ArticleManagerThe fried glutinous rice grains should be evenly coated with maltose.
The freshly baked jujube sugar is sweet and soft.
Haixi Morning News (reporter Hong Limin, correspondent Liu Xiaodong) What is the taste of the year? Whether it’s Chinese New Year’s Eve Chinese New Year’s Eve the hearth, a new atmosphere in new clothes and hats, or those unforgettable warm memories in your memory. Every year when the Spring Festival is approaching, when the Bingde cake shop in Xiang’an Maxiang is working overtime again, many old Xiang’an people come to this cake shop to order the indispensable “New Year goods” ———inch jujube candy for the New Year.
This cake shop, which has been in the local area for more than 50 years, does not affect everyone’s love for it at all, although it only makes one kind of pastry and produces only one flavor. For many old Xiang’an people, this ancient taste of jujube candy is an unforgettable “taste of the year” in their memory.
It seems that Shaqima has a different “connotation”
Yesterday, the low temperature and cold weather continued, but the Bingde Cake Shop was a hot scene. Chen Bilong, the owner of the cake shop, stood next to the oil pot in a single coat and rolled up his sleeves, opening his bow left and right, turning the glutinous rice grains in the pot with a spatula in one hand, and slowly putting the raw materials in the other. On the side, Chen Bilong’s wife and daughter-in-law were busy wrapping sugar coats and packaging. Chen Bilong introduced that as soon as the work starts, the whole family has to be busy, because all the raw materials must be prepared on the same day, and after being done on the same day, the fresh raw materials are made to make the taste of jujube candy authentic.
The inch jujube candy made by Chen Bilong, also known as lotus seed candy, is different from the long strips of jujube candy wrapped in white sugar coating commonly on the market, and its appearance is more like “shaqima”, but it is different from shaqima. Shaqima’s raw material is flour, while Chen Bilong’s jujube sugar raw material is fresh glutinous rice. Although the raw materials are simple, the process is not simple. First of all, glutinous rice should be soaked, crushed, kneaded into rice balls with water, and boiled in water to form fingernail-sized glutinous rice grains; Then fry the tender white glutinous rice grains into small golden brown cubes, and evenly mix with maltose and garlic paste; Finally, after the machine presses, cuts, and packs, the sweet and soft date candy is completed.
Glutinous rice is very sticky, and to fry small cubes that expand, you have to cook the glutinous rice grains thoroughly. Chen Bilong said that the inches of jujube candy made by traditional craftsmanship are based on experience and feeling. A few years ago, his son bought him a professional thermometer so that he could control the temperature more accurately, but he was still not used to it. Because experience tells him that each batch of jujube candy is made due to different weather and different stickiness of glutinous rice, which determines the temperature and time of frying.
The “taste of the year” in the memory of the old Xiang’an people
Bingde Cake Shop is located in the deep alley of Maxiang, the location is not easy to find, but there are still many people who come to order every day. Chen Bilong said that many of the customers who came were old customers of 40 or 50 years. Chen Bilong, who is in his 50s this year, has been learning the craft from the local teacher Fu who makes jujube candy in Maxiang since he was 13 years old. At that time, Chen Bilong’s father worked at Maxiang Food Factory, and he often gave him some guidance after returning home. After more than a year of grinding, Chen Bilong became a master and began to make his own jujube candy. Subsequently, he founded the brand under his father’s name “Bingde”.
Over the years, Chen Bilong insisted on using fresh glutinous rice as raw materials to make jujube candy, rather than ready-made glutinous rice flour, because the taste of inches jujube candy made from glutinous rice flour is much worse. He also insisted on using maltose as the main auxiliary material, maltose nourished the stomach, and the inches of date sugar made could not be eaten on fire. Although he only makes one flavor of garlic jujube candy, it is still very popular with customers.
“When I first started cooking, the crushing and proportioning of glutinous rice had to be done manually, and I could only make about 30 kilograms of glutinous rice a day. When I was done that day, I would go to the streets of Maxiang to order a drink or serve food at the store. Chen Bilong said that many old Xiang’an people around 50 years old have eaten the inch jujube candy he made, especially when they celebrate the New Year or get married, they will buy the inch jujube candy, which shows the meaning of auspicious and festive, early birth of a noble son. Therefore, Bingde jujube candy has also become a special “taste of the year” in the memory of the old Xiang’an people.