Place in a saucepan with the lard or oil and the sugar. Cook, stirring continuously, until almost all the moisture has evaporated.

Hard fats such as lard, margarine and butter are not good as they are high in saturated fats, as are many blended vegetable oils which contain coconut or palm oil.

Traditional moon cakes are made with melted lard, but today vegetable oil is more often used in the interests of health.