Of romance and revolution

By Pauline D Loh (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-09-25 10:32

Spicy fragrant crab pot is a popular dish with gourmets and gourmands alike.
Moon cakes made by the Regent Beijing.

Autumn. The air is light and summer's humid heat is fading. Pomegranates in the courtyards are bursting their vermillion skins to show off their jeweled kernels. In the parks and gardens, chrysanthemums are on stand-by for their seasonal display.

Stars are finally struggling through the cool dusk, and the moon will shine its brightest wit

h Mid-Autumn around the corner. This is a time to celebrate both revolution and romance.

There are many legends linked to Zhongqiujie or Mid-Autumn Festival, but the most commonly quoted are about secret messages that galvanized a change of government, and a romantic, if convoluted, story of the archer Hou Yi and his wife Chang'e, the lady in the moon.

Let's talk about revolution first. Although the festival is long established in Chinese folklore, the eating of the mandatory moon cakes did not start until late, relative to culinary chronology. In 1368, chaffing under the Mongolian yoke after 88 years, an adviser to rebel chief Zhu Yuanzhang came up with a plot to send out rallying messages hidden in sweet pastries - much like fortune cookies.

Although there are no documented records to show how the rebels actually gathered, we can safely say the way to a revolutionary heart, must have been through the stomach since Zhu Yuanzhang successfully overthrew the Yuan emperors and founded the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).

Moon cakes(Above Number 2&4)are now sold in elaborate packaging that jack up the prices of the pastries to hundreds of yuan. All sorts of pastries and fillings imaginable are available, even moon cakes made from icecream and chocolate. In the south, the favorite traditional filling is lotus seed paste, while northerners like everything from red bean and date paste to ham and nuts.

A much earlier myth associated with the festival is the rather melancholic romance between the archer Hou Yi and his wife, Chang'e. There many versions but here are the most common threads.

In those times when gods and men had a less remote relationship, 10 blazing suns shone relentlessly, scorching the earth. Hou Yi was a fine marksman, so he took his bow and arrows and shot down nine, wisely leaving one to bless the day.

For his great common sense, he was rewarded with an elixir for immortality enough for him and his wife, whom he loved dearly. He kept the elixir in a box while he went hunting and told his wife not to open it. That was the last thing he should have said.

Just like Pandora, Chang'e was into the box as soon as hubby was out of the door. Unfortunately, he came back unexpectedly and surprised her holding the elixir. In her panic, Chang'e drank it all up.

The potion was so strong she started floating and didn't stop till she reached the moon. And there she has remained since, looking down in eternal regret, accompanied only by a little rabbit she managed to grab on the way up.

Both stories are often retold as people gather under the autumn moon, feasting on moon cakes and sipping fine tea. This is an occasion for the family to get together, second only to the Lunar New Year reunion dinner that every Chinese rushes home for.

The food on the table is seasonal, and often the main attraction is hairy crabs, which are at their largest and richest with roe during autumn. In Shanghai, only the best crabs from Yangcheng Lake are eaten and gourmets and ostentatious gourmands alike willingly fork out more than 1,000 yuan ($146) per kg each year for the authentic stuff.

In the current climate of commercial excesses, an enterprising supplier recently put a pair of crabs into gilded cages and hawked them for 99,990 yuan. (That works out to about 5,000 yuan a mouthful.)

What are these hairy crabs anyway?

They are estuarine crustaceans that are also known as mitten crabs, after the patch of dense fur on their claws. These semi-freshwater crabs are eaten in autumn when they are fattening up for the mating season. The attraction is in the roe or milt, which is truly intense in flavor and is soft like concentrated custard flavored with foie gras.

Throughout Chinese literature, poets and princes have sung the praises of crabs in autumn, which are usually served with a soupcon of chrysanthemum tea and an elegant pot of the very best nu'er hong, a rice wine called "virgin red" that merits a separate story of its own.

Moon cakes and crabs are not the only treats on the Mid-Autumn dining table. You also have the sweet pomelos(Above Number 3).

These huge citrus fruits are like gigantic grapefruits, but unlike pamplemousse, they are very sweet and the fruit sacs separate easily. They ripen about now and because they have beautifully golden skin and a round rump, they are enjoyed for both their likeness to the lunar orb and their juicy sweetness.

Pomegranates(Above Number 1),too, are just right for the picking now. Their jeweled seeds are very pretty and they are also popular during this period.

In the south, the taro harvest is ready. These are little yams, unlike the larger varieties and they are simply boiled, peeled at table and dipped in caster sugar as a snack.

Another uniquely southern addition to the Mid-Autumn Festival is the strangely shaped water caltrop(Above Number 5).The fruit of an aquatic plant, they look like a black bull's head with impressive horns. I think they look like the torso of an overly enthusiastic body builder. The nut inside is snow-white and when steamed and cracked is subtly sweet and quite delicious.