It was too late yesterday, even if they didn't drink, the people on Li Yunrui's side slept until noon on the second day of the Lunar New Year. When they woke up, they asked a unified question: "What does it smell like, it smells so good!" It's so sweet! ”

Li Yunrui also smelled the incomparably sweet smell in the air, and he rushed to Liu Yifeng's yard without even washing his face, where did the sweetness come from.

After pushing open the courtyard door, the rich warm and sweet smell suddenly made him swallow heavily.

"Just in time, let's have a string."

Li Yunrui looked at the sugar gourd that Liu Yifeng handed him, and was a little flustered: "What is this?" ”

Liu Yifeng only knew at this time that the southerners had really never seen sugar gourds.

It is indeed the case, the sugar gourd appeared in the Northern Song Dynasty, and the sweetness of the sugar coating and the sweetness of the hawthorn are eaten, and the taste is the light crispness of the sugar coating and the crispness of the hawthorn flesh. This leads to the fact that only the north of the Huai River in the Qinling Mountains is sold in winter, because the syrup without additives in ancient times will become soft at high temperatures, and once it becomes soft, the overall taste of the sugar gourd will be very poor.

This also led to the sugar gourd did not become more common in the south until the second half of the 20th century, and in the first half of the 20th century, the sugar gourd was basically not seen in Lingnan. Yes, it is only available in big cities, and in the north, some counties sell it.

"Taste it, it's delicious."

Li Yunrui bit one down when he heard this, and his eyes suddenly lit up.

Born in the south, his understanding of sweetness is far beyond that of the northerners, and when he came to Nanyang at this time, one of the plantations' favorite crops was sugarcane. There are also more fruits in the south than in the north, and the abundant sunshine has led to wild fruits being found everywhere on country roads.

This way of eating sugar-coated fruits made Li Yunrui's eyes really brighten: "What is this?" ”

"Sugar gourd, very common in the north."

No wonder, Li Yunrui sent another one into his mouth, this time he deliberately chewed the sugar coating and hawthorn separately in his mouth, and found that the sugar gourd was delicious and delicious in the compound sweetness and taste after the two were chewed together.

"There are not as many fruits in the north as in your south, and they are not as sweet, especially in winter. Therefore, the north came up with the idea of wrapping the fruit in a layer of sugar coating, and the sugar coating is crisp and sweet when the temperature is low in winter, and the sour and soft hawthorn just constitutes a delicious place for sugar gourds. ”

Li Yunrui nodded, swallowed the last one, and moved his nose as he chewed. Now the sweetness in the air has nothing to do with sugar gourds, it is a bit sweet with oily meat.

"Brother Li, your nose is really smart."

Liu Yifeng took him to a pot, which was boiling hot oil, and Lao Wang was controlling the oil temperature.

"What is this going to do?" Li Yunrui asked.

"Sugar and oil."

The sugar and oil fruit was formed in the Song Dynasty, but its predecessor was recorded in the Tang Dynasty at the earliest, and it is not clear whether there was anything before that. Although it is also a snack in the north, I don't know why it has become a famous snack in the southwest generation in later generations.

"Those things floating in the oil, brown sugar?"

Liu Yifeng nodded.

Sugar and oil fruit itself is not much sugar, sugar is the practice of white sugar in later generations, in ancient times, there was white sugar or sugar, generally rock sugar or brown sugar blocks. Therefore, the hot oil is used to melt the brown sugar to make the sugar oil and fry it directly, and the sugar oil after the brown sugar melts can also color the glutinous rice dough.

Lao Wang stirred the brown sugar, and after seeing that they were basically beginning to dissolve, he slowly poured the glutinous rice dough that had been kneaded in advance into the oil.

Soon, the glutinous rice dough began to grow and the skin turned brown.

After Lao Wang gently knocked a dough fruit floating on the oily surface with a colander and there was an obvious sound of knocking on the crispy skin, he scooped up the dough fruit with a colander and put it in a dustpan to remove the oil. When the oil is almost drained, sprinkle with the white sesame seeds that have been fried in advance, and shake the dustpan so that the white sesame seeds stand evenly on the juice.

"Taste it, but be careful of the heat inside."

After Li Yunrui saw that it was fried, he was already mentally prepared for a crispy texture, and sure enough, the shell was also crispy, and the brown sugar was all wrapped on it, no wonder it turned oily brown. But what shocked him was that the inside was actually soft and glutinous, and there was even some brushing!

The two completely conflicting tastes impact each other, and eating the shell alone will be a little greasy, but the inner soft glutinous rice dough itself is tasteless, and it will combine that sweetness.

"Delicious!"

Sugar and oil fruits were available in the north and south of the Ming Dynasty, but they were not very widely spread, mainly before the Qing Dynasty, and the price of oil was not much close to the people. The fact that Liu Yifeng made the explosives in the mountain city was invincible was also related to the fact that the utilization rate of grease in the Ming Dynasty was not too high, and the process of entering the people was not smooth.

In fact, if it is not in Dongshan Prefecture but in the local area, the cost of the sugar gourd and sugar oil fruit he makes, including rice candy and inlaid bean candy that has not yet been made, will at least double.

Dongshan Prefecture Xue'an Nan Protectorate, in the early days, wanted to gain a foothold in agriculture, and there were many crops of life. Later, I found that I couldn't transport it back, so I began to think of a way, and finally chose to plant crops that could be transported over long distances, or crops that could be transported long distances after rough processing.

The most typical are rape and sugar beet, both of which can be coarsely processed and shipped back to the country to be sold, one for oil and the other for sugar. The only drawback is that the freight still raises the cost, and the local can only take the route of small profits and quick turnover.

Li Yunrui ignored the heat, pulled open a sugar and oil fruit with his fingers, and found that the crispy skin was actually hollow. It is not completely hollow, the soft glutinous rice dough is formed in a ball or drawn in an uneven way.

He turned his head to look at Liu Yifeng: "How can you make it empty inside?" ”

Liu Yifeng smiled and asked Ao Bai to send the dough that had not yet been cooked, and gave it to Li Yunrui, who tore the dough and found that it was empty.

"I deliberately left space when I wrapped it, so that when I fried it, it would naturally form a hollow."

Li Yunrui sighed at the artifact, and at the same time took sugar and oil fruits from the dustpan to eat, he especially likes to bite into the crunchy shell and eat the soft and glutinous dough inside: "But why is it so crispy on the outside, but so soft and glutinous on the inside?" ”

This Liu Yifeng just smiled and didn't explain, sugar and oil fruits can be sold all year round, the sugar in Dongshan Prefecture is so cheap but there are no decent sweets, he is going to open a candy store, so some secret recipes will naturally not be announced.

In fact, there are not many secrets, modern people know it. The dough is not all glutinous rice flour, but also rice flour as a support, and the most critical addition is a substitute for baking soda: old flour mill.

In ancient times, there was no baking soda, and the ancients used old noodles as fermentation additives, also known as flour fertilizer, or fermentation. In addition to the hollow inside the glutinous rice dough, the air generated during fermentation is also the main reason why the dough stretches out the hollow during frying. Although the effect is not as good as the baking soda produced industrially in later generations, it can also achieve the effect of six or seven percent.

Li Yunrui saw that he was unwilling to answer, and he didn't entangle, so he put the sugar and oil fruit in his hand into his mouth and then reached out to take it. The mouth of the Ao Bai Qi who was watching from the side was crooked, this is the first pot to be fried, except for the old Wang who was in charge of the spoon and Liu Yifeng who was inspecting, he had tasted it here, and he ate several at a time!

"Alright, eat less, there are other good things."

Li Yunrui didn't take it when he heard that there were other good things, so he could share the remaining sugar and oil fruits with his own people.

"Shopkeeper Liu, your chef is really powerful."

Li Yunrui didn't know that Liu Yifeng taught Lao Wang, and when he saw that Lao Wang was in charge, he looked like a chef, thinking that he did it.

Liu Yifeng didn't explain either, and took him to another pot. The oil was heating in the pot, and Lao Wang came over and directly picked up a clean rice next to the pot and threw it in, and soon the rice more than doubled and floated, which means that the oil temperature is enough.

A whole dustpan of rice was poured into it, and everything that was visible to the naked eye swelled one after another.

"Rice can still do this!?"

It was the first time that Li Yunrui knew that rice could be fried in addition to boiling.

Liu Yifeng just smiled, but still didn't answer.

Wang instructed a cook to scoop up the fried rice, and he walked to the pot where the charcoal embers were boiling sugar with a bowl of cold water, and put his chopsticks into the bubbling syrup, and then dripped cold water. A few seconds later, he scooped up the sugar residue that had formed in the cold water and put it in his mouth, but his brow furrowed.

The sugar residue should not stick to the teeth before pouring the rice flowers.

So he took advantage of this time to remove the peanuts, which is actually the raw peanuts are shelled and peeled, and then crushed on the cutting board. Of course, you can also not press it, and put it directly, but Liu Yifeng likes crushed peanuts and thinks it is more like that, so he teaches that it should be crushed.

When the syrup is ready, there is nothing technical left, pour in the rice and peanuts, and stir constantly to spread the syrup as evenly as possible on each rice and peanut crumble.

When the stirring is almost done, put the rice balls that have been glued together by the syrup into the grinder, press them into four square fast, and finally cut them into a rectangular shape with a knife that is easy to hold in your hand.

"Actually, it's more delicious when it's cold, it's crunchy on the outside and rustle on the inside."

Li Yunrui didn't listen to Liu Yifeng's explanation at all, and frantically stuffed rice candy into his mouth. Naturally, he has eaten maltose and honey, and he has tasted all kinds of fruits, but none of them are as delicious as processed sweets like rice candy. After all, in addition to the sweetness of the syrup, there is also the fragrance of rice and the taste of crushed peanuts.

"This is called rice candy, you can take this plate back and share it with your brothers."

Li Yunrui wanted to say something of thanks, but his mouth was really full.

Seeing him leave with a large plate of rice candy, not only was he unhappy, but Feng Shuo was also unhappy. But Liu Yifeng said: "Regardless of whether he chose to watch the play at the beginning or not, after all, people are our saviors, besides, if he doesn't leave, we will never be able to start a war What we really want to do." ”

Feng Shuo asked curiously, "What?" ”

"Intangible Cultural Heritage: Inlaid Bean Candy."