During this Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, the mooncake market has quietly ushered in an iteration of taste and health concepts.
Beyond the familiar traditional Cantonese and Suzhou-style mooncakes, a batch of medicinal mooncakes developed by medical institutions has continued to trend, and festive pastries produced by several hospitals have become hot topics on social platforms.
As the concept of food and medicine sharing the same origin is kneaded into the crust and filling, a small mooncake reflects the new consumer trend of light wellness among the public, and also opens up new imaginative space for the integration of traditional Chinese medicine into daily life and innovation in the big health industry.
Five Elements Herbal Vegetarian Mooncakes. Photo courtesy of Zhejiang Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine
Last year, the Five Elements Medicinal Mooncakes developed by the Tang Jun Famous Chinese Medicine Doctor Studio at Zhejiang Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine already went viral on social platforms. Netizens once said: "Unexpectedly, the standout item of Mid-Autumn Festival turned out to be produced by a hospital."
Reporters learned from visits that this year this "internet-famous mooncake" has seen its popularity escalate, iterated into Five Elements Herbal Vegetarian Mooncakes, with a comprehensive refresh of formula, ingredients, and packaging, putting herbal flavors such as raspberry, wild jujube seed, codonopsis, and lily into a delicate pastry, giving traditional food therapy a lighter and more contemporary way of appearing.
"Unlike market mooncakes that rely on artificial colors for coloring, our team placed ingenuity on the colors of the crust," introduced a relevant person in charge of Zhejiang Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine. The green color of the mooncake comes from celery powder, the red from cactus powder, the earthy yellow from pumpkin powder, the original rice aroma forms the golden crust, and black sesame powder creates the black color. The five colors of green, red, yellow, white, and black correspond to the five elements of wood, fire, earth, metal, and water, echoing the wellness concept in traditional Chinese medicine that the five elements correspond to the five organs.
Reporters cut open the mooncake and found that the crust and filling are clearly layered, and the rice flour crust sheds the heavy feeling of traditional Cantonese oily crust. Many netizens commented that the crust has a rich rice aroma in the aftertaste, is refreshing and not greasy when eaten, with only a faint herbal fragrance.
In addition to Zhejiang Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine, mooncakes produced by several medical institutions all focus their core on the word "vegetarian." Reporters observed that these mooncake ingredients are natural and pure, with few additives, highlighting a healthy way of eating with light oil and light sugar, especially suitable for the elderly, children, and people who pay attention to health management.
People tasting medicinal food at a health market. Photo by Zhang Yuhuan
Pan'an County Hospital of Chinese Medicine, following the concept of food and medicine sharing the same origin, upgraded the formula of its specialty mooncakes and launched wellness mooncakes, including five varieties: mulberry leaf and mung bean, red date and longan, osmanthus and poria, yam and lily, and polygonatum five-black. They are made with ingredients such as mulberry leaf, red date, poria, lily, and polygonatum. The hospital also launched a supporting tangerine peel and laurel drink, formulated with hawthorn, dark plum, tangerine peel, licorice, and osmanthus, highlighting the promotion of body fluids and relieving greasiness, suitable for eating with mooncakes.
At the same time, many medical institutions are also exploring innovative expressions in the appearance of mooncakes. Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital launched medicinal rice mooncakes, with soft tones, finely embossed patterns, and simple gift boxes that carry the elegance of Chinese tea pastries. Old mooncakes retain the familiar festive taste, while new products surprise people with healthy ingenuity.
The continued popularity of medicinal mooncakes reflects a shift in dietary concepts of a generation. In the past, wellness was often tied to bitter decoctions and cumbersome conditioning, but today the light wellness pursued by young people seeks integration into daily life, low thresholds, and a sense of ritual. Traditional Chinese medicine elements are no longer limited to clinics and pharmacies, but are transformed into daily foods such as mooncakes and pastries, entering public life through milder and more delicious carriers, realizing the integration of medicine into food.
From the industry's perspective, hospitals entering the medicinal pastry sector is not simply cross-border "making internet-famous food," but medical institutions keenly capturing public health needs and transforming the theories of traditional Chinese medicine preventive treatment and food-medicine homology into products. Mooncakes are just a starting point. According to introductions, in addition to Five Elements Herbal Vegetarian Mooncakes, the team at Zhejiang Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine also plans to continue developing a series of medicinal pastries, extending the concept of food therapy to more daily pastry scenarios. Creativity in the big health industry is constantly emerging, and traditional Chinese medicine culture, through food, completes a silent popularization of science.
Amid the boom, rational understanding is equally important. Medical institutions have repeatedly reminded that medicinal mooncakes belong to food-medicine homology foods. Although various wellness ingredients are added, they cannot replace medicine. Citizens need to eat according to their own constitution, taste in moderation, and rationally experience the Mid-Autumn food therapy flavor.
A medicinal mooncake connects the folk tradition of Mid-Autumn reunion on one end, and the Chinese people's longing for a healthy life on the other. When ancient food-medicine wisdom meets the contemporary light wellness lifestyle, traditional Chinese medicine culture is integrating into ordinary people's daily life in a tasteable, perceptible, and shareable manner. Innovation in the big health industry is also rooted in ordinary people's long-term pursuit of a better life and healthy eating.
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