The Deceptive Ingredients in Mooncakes
The filling accounts for a significant portion of the production cost of mooncakes. To cut costs, unscrupulous merchants often cut corners on the filling. When purchasing mooncakes, carefully examine the filling and weight of the lower-priced options; don't be misled by the low price.
Fruit Mooncakes with No Fruit: According to the "National Standard for Mooncakes" released by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of China, fruit mooncakes must have a filling made primarily from fruit or its processed products, with the fruit content accounting for no less than 25%. Mooncakes that fall below this standard should be labeled as "fruit-flavored." Industry insiders reveal that most fruit mooncakes sold on the market are actually "fruit-flavored" ones masquerading as genuine fruit mooncakes. The filling in many of these is made from winter melon paste, with the so-called pineapple or other "fruit fillings" simply being winter melon paste mixed with artificial fruit flavorings.
"Sugar-Free" Mooncakes Are Not Sugar-Free: Experts point out that most "sugar-free" mooncakes on the market simply replace sucrose with maltose to maintain a less sweet taste. However, the sugar content in some substitutes like maltitol, sorbitol, and xylitol cannot be guaranteed to meet the "sugar-free" standard. Furthermore, the starch in mooncakes is converted into glucose during digestion and absorption. For the elderly and diabetics, excessive consumption can still lead to a spike in blood sugar.
Cloud Bean and Sweet Potato Filling Masquerading as Pure Lotus Seed Paste: The primary ingredient in pure lotus seed paste mooncakes is lotus seeds. To reduce costs, many counterfeit manufacturers use much cheaper cloud beans or sweet potatoes as substitutes, then add lotus seed essence and coloring to create what they call "pure lotus seed paste." It is said that mooncakes made with this fake filling are difficult for the average consumer to distinguish, and some might even mistakenly believe the lotus flavor is more intense. An industry insider noted that the cost of these "pure lotus seed paste" mooncakes is significantly lower than the real thing.
Artificial Synthetic Fibers Used to Fake Egg Yolks: Besides the lotus paste, the egg yolks in lotus paste with egg yolk mooncakes can also be faked. High-quality salted egg yolks are oily and have a sandy texture. Unscrupulous merchants use various methods to achieve this. One method is to use low-quality duck eggs, but the yolks from these eggs are not red, oily, or sandy, and look unappealing. To fix this, merchants add red dye to make the yolks red and inject a liquid (the specific substance is unknown) which, when heated to a certain temperature, causes the yolk to become oily. Another method involves using artificial synthetic fibers to create fake salted egg yolks. It is understood that this method is even cheaper than using low-quality salted duck eggs, making it more favored by dishonest merchants.
Five-Nut Mooncakes with Fewer Nuts: The filling for five-nut mooncakes typically includes southern almonds, northern almonds, walnuts, olives, and sesame seeds. A common cost-cutting tactic is to increase the proportion of cheaper nuts while reducing the amount of expensive ones. For example, in one mooncake filling, the amount of sesame seeds and melon seeds might be increased, while the amount of olives and almonds is minimized. Ideally, olives should make up 10%-15% of the five-nut filling. Some manufacturers take it a step further by chopping all the nuts into small pieces and mixing them with other fillings, lotus paste, and flour, still labeling it as a "five-nut XX mooncake," making it impossible for consumers to tell what nuts are actually inside. Additionally, some manufacturers use lower-grade nuts to replace the higher-quality ones.