crust or clear pattern imprints, do not leak filling, have a golden and oily surface, are fresh and not shriveled, and have no scorched spots on the bottom. Mooncakes bought back generally should not be stored in a sealed container for a long time. It is best to put them in a bamboo basket in a cool, ventilated place. Boxed mooncakes should have their lids opened to allow ventilation. When storing mooncakes, avoid light to prevent the oil from oxidizing and becoming rancid. At a temperature of 25°C, the storage time for meat-filled mooncakes should not exceed 5 days, and for vegetarian-filled mooncakes, not more than 10 days. Among them, mooncakes with softer fillings like bean paste and jujube paste, due to their higher water content, should have a shorter storage time.
II. Matters to Note When Eating Mooncakes
1. Know the dual nature of food. For example, low-sugar mooncakes have a relatively shorter shelf life, sweeteners are not without side effects, and low-sugar, low-fat is not a guarantee.
2. It's better to eat mooncakes early rather than late. It's best to eat mooncakes in the morning or at noon, and eat less or not at all in the evening, especially for the elderly. Otherwise, it may become a factor in blood clotting and thrombosis.
3. It's better to eat mooncakes in small pieces and chew slowly. When eating mooncakes, it's best to cut them into small pieces. This way, the filling is more evenly distributed, you can control the amount you eat, and chewing slowly helps with digestion.
4. It's better to eat fresh mooncakes than stale ones. Eat fresh, not old. Because mooncakes contain a lot of fat, storing them for too long can easily lead to spoilage. Fresh mooncakes are round, plump, have good appearance, strong fresh flavor, and are delicious. Stale mooncakes have oxidized and rancid oils, losing their original flavor and even producing an unpleasant "rancid" smell, which is even less healthy. It's best to buy and eat them immediately.
5. It's better to eat fewer mooncakes. Mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sucrose. Even low-fat and low-sugar varieties still contain flour components. Excessive consumption can cause a greasy sensation, easily lead to a full stomach, bloating, indigestion, loss of appetite, and high blood sugar and calories. The elderly and children should not eat too many, otherwise, it may cause abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting, or indigestion.
6. It's better to store mooncakes in the refrigerator. Mooncakes are afraid of both high temperatures and humidity. If stored for a long time, they will lose their flavor and the filling will spoil. When putting mooncakes in the refrigerator, it's best to put them in their original packaging box. Take them out one hour before eating.
7. It's better to pair mooncakes with tea. Since eating too many mooncakes can be greasy, it's advisable to drink more green tea when tasting them. Adding a little scented tea to the green tea makes it sweet and delicious, and the effect is even better!
How to Store Mooncakes
In general, during the festival, the mooncakes bought by most families can last until after the festival, or even longer. To prevent spoilage, leftover mooncakes should be properly stored. So, how should mooncakes be stored?
Mooncakes should be handled with care. Especially Suzhou-style mooncakes, because their crust is crisp and crumbly, are the easiest to break. If the crust falls off, it not only affects the appearance but also the taste and quality, and it is also prone to moisture and spoilage.
Mooncakes are rich in oil and sugar and are very susceptible to mold and spoilage when exposed to heat and moisture. Therefore, they must be stored in a low-temperature, cool, and ventilated place. Generally, mooncakes with soft crusts, high moisture content, and easy spoilage should be stored in the refrigerator with their packaging box. Take them out one hour before eating to ensure their taste. At a temperature of 25°C, mooncakes with fillings like almond and mixed nuts can be stored for about 15 days; mooncakes with fillings like bean paste, lotus seed paste, and jujube paste should not be stored for more than 10 days. If the temperature exceeds 30°C, the storage time for mooncakes should be appropriately shortened, generally not exceeding 7 days. As for fresh meat, chicken丝, and ham-filled mooncakes, they should be eaten as soon as they are bought.
When storing mooncakes, they should not be placed with other foods or sundries to avoid mixing flavors and losing their original taste and characteristics. During storage, also pay attention to preventing cockroaches, ants, mice, etc., from eating them to prevent the spread of disease. To ensure the freshness of mooncakes, when buying boxed or loose mooncakes, check the production date or factory date to understand the storage period.
6 groups of people need to be careful when eating mooncakes
Infants and young children: Because their digestive systems are not fully developed, it is difficult for them to handle large amounts of high-sugar, high-fat foods;
The elderly: Because their digestive and absorption abilities are poor, eating too much can加重 the burden on the spleen and stomach, causing indigestion, diarrhea, and other diseases;
Diabetics: Because mooncakes are high in sugar, eating too much can cause a sharp increase in blood sugar, worsening the condition;
Patients with cholecystitis and gallstones: Should not eat too many mooncakes. In severe cases, it can trigger a disease attack, and a few acute patients may even die in a short period;
Patients with duodenitis or gastritis: It is unfavorable to the healing of the disease, and consumption should be controlled;
People with high blood pressure, high blood lipids, and coronary heart disease: It will加重 the degree of myocardial ischemia and may even induce a myocardial infarction.