I have a box of mooncakes from last year in the fridge. I know it has expired but I never took the trouble to throw it away. It came in a nice package and my fridge is icy cold, so it’s not like there was an offensive smell emanating from it. *shrugs
Anyway, I was a bit curious about the state of the mooncake so I took it out just now. The use by date is 31/10/2010 – it’s almost a year since the manufacturer has deemed it fit for human consumption. However, it looked normal to me – there’s a distinct lack of fungi, so don’t expect a carpet of mold calling the mooncake home. 😉
It looked edible. Now, that really piqued my interest so I took one of them (the lotus with egg yolk) and sliced it in half. It still looks fit to eat. Hmm…well, I guess there’s just one way to find out.
I bit into the rock hard (it was frozen) mooncake and chewed on a small chunk. I tentatively rolled it around my tongue and hesitantly swallowed a bit of it. It tasted fine!
Imagine that, a mooncake which has expired for one year…but still (at first taste) palatable!
…until I nibbled at the egg yolk. I have great control over my gag reflex so nothing dramatic happened, but the vile taste of the yolk was quite memorable. I had to spit it out.
Well, at least I tried. Mooncakes can keep for ages, if not for the yolk! Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back! 😀
wow you actually ate it. incredible la you.
Yeah, it LOOKED perfectly fine so I was curious.
I wanted to see if it TASTED fine. Haha! 🙂
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!
Yeah, it was the yolk that went bad bro…after 1 year, I’m not surprised in the very least. 😉
oh man.. the last pic.. is just.. gross? lol
Heh! I couldn’t swallow it, the egg yolk was rather horrible. It’s expired for almost a year. 🙂
this is one freaky post! i wouldn’t attempt that! i mean, there’s a reason why it has an expiry date right?
Well, it was in my (very cold) fridge – the temp is really low inside, even cookies and milk freeze on occasion. I thought it looked alright so I was sorely tempted to try and eat it. 🙂
It wasn’t that bad Michelle…until I reached the yolk. 😡
Nice one hb!!!!! Lol
Well, at least I tried and satisfied my curiousity. It is edible – either that or it was so frozen that I couldn’t detect any spoilage, except in the egg yolk.
Cheers bro! 🙂
yea i tried it with yoghurt as well, didnt turn out that well. i guess its a dairy thing
Hmm…yoghurt eh? That would be interesting, those things won’t last anywhere close to a year.
…but then yoghurt is basically spoiled milk anyway. Kinda. 🙂
lol much like cheese too.
HAHA! Indeed bro! 🙂
eeeewwww!!!! I think I just lost my appetite. hahahahah
Haha! Sorry Fiona!
It’s just one of those things that you HAVE to do. I saw it this morning and just had to try it before throwing it away. It’s been a whole year, Curious minds demand to know! 😀
OMG 1 year expired? you are crazy but brave! haha..
Heh! I just wanted to see if it can be eaten Hannah. 🙂
I was rather curious coz it looked (and tasted initially) perfectly fine.
Good thing nothing you didn’t get sick from it… now, I want an unexpired mooncake yumyumzzz 😀
Yup, I felt totally fine! 🙂
It’s mooncake season! You can get them anywhere. 😀
Cheers Hannah!
you guys are so weak, gen y is doomed. Unlike you, we the gen X will eat anything, 1 year out or more.
the mooncakeis fine because the sugar preserve the mung bean paste and reverse omosis draws moisture away from the pastry. without water, bacteria/fungus cant grow. also being in the fridge controls bacteria growth.
no sure why you spat out the eggg yolk. frozen egg yolk taste like that. Just let it rest and come to room temperature before eating it.
Haha! Alright mate, I’ve eaten looong expired stuff before – canned items etc – as long as the seal is intact, it’s usually fine.
I’m telling you, the egg yolk is off. It doesn’t taste like frozen egg yolk, I know what that tastes like (seriously).
I could probably eat AROUND the yolk though – the mooncake itself it still alright.
Cheers bro! 🙂
Eyewwwwww!!!! You didn’t! And the lotus paste was ok? Imagine how much preservatives they use – can outlast salted egg even! Eat a lot of those and when one dies, no need to embalm the body – will be very well-preserved, I’m sure.
Yup, I was curious coz it looked perfectly edible. Smells alright too – although my fridge is so cold I couldn’t really smell anything.
The lotus paste is edible, and so is the skin – surprisingly, it was the egg yolk that was off, which is weird, I would have thought that would last the longest.
Heh! I’m sure our body gets rids of preservatives pretty efficiently, I could probably eat this if not for the yolk. 🙂
Please take off the last picture. It is very disgusting. Please!!!!!!!!!!
HAHAHA
That ain’t nothing mate, there’s worse stuff lurking around here bro. 😉
lol… mooncake aint wine.
Indeed, it doesn’t seem to improve with age. 😉
HB, my now late great grandmother used to get lot of mooncakes from friends and family menbers. She store it in freezer for who know how long. I was just a kid back then and she serve me and my sister some mooncakes she slice up. Well it had a real funky taste to it and after we ate it great grandmother said it been in freezer for a year and glad it still good.??! Wonder if your grandmother does that also? Funny thing of old people they never threw away anything.
Wow! I guess it’s coz they grew up during the famine in China so they’re loath to throw away food.
My grandma is like that too. 🙂
Thank you for answering an age old question that has plagued me for the last 2 decades. I grew up in a family with a habit of shoving everything into the fridge only to forget about it and throw them away a year (or two sometimes) later. Always wondered if them mooncakes were still good.
HAHAHAHA
*presses Like button
Good one mate. Love your wit. 🙂
HB, funny about not just elderly people but most people who can’t waste anything at all. My family is one them and mom like to vaccum seal lot of food item that to be store away for a while. My grandmother also vaccum seal things too. She vaccum seal lot of mooncake she get in freezer and lable them too. I had one a year old and taste not bad including the egg yolk of it for it vaccum seal very well not freezer burn or taste at all.
When fishes is on sale she get extra to freeze for later use and cooked some green vegetables and vaccum seal them too. It great when she want some food quick she reach to freezer for it.
Hmm…I keep food sometimes too coz I tend to run out of stuff to eat at the worst times.
…and when you’re hungry, 1 day old cold pasta is delicious. 🙂
A couple of years back, some guy in China dug out all of the lotus paste from unsold mooncake and reused them the next year or something like that. Saw it in an article in the newspaper.
Maybe you could avoid the yolks and eat the outer parts of the mooncake. It’s probably still good.
Jesus! I won’t be surprised, shit like that happen in China all the time.
I’ve heard of CARDBOARD being used as meat in buns too. 😡
Yeah, I reckon the lotus paste is still on, I could probably eat around it. 🙂
Dude, sit pit out ? come on, it’d be a classic sixthseal post if you show us your stained underwear. 🙂
Haha! It didn’t give me diarrhea mate.
I was completely fine. 🙂
dude, batter and deep fry it, effin good man
Hmm…it sounds good bro.
…like deep fried Mars bars, except this is mooncakes. 🙂
Oh all things…-.-!!
Well, I was really curious coz it looked fine so I wanted to try. 🙂
Dayummmmmmmmm……………….
I got a 2 year old mooncake before , guess it got lost in the fridge . Looks pretty fine like yours without any molds but I threw it away LOL.
Heh! Man, eating a 2 year old mooncake would be epic.
I wonder if the lotus paste will still be fine.
I bet it still is. The stuff is hardy. 🙂
psst i have secret .. a relative of mine used to work in the mooncake baking industry some years ago, these moon cakes can keep for years.. yes years… those that are not sold are kept to be sold the next year…guess this happened before the advent of individual packaging and stamping of expiry dates…
Interesting!
I’m not surprised, this one seemed pretty good except for the yolk even after a year.
Thanks for sharing mate, I guess mooncakes are our version of fruit cakes. It can practically keep forever and a day. 😉
I just ate part of a mooncake from nearly three years ago. No refrigeration, just left it inside the thick plastic bag with desiccant in my cupboard. I googled “eating two year old mooncake” and found this thread. since the OP didn’t get sick, I busted mine open (Shun Kee $9 a cake btw so that’s why I never threw it away… but it’s really fattening so I also never ate it) and it’s lotus paste and peanut. I licked it first – it’s definitely musty, and it doesn’t smell right either. But I ate a little chunk and it doesn’t taste good, but still sweet. There was no point to eating the rest of it because it wasn’t tasty (icky tasting, not horrible, just exactly how you’d imagine dried up old stale mooncake might taste like) and I just threw it away before typing this. The lotus seed paste and become really stiff though still pliable and become a light brown color. The peanuts had leaked oil into the paste a bit.
I seriously doubt I will get sick because I’m quite tolerant of eating crap and anyway it’s friday night.
Now making black sesame soup instead to satisfy my chinese comfort food craving. and yes that’s over a year old too but who cares it’s dry powder so I’m sure it’s still good.
dude, i have a one year old box, had the same question as you, thought it would be fun to google it, and your post came up! you can have my box too if you want to try it 😀