Chestnut Cake – A Popular Chongyang Festival Treat
Chestnut cake is a traditional Chinese pastry made primarily from chestnuts, pine nuts, and melon seeds. It first appeared in historical records from the Southern Song dynasty, when it was already a popular treat for guests during the Chongyang Festival.
According to traditional recipes recorded in Qing dynasty texts, the cake is made by selecting fresh chestnuts, steaming and boiling them, then mashing them into a paste. The chestnut paste is mixed with glutinous rice flour in a certain proportion, and the surface is sprinkled with melon seeds and pine nuts. Modern variations include an improved version called chestnut and pine nut cake, which uses maltose to blend the chestnut paste with pine nuts, then presses the mixture into molds to set. This pastry is also mentioned in ancient Chinese literature, including a variant described in the classic novel Dream of the Red Chamber.
Chestnut cakes vary from region to region in China. In Beijing, the cake is made with layers of chestnut paste sandwiched between slices of golden cake and sweetened bean paste, giving it bright colors and a soft, fine texture. Tianjin has a traditional version called ripe chestnut cake, which has been passed down for generations. It is made from a mixed flour of rice, soybeans, chestnuts, millet, peas, and other grains, and is served with a variety of homemade sauces. In the river towns south of the Yangtze, the cake is diamond-shaped and steamed with ingredients like red dates, symbolizing a good harvest and good fortune.
In the Jiangnan region, the custom of making this cake during the Chongyang Festival is still preserved today. The word for "cake" (gao) sounds like the word for "high" (gao), so eating it symbolizes climbing to a high place to pray for good luck. In addition, the word for "chestnut" is pronounced like "li zi", evoking hopes for children and a bright future for the next generation. People also make and give chestnut cakes to the elderly as a way of expressing their good wishes for health and longevity.