Le̍k-tāu-phòng

Le̍k-tāu-phòng or lǜdòu pèng is a traditional Taiwanese mooncake. The filling is made of sweet mung bean paste stuffed with lard and shallots and baked, and sometimes a little pork is added. In recent years, due to the emphasis on health, many operators have also introduced versions that do not contain pork, lard and other ingredients, and are purely filled with mung bean puree.
Traditional Taiwanese mooncakes are large in size. Since the early 1980s, the industry in Fengyuan District, Taichung, known as the "Pastry Capital" of Taiwan, has invented small mooncakes that have no lard residue and are filled with mung bean puree filling. The portion is half the size of traditional mooncakes.

History

The Lek-tau-phong emerged in the 1940s. During the Japanese colonial period in Taiwan, Japanese confectionery culture moved into Taiwan. In order to cater to Japanese tastes, Fengyuan's local pastry manufacturers learned Japanese wagashi technology, used sweeter fillings, and reduced the size of pastries, promoting the popularity of Japanese confectionery. Fengyuan's local cake shops also developed a small mooncake with mung bean paste as the filling, called gourd dun cake, which is the predecessor of lek-tau-phong。.