Traveling through 1942 with space

Chapter 176 Teaching

It is said that candied haws taste best when made with white sugar, but these days white sugar is a strategic commodity. You can still buy it in small quantities, but buying it frequently is just something you can only dream about!

Therefore, the sugar products that ordinary people have come into contact with the most are maltose, sweet potato sugar, brown sugar, and rock sugar.

Most of the sugar used to make candied haws is rock sugar, which does not affect the taste.

There are prepared white sugar and rock sugar in Hou Xiaoge's space, but they are too delicate to be taken out, so the rock sugar used now is collected from the warehouse.

This yellow rock sugar is made of ancient string with a hemp string inside, which is an auxiliary means to facilitate better crystallization when making rock sugar.

This kind of rock sugar has become rare in later generations. Most of the rock sugar used in later generations is technological rock sugar, which is of poor quality.

Hou Xiaoge cleaned the wok that he had ordered and used for cooking, then crushed the rock sugar.

"Uncle, aunt, the sheep are still young, you come and learn! Then let them sell the sheep." Seeing how cautious these little friends were, Hou Xiaoge decided it would be better to let the adults learn.

"Well, I've learned it. I'll go back and teach it to the sheep boy." The sheep boy's mother nodded.

Seeing this, the other people nodded in agreement and said they would go home and let their children learn it.

Hou Xiaoge didn't care. No matter who learned it, they could just live their own lives. It was still unclear whether these skills would be useful to them when the sheep kids grew up!

"When making candied haws later, you must use this kind of rock sugar. The lighter the color, the better. You can't make black sugar because it's difficult to handle and the result is bitter.

Also, try to break the rock sugar into pieces when boiling it so that it is easier to cook.

See, here comes the key point, rock sugar and water weigh the same.

Don't use a bowl to measure. A bowl of water is not necessarily as heavy as a bowl of rock sugar. You often weigh it in your hands and make sure it is about the same weight.

The weight is the key. If there is too much water, the sugar will be too watery. If there is too little water, the pot will get stuck and the sugar will not melt. "Everyone was illiterate and had a slow learning rate, so Hou Xiaoge tried to speak slowly.

After everyone understood, Hou Xiaoge started to operate.

"I'll start from the beginning and explain step by step, starting with cleaning the hawthorns.

These wild hawthorns must be washed carefully. What if there are bugs inside? If others eat them, wouldn’t that be disgusting? It would ruin your own reputation.

So the first step is to check the hawthorns to see if there are any rotten ones or worm holes, and then clean them. If you want to do it well, it is best to add some salt when cleaning.

You don’t need the salt we eat, salt lumps will do. Dissolve the salt in water, and then soak the fruit for an incense stick of time.

Then rinse it several times with clean water, and you will have candied haws on a string. I think everyone knows this step.

It is easy to make sticks for candied haws. There are bamboo ones sold at the market outside the city. You can go buy a bamboo and cut it yourself. It is no problem to make thousands of sticks from one bamboo.

If you don't know how, there are people who sell bamboo weaving. You can buy it from them for a little money.

If you are careful, you can cut the candied haws in half and use a skewer to remove the core, which also helps check for good taste.

If you are afraid of trouble, you can just use bamboo skewers.

When wearing them, arrange large, medium and small notebooks in order from the bottom to the top, and don't put big one on top of small one.

This step is very important. Why do I say that? First, the size of the candied haws should be arranged neatly to look good. People who buy candied haws are not poor. If the candied haws are arranged neatly and look good, they will sell quickly.

The second is to arrange the sizes well so that they are easy to be coated with sugar. If you have big ones and small ones, the big ones will be coated with sugar, while the small ones will be concave inside and not coated with sugar.

How do you sell this? The buyer won't buy it, right? So you have to be careful in everything." Hou Xiaoge finished these two steps, and then asked everyone to wash the hawthorns and string the candied haws.

Hou Xiaoge has some bamboo skewers, which are the bamboo skewers that Hou Xiaoge uses for barbecue, and there are still quite a few left.

It is better to do something once than to see it a thousand times. People who have been working for many years are also quick and skillful, and they can get the hang of it in no time.

After finishing this step, Hou Xiaoge took out another wooden board and brushed oil on it.

"The purpose of applying the oil is to prevent sticking, so that the candied haws can be easily removed. But don't apply too much oil," said Hou Xiaoge.

"The next step is the most important one, which is to boil the sugar." Hou Xiaoge put the wok on the stove, and then added sugar and water according to the proportion.

"When making candied haws, you must use this small pot so that you can control the small pot at any time. Otherwise, if the big pot is kept burning, the sugar will be overcooked and turn black and bitter, and it will be useless.

Next, simmer over medium or low heat. Don’t use too high a heat as it will be hard to control the heat.

Do not move the pot during the whole process of boiling sugar. At most, shake it in your hand to let the large pieces of unmelted rock sugar go to the middle of the pot.

Look, at this time the big bubbles turn into small bubbles, the sugar is ready. Quickly take the pot aside and use hawthorn to dip it.

Of course, there is another way, which is to try it with chopsticks.

Dip the chopsticks in the sugar, then put them in cold water. The sugar will solidify and it will be crunchy when you eat it. If it doesn't solidify, it's not good." Hou Xiaoge said as he dipped the chopsticks in the sugar, then dipped them in cold water, letting everyone take a look and touch them.

"No problem, just dip it in sugar quickly. Tilt the pan to concentrate the sugar a little.

Then he held the hawthorn string with his fingers and gently twisted it in the sugar, then quickly took it out and placed it on the oiled wooden board. "Hou Xiaoge did this four or five times in a row.

"The candied haws are now ready. It's cold now, so just wait for ten minutes and you'll have delicious candied haws.

I'll give you a chance to try my candy for free. Who wants to try it?" After Hou Xiaoge finished the operation, he looked at everyone and asked with a smile.

Hou Xiaoge said it and did it easily, but when others were asked to do it, they suddenly became a little at a loss and looked around nervously.

In the end, it was my good mother Wang Maimiao who volunteered to come forward and saved everyone.

Wang Maimiao came to do it with great momentum, but his classic saying that he could do it once he saw it, but failed once he tried it was not said in vain, as he swung the sugar everywhere.

If Hou Xiaoge hadn't been watching the heat, the nearly pound of rock sugar would have been wasted.

After wasting more than a dozen candied haws, I finally got on the right track and made it look like a real thing.

Seeing Wang Maimiao's success, others also wanted to try it out.

"What are you doing? It's so noisy." At this time, Yangmin walked in from outside the yard and asked curiously.

But everyone's eyes were on the pot and no one paid any attention to him. Only Xiao Shuanniu and a few others who were squeezed outside went up to greet him.

"Uncle, candied haws, my brother is making candied haws." Xiao Shuanniu ran to his uncle excitedly and said.

"What?" Hou Yangmin was shocked.

"Uncle, we're waiting for you! Let's go out and talk." When Hou Xiaoge saw his uncle come in, he asked everyone to continue practicing and called his uncle to go out.

"Uncle, today I happened to meet Yangwa and his friends who had hawthorns, and I happened to know how to make candied haws, so I taught them.

Uncle, you are also the patriarch of the Hou family. I don’t need to say much about how the village is doing recently. Food and clothing are a problem.

In the past, when a few of us made braised meat, we had a cover to fool the villagers. After all, they had nothing to complain about since one stall supported three families.

But when my Erda and his family came and made the spicy soup, our families lived better than anyone else in the village, and we were likely to attract people's attention.

You won't make a lot of money from making candied haws, but it's enough to supplement the family income. My idea is to pass on this skill to the whole village.

There is nothing to do in winter, so women can make this craft and men can sell it, which can also bring some income to the family. "Hou Xiaoge explained to Hou Yangmin with a smile.