Civilians clamor for Keelung prison's 'criminally good' mooncakes

Taipei, Sept. 21 (CNA) Mooncakes made at the Keelung Detention Center have proven a surprise hit ahead of this year's Mid-Autumn Festival, with a pair of inmate-bakers preparing to ship out around 10,000 of the traditional pastries over the holiday period.

During a Monday morning visit to the prison, CNA toured the cramped 3-ping (about 10 square meters) kitchen, where two inmates, using three ovens, have been churning out trays of egg yolk pastry -- a Taiwanese-style mooncake also known as dànhuángsū.

The work is labor-intensive, with each batch of cakes needing to be flipped twice during their 25-30-minute baking time in order to evenly cook the flaky, layered pastry skin that holds the red bean paste and salted duck egg filling.

The two inmates running the kitchen -- one with previous experience as a baker and one without -- each received training from a professional baker hired by the detention center, officials said.

By Saturday, word of the pastries had escaped online, with a post on the social media site Threads touting the cakes' quality racking up over 15,000 likes and hundreds of shares in only two days.

"What kind of talented inmates do they have locked up at Keelung Detention Center?" the person wrote in the post, adding "don't let them out!"

Wan Shih-chiang (萬世強), the prison's secretary, told reporters that orders for the pastries were currently fully booked, as the scale of production was constrained by the kitchen's small size.

The prison initially planned to sell the cakes on a limited-time basis, Wan said, but if demand continues after the holiday, it will evaluate whether to continue production.

Wan said he hoped the work experience, including the positive feedback from customers, would give the inmates confidence in their ability to reintegrate into society after their release.

Keelung Detention Center's egg yolk pastries are sold under the name Hou Chiang Bakery (鱟江烘焙坊), and are available in boxes of 12 for NT$480 (US$15.09) or six for NT$250. The order hotline is (02)24652391 ex. 258.