The Taste of Muâ-ínn—

A master baker adds tender jute leaf powder into glutinous rice and kneads the dough to an even consistency, then cuts off a piece and lightly presses it into a wooden mold. Next he deftly taps both sides of the mold in turn against the work surface and flips the mold over to release a fully formed scholar cake. The cake is a light green color with a leaf motif imprinted on the top, and emits the fragrance of grass. This is one of the marquee products of Wish Lin bakery—a muâ-ínn scholar cake.

A flavor unique to Taichung

The period from May to September each year is peak harvest season for jute leaves, and one can find muâ-ínn soup in markets and at street vendors’ stalls. At its most basic, this dish is served with sweet potato and whitebait, but insiders drizzle the thick, creamy soup over rice. Muâ-ínn soup is a popular dish with many Taichung folks, and the leaves have become a representative local ingredient.

For many elders in Taichung’s Nantun District, muâ-ínn is part of the rural collective memory. Chen Fumei, a member of Wish Lin’s fourth generation, recalls that when not doing farm work, locals would gather to process the tender jute leaves. “Muâ-ínn was easy to grow but hard to process. If the leaf veins weren’t completely removed, when cooked the product would be tough and bitter.” Thus everyone sat around chatting as they pulled off the leaves and carefully removed the rough veins.

After this, the leaves were turned over to one of the families to make muâ-ínn soup, which was shared with everyone. The heartwarming image of that kind of mutual help and sharing among neighbors is indelibly etched in Chen’s memory.

Chen Fumei (right) enjoys working with her children. She says with a smile: “While keeping the old flavors, innovation is also necessary, so I let the kids try out their own ideas.” She has supported her son Lin Zonghan (left) in developing new types of muâ-ínn cakes.

Twenty years of promotion

Precisely because of her deep feelings about tender jute leaves, when Chen took over the local farmers’ association’s home economics class in 2002, she tried to develop muâ-ínn pastries and desserts, working with the association as a “Tian Mama” operator (part of a government initiative supporting rural women’s culinary businesses).

Her seemingly simple idea proved extremely difficult to execute. Lin Zonghan of Wish Lin bakery’s fifth generation states that baked goods are foods with very low water content, so when at first they experimented with using fresh jute leaves to make these treats, there was too much moisture and the texture was too wet. Moreover, the shelf life was too short. Later they successfully switched to using dried and ground muâ-ínn powder.

They also had to learn how to balance the flavors. Jute leaves have a slightly bitter grassy taste, so using too much makes the final product too astringent, but too little makes the unique flavor indistinguishable. By trial and error, they found the right balance of ingredients for different products. Sun cakes have a relatively light muâ-ínn taste—novice level. Scholar cakes, on the other hand, have a relatively strong grassy tang, which accustomed jute leaf eaters can enjoy in all its depth.

The Lin family spent many years developing the process for making muâ-ínn cakes. Only after they hit on drying the jute leaves and grinding them to a powder were they able to use this ingredient consistently in baked goods.

A baker adds tender jute leaf powder to glutinous rice and kneads the dough to an even consistency, then cuts off a piece and presses it into a mold. In this way a muâ-ínn good luck pastry or scholar cake is formed.

Novelty for an old taste

A decade or so ago, fifth-generation sister and brother Lin Yixun and Lin Zonghan returned home to help with the business, bringing innovative ideas to the century-old bakery. For example, they developed muâ-ínn chiffon cake and muâ-ínn cheesecake while promoting Taiwanese-style afternoon tea to once again make traditional baked goods part of daily life.

Lin Yixun admits that promoting muâ-ínn cakes has been challenging. When they first started out, even Taichung natives couldn’t imagine that jute leaves, with their slightly bitter grassy flavor, could be used in sweet treats. Meanwhile, outside of Taichung most people had never even heard of this ingredient.

After more than 20 years of promotion, growing numbers of people know about muâ-ínn. Many Tai­chung residents have even learned about it from outsider friends and have been surprised to discover that it can be used to make delicious sun cakes and other baked goods. Interestingly, in Japan tender jute leaves (moroheiya in Japanese) are consumed as a wild vegetable, so Japanese are more accepting of muâ-ínn cakes and take them back home as gifts.

That the Lin family have been able to continuously develop new muâ-ínn products is due in large part to their sentimental attachment to this ingredient dating back to their earliest days. Chen Fumei says that muâ-ínn is the flavor of Taichung, and “it brings back memories for everyone who has eaten it since childhood.” 

Located next to Wanhe Temple, Wish Lin bakery has long been part of residents’ religious activities and holiday celebrations. Gift boxes designed with temple colors reflect the shop’s emotional connection to and good wishes for the community.

Unlike most other Tian Mama establishments, Wish Lin bakery’s main product line is baked goods. Since the fifth generation joined the team there have been many changes, with the shop’s sign and interior décor all being redone with a modern, elegant touch. This gives people a novel impression of normally traditional Tian Mama businesses.

Chen Fumei (center) works with her daughter Lin Yixun (left) and son Lin Zonghan (right) in using tender jute leaves to lend their cakes a complex flavor balancing bitter and sweet, with a delicate, fragrant aftertaste. They have brought a new cachet to the century-old bakery, giving it a unique identity within the Tian Mama system.