Traditional mooncakes in Hainan usually use lotus paste, coconut paste, red bean paste or mixed nuts as fillings. As people's preference for healthier food rises, Chinese fevervine herb and areca flower, two local plants of Hainan, have now become popular ingredients of the new Hainan flavor mooncakes.

Different from Cantonese-style and Suzhou-style mooncakes, the Hainan flavored mooncakes integrate the best parts of the two. The crust is crisp, but not greasy.

The Chinese fevervine herb is a kind of vine with aromatic sap. Locals in Hainan Island used to crush them and get the juice, steaming it with rice flour to make glutinous rice cake. A dessert with all natural ingredients is then made and it helps to dispel the heat in summer days.

To make a Chinese fevervine herb flavored mooncake, lotus, coconut, salted egg yolk, and flour are also needed after crushing the herb into liquid. Mix all of them together and put small chumps into a mold, and then you can get fresh and sweet mooncakes after baking.

It is also a tradition in Hainan to stew soup with areca flower. Chicken, duck, and pig's feet may be added. Such soup can be sweet and help quench thirst, as well as enhance the strength of lungs. The process of making an areca flower flavor mooncake is similar to that of Chinese fevervine herb flavored mooncakes. Crush the flowers and then mix them with rice flour and other ingredients. To make the mooncake even more aromatic, air-dried clean areca flowers can also be added while mixing.

A tasty Chinese fevervine herb-flavored mooncake. [Photo/hainan.gov.cn]