Xinfeng Baozi Mantou Introduction
Cai Chongming (born in 1951) was originally an employee at the Taiwan Salt Corporation's Chiayi salt field. His wife was a seamstress, sewing clothes for the villagers to supplement their family income. Starting from the 1970s, the emergence of ready-made clothing factories greatly affected the tailoring business, causing a significant drop in income. To provide his wife with a side job while taking care of the children and to increase the family income, Cai Chongming went to the Wushulin salt field in Kaohsiung to learn how to make buns and steamed buns from his older brother and sister-in-law. His brother and sister-in-law were employees at the welfare agency of the Wushulin salt field and had learned from an old man from another province who made buns and steamed buns to increase their income. After mastering the technique of making buns and steamed buns, Cai Chongming returned to Xinwen and started selling them. At first, he wasn't skilled and would consult an old man from another province known as "Haikongzai" at the Budai office for advice, continuously improving and developing until achieving success today. His son Cai Cheng'en (born in 1979) returned to help and learn in 2010, officially taking over the business after getting married in 2014. The process of making buns and steamed buns starts the day before. In the afternoon of the previous day, the dough is kneaded and allowed to ferment. At 12:30 AM, he gets up to knead again, shapes the dough, puts it in the fermentation box for a second fermentation, and then steams it in the steamer. The first batch comes out at 3 AM...
