Matsu Palate Pleasers

Matsu cakes are made from flour and eggs, and are actually quite similar to yam cakes, a traditional sweet on the main island of Taiwan. First the flour and eggs are mixed together, then the dough is cut into small bits and deep fried. After they are removed from the oil and cooled, they are coated with malt syrup and pressed together into a big flat disc shape, which is then cut into strips. They go together very well with tea or coffee.

There was once a time when Matsu cakes were only made by two traditional confectioners, Tienmei Hsuen and Paoli Hsuen. Now that tourists are allowed to visit Matsu, however, demand has risen sharply, and other confectioners have gotten into the business.

Kao Ming-chung, who just took over Paoli Hsuen from his father last year, relates that even though he had served as an assistant to his father ever since childhood, it was only after he took over the reins himself that he realized the full complexity of the task.

"A really good Matsu cake has to be crispy yet soft, and soft yet firm. And every maker has to have his own secrets that set his cakes apart from everyone else's. We make these things by hand, so the quantity is quite limited. But some confectioners now bake the dough instead of deep frying it, and they press it by machine. This results in a very low fat content and a loss of the excellent texture of the hand-made type. There is hardly any difference between these products and the yam cakes they make in Taiwan. These people have taken the 'Matsu' out of the Matsu cake," complains Kao. That is why some of the older shops in Matsu insist on making their Matsu cakes by hand.

Although the fame of Matsu cakes has spread far and wide, Kao notes that hibiscus cakes, which are similar to the shaqima made in Taiwan, are actually the best-loved confection in Matsu.

Shaqima and hibiscus cakes are made using the same methods, but the difference is that hibiscus cakes are made from glutinous rice, which is mashed, cut into strips, deep fried, and stirred. The process is more complicated than that used to make Matsu cakes, and they are produced in smaller quantity.

"When I was a kid we didn't enjoy anything like today's affluence," says 35-year-old Kao. "You were thankful if you had food on the table. Confections made from fancy glutinous rice were a real luxury, so we didn't make the stuff in any great quantity. Now that the standard of living has gone up, Paoli Hsuen can sell as many as a thousand boxes of its hand-made cakes per month even in the winter, and when the summer comes and ferry service isn't interrupted quite so often, we can sell twice that amount. But the thing about hand-made cakes is that you have to work your tail off." And that is why he has developed arthritis in his hands.

Unlike Matsu cakes and hibiscus cakes, both of which are southern-style sweets, there is another famous confection in Matsu-jiguang cakes-that are made very much in the northern style. According to local legend, these were invented by the Ming-dynasty general Qi Jiguang, who had his troops string them together and hang them around their necks to eat while they were on the march. The main ingredient is flour. To produce a thick, puffy dough with a firm bite, you can't let the walls of the oven get too hot or the cakes will peel away from the wall and get ruined.

In all of Matsu, Paoli Hsuen is the only confectioner that makes jiguang cakes, and virtually everyone in Nankan Township is familiar with Kao's father, Kao Chin-pao. It is said in Matsu that eating jiguang cakes will keep you from getting seasick, so everyone always buys some before boarding a ferry bound for Taiwan. Kao Ming-chung laughs when asked about this custom and says that people exaggerate. Says Kao, "It's just that jiguang cakes, unlike seafood products, have a nice, clean taste that doesn't make you feel like vomiting when you eat them aboard ship." At restaurants in Fuzhou they like to split the cakes down the middle and put various fillings inside. They call these treats "Matsu hamburgers."

Matsu has long played host to a large military population, and for this reason its Matsu cakes, hibiscus cakes, and jiguang cakes present a melange of southern and northern confectionery styles. But the confectioners in Matsu are all small operations, and ship service to Taiwan is very unreliable, so you'll have to make a trip to Matsu if you're thinking of getting a taste of these goodies!

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Matsu cakes and hibiscus cakes go beautifully with a cup of tea.

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The confectioner has to take great care in baking the jiguang cakes, for things can easily go wrong in the oven. But as long as everything goes smoothly, the results are heavenly!