frightfiction Chapter 123 Rice Candy
Chapter 123 Rice Candy
After returning home, Song Jiaojiao first went to the malt she was most concerned about. The malt she had soaked the day before yesterday had grown quite a bit today, about three centimeters long. It seemed that it would be ready to use by tomorrow afternoon. She soaked another fifty catties of wheat. Next time, the aunties could do this job.
The next morning, the aunties washed the sweet potatoes again, and they could start cooking them in the afternoon. One pound of wheat can yield about three to four pounds of malt. At Song Jiaojiao's time, by the afternoon, there would be about 30 pounds of malt, enough to cook 200 pounds of sweet potatoes.
The 200-pound sweet potatoes were cooked in three separate pots, taking about four hours to cook completely.
When the sweet potatoes were about halfway cooked, Song Jiaojiao and her team began processing the malt. Sure enough, by the afternoon the malt had grown to about five centimeters in length. Some of the malt was starting to turn green, but most of it was still yellowish-green. They tore the malt off the winnowing basket, put it in a large wooden basin, and washed it until the water in the basin became clear.
After washing and chopping the malt, use a stone mortar in the sweet potato workshop to pound the malt into finer pieces. Once the malt is processed, the sweet potatoes in the pot should also be cooked. Put the sweet potatoes into a large vat and crush them, then mix them with the processed malt, stir well, and let them sit overnight to saccharify. The next morning, you can filter out the saccharified water and start making sweet potato syrup.
By the time this was over, it was already dark. Song Jiaojiao asked Aunt Li to give all the aunties a five-coin raise for their work that day, since it was well past the end of the workday.
After a busy day, Song Jiaojiao's back and waist ached, and she fell asleep as soon as she touched the bed. It was rare for her to fall asleep so quickly.
In the morning, the aunties first spread out the soaked wheat, sprinkled it with water, and then began filtering the sugar water. They used cheesecloth to filter out the sweet potato syrup, which was then brought to a boil over high heat. The boiling process required constant supervision; initially, when it just boiled, the foam on the surface needed to be skimmed off, and it needed to be stirred frequently to prevent sticking.
Once the sweet potato syrup starts to darken, turn the heat to low and stir constantly until the syrup thickens and forms a sheet when lifted with a spoon. The sweet potato syrup is then ready.
This process takes about four hours. Auntie didn't get home until dark today. Song Jiaojiao and Xu Fang stayed there to keep watch.
It was almost 11 PM when it was ready. Song Jiaojiao fried some of the dried rice that had been sun-dried the day before into rice puffs. She scooped the sweet potato candy from the pot into the prepared molds. For the syrup that couldn't be scooped out of the pot, Song Jiaojiao poured in the fried rice puffs and stirred them evenly, making sure that each grain of rice was coated with syrup. Then she scooped them out and placed them in the molds, pressing them down firmly. Only by pressing them down firmly would they not fall apart when cutting them later.
Once the rice puffs were cool enough to handle, they could be cut into pieces. Song Jiaojiao made two kinds: one cut into pieces and the other rolled into balls. Looking at the large bucket of rice puffs in front of her, she thought that she could finally finish the task tomorrow. Although it was a day late, it was finally done. After discussing it with Liu Dongjia, they could start production.
Song Jiaojiao will entrust the task of making sweet potato candy to Xu Fang tomorrow. After the sweet potato candy cools and solidifies, it can be wrapped in oil paper and placed in a dry place. The cooled rice puffs should also be wrapped in oil paper.
The next day, Song Jiaojiao took rice candy to town.
Upon arriving in town, Song Jiaojiao went straight to Huichuntang. When she arrived at Huichuntang, Manager Liu had just opened the door when she saw Song Jiaojiao's carriage approaching.
"Madam Song, you've arrived so early. It seems the product is ready," Manager Liu said with a smile, his tone certain.
"As expected, nothing can be hidden from Uncle Liu," Song Jiaojiao handed a bag of rice candy to Manager Liu. "This is a new product this time. Try it. I won't say much more to you. Is Manager Liu here?"
Manager Liu took the rice candy wrapped in oil paper and said with a smile, "Master must have just gotten up. Madam Song, please come with me. Please wait a moment."
Manager Liu led Song Jiaojiao into the backyard, had a pot of tea served, and then went to inform Liu Xuewen.
When the apprentice who was delivering tea arrived, Song Jiaojiao asked him for two plates to hold the snacks. After the plates arrived, Song Jiaojiao arranged two different shapes of rice candy.
After waiting for about 15 minutes, Liu Xuewen rushed over, still looking sleepy.
"I'm sorry to have kept you waiting, Madam Song. It's been so hot lately that I went to bed a little late last night," Liu Xuewen said apologetically to Song Jiaojiao, cupping his hands in a gesture of respect.
“I just arrived too. Mr. Liu, let’s sit down and talk.” Song Jiaojiao poured Liu Xuewen a cup of tea and said, “Mr. Liu probably hasn’t had breakfast yet. Why don’t you try this?”
Song Jiaojiao pointed to the rice candy on the table and said to Liu Xuewen. Only then did Liu Xuewen realize that the snacks on the table were not the pastries sold in the store on weekdays.
"This is..." Liu Xuewen saw the snow-white pastry in front of him, with small white granules packed tightly together. He didn't know what it was made of, but it had a sweet potato candy aroma.
"That's right, these are the pastries I've been making lately. I call them rice candy," Song Jiaojiao said with a smile.
Liu Xuewen picked up a piece of rice candy and tasted it. It was crispy, sweet but not greasy, with a rich rice aroma paired with the fragrance of sweet potato candy. It was quite good, suitable for all ages.
After finishing one piece, Liu Xuewen stopped. "It's quite novel. I wonder how much Madam Song plans to sell it for?"
"Twenty coins for one tael. One tael is about the same as the plate in front of you. The rice candy looks big, but it doesn't weigh much. Plus, the process is complicated, so this price is the result of my careful consideration." Song Jiaojiao said. The main reason is that the production of sweet potato candy is too complicated. In addition, with labor involved, the cost is indeed not low.
Liu Xuewen hadn't expected Song Jiaojiao to sell her a finished product this time; he'd thought she'd sell her the finished product like before. "I thought Madam Song would sell the finished product like before, but I didn't expect this..."
“It’s not that I don’t want to sell the rice candy to Mr. Liu, it’s just that the raw materials needed to make rice candy take at least four days to produce. I’m sure Mr. Liu can taste that, as the name suggests, rice candy is made from rice. However, ordinary rice cannot make such fragrant and crispy rice candy. It takes quite a while to make it,” Song Jiaojiao explained.
"Besides, if rice puffs are stored properly in a dry environment, they can last for six months without any problem."
Liu Xuewen looked at the rice candy on the table again. He hadn't expected that this thing could be stored for so long. As long as time allowed, pastry shops all over the country could stock it. 20 wen per liang was not cheap, but in the capital, it would sell for 200 wen per liang without any problem.
"Since Madam Song has said so, I won't say any more. We'll do as you say. It'll be 20 coins per tael. I wonder how much stock Madam Song can provide per day?"
Song Jiaojiao thought that the sweet potato candy was not bad, but the main problem was that she hadn't prepared much dried rice these days, and there wasn't much rice left at home. Although the rice harvest was coming soon, she would still need to buy rice during this period, and the pot at home could only produce a maximum of six catties of rice puffs per batch.