Fresh pork Pian'er Chuan mooncakes are on display at SepBakery's Fengqi store in Hangzhou. [Photo/Hangzhou Daily]

With Mid-Autumn Festival less than a month away, mooncakes are already filling shelves at supermarkets, time-honored brands, and bakeries across Hangzhou in Zhejiang province.

Gift boxes priced at around 100 yuan ($14.87) are proving popular, while traditional Suzhou-style and Cantonese mooncakes compete with a growing range of new flavors.

At SepBakery's Fengqi store, its popular fresh pork mooncakes are joined by varieties featuring Jinhua pork and Xiaoshan dried radish. This year, the bakery has also introduced a mooncake inspired by Pian'er Chuan, a traditional Hangzhou noodle dish, using pork leg meat, bamboo shoots, and preserved vegetables in the filling.

Zhi Wei Guan's Qingchun Road store is offering newer varieties alongside traditional mooncakes, including custard and black truffle lava mooncakes, avocado custard lava mooncakes, chocolate popping-candy rice mooncakes, and peanut mooncakes with sea salt and chia seeds.

Some brands are also offering lower-sugar gift boxes for consumers seeking to cut their sugar intake.

Online shoppers are advised to check a product's net weight and production date before ordering. Those planning to take or mail mooncakes overseas should also check the destination country's or region's customs and quarantine rules, particularly for products containing meat or egg, as entry restrictions vary.