Chocolate mooncakes with Koko Black this mid-Autumn festival
Koko Black’s Mid Autumn Mooncakes
Mooncakes, I had always assumed, were lovely, traditional things eaten politely while admiring the moon. Then Koko Black got involved. Now there is caramel. There is praline. There is mango spice.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the great celebrations of Chinese culture, held on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month, when the moon is traditionally at its fullest and brightest. Its history stretches back more than 3,000 years, with the festival centred on harvest, family, reunion, gratitude and good fortune.
All extremely noble. And then somebody brings out the mooncakes. Mooncakes are at the heart of the celebration, their round shape symbolising completeness and togetherness. Traditionally they are shared among family, which is beautiful in theory and slightly more challenging when the one you want has sour cherry jelly and pistachio praline inside it.
Koko Black has created four chocolate versions. There is Mango Spice: Creamy milk chocolate ganache infused with Chinese 5 spice, combined with a mango jelly yolk, encased in 54% dark chocolate. Crispy Almond and Caramel: vanilla caramel, crunchy almond praline and milk chocolate. Matcha and Red Bean: red bean ganache, matcha shortbread and matcha white chocolate. And Cherry Pistachio, which combines sour cherry jelly, pistachio praline and caramelised white chocolate and sounds like the sort of thing you order casually and then spend the next three days thinking about.
The danger is that they arrive looking like a gift. Koko Black has gone all out on the presentation, with beautiful mooncake boxes and collections of four and eight, because apparently it is no longer enough to make chocolate irresistible. It must now arrive dressed for the Met Gala. You pick up the box thinking, Lovely. I’ll give this to someone.
Then you open it. There is a pause. You remember that the someone in question has never once bought you a mooncake. Things move quickly from there.
Of course, reinventing the mooncake is entirely in keeping with tradition. Different regions of China have developed their own styles over centuries, from Hong Kong-style ice-skin mooncakes to sweet and savoury Cantonese versions. The mooncake has never been a food afraid of a little reinvention. Koko Black has simply taken this admirable flexibility and run off with it towards the chocolate cupboard.
And why not? The Mid-Autumn Festival is about coming together, giving thanks and sharing something special with people you love. Lanterns glow, families gather and mooncakes are exchanged as symbols of reunion and good fortune.
So buy a box. Gather everyone around. Admire the moon. Reflect on 3,000 years of tradition. Share generously. Be gracious. Celebrate togetherness. But if there are only four mooncakes and five people at the table, perhaps arrive early.oko Black’s reinvented mooncakes will be available from 8 September until the Mid-Autumn Festival, 6 October.
Visit www.kokoblack.com
