allonlinenovel Chapter 119 Making the Most of Things
Chapter 119 Making the Most of Things
After dinner, the grandmothers wanted to boil all the sugar because they were afraid it would go bad. Even though Shen Youyou said it wouldn't go bad, they still wanted to boil the sugar first.
Candies were very rare in ancient times, and the children were also waiting for the delicious and fun candies that Shen Youyou mentioned.
The women had already started scrubbing the pots with ash, trying to wash off as much grease as possible, leaving a few pots empty for boiling water, because they had collected a lot of icing sugar.
Each person filled a basket, and there were nearly twenty baskets in total. Of course, there was a lot of moisture and residual pine needles in them.
Some people directly collect pine branches with a lot of white frost. The method is also very simple. Just put the sugar or pine needles and pine branches into warm water and stir until they melt.
Then filter out the pine needles, insects and other impurities, boil over a fire and make syrup.
The syrup should be stirred constantly during the cooking process until it becomes syrupy enough to be drawn into threads.
Pour the syrup onto the board, and then keep pulling it like making malt sugar until the color of the syrup changes from brown to off-white.
Coat it with a layer of glutinous rice flour. However, we don’t have glutinous rice flour, but we have kudzu root powder. Just make the sugar no longer sticky. Cut it into sugar cubes. This is pine needle sugar cubes.
You can also put it directly into jars at the level of syrup. Children can use a small bamboo stick to pull and eat it, which is similar to the malt syrup we bought when we were young. This kind of syrup is the favorite of children.
Of course, if you don't want to pull the sugar cubes after boiling, you can also pour it directly into the mold. After the water is dry, it will be frosting.
After discussion, we decided to split the collected sugar into two halves, making both frosting and sugar cubes, and also set aside a small jar of syrup for the kids.
This made them very happy and they liked Sister Yoyo even more because that small jar of syrup was requested by Sister Yoyo and it was in accordance with the grandmothers’ wishes.
Just eat some when making candy. Why do you have to save out the syrup separately and make it into candy blocks for easier preservation? Wouldn't you eat them anyway?
But Shen Youyou doesn't think so. Every kind of candy has different ways of being eaten.
That is to say, pine sugar and real white sugar and rock sugar do not have the same ingredients, so they cannot be used to make candied haws. You know, they contain a lot of yam, right?
Otherwise, he would definitely make candied haws for his younger brothers and sisters. They would definitely be very happy. It was hard enough for the children to escape famine, and they had never had anything to eat.
Of course she likes to eat, haha.
But pine nut candy is still worth considering. Shen Youyou put the idea aside for now.
Soak the filtered pine needles in wood ash water for half an hour, wash them and place them in a bamboo basket on the kang to dry out the moisture.
I plan to fry it into pine needle tea for everyone to drink.
Shen Zhiqiu was responsible for frying. Shen Youyou was afraid of being burned, and she couldn't use a shovel when frying. Neither a wooden shovel nor an iron shovel would work, otherwise the fried pine needles would not be straight.
"My daughter, bring back some more pine needles. There aren't many vegetables to eat in winter. Make some tea to drink for a balanced diet."
Shen Youyou nodded and said, no problem, she would also make sparkling water to serve as wine during the New Year.
The kang dries very quickly. Shen Youyou and a few sisters sorted out the dried pine needles and cut them into small pieces about the length of a thumb with scissors.
Wang Taohua was responsible for lighting the fire, and Shen Zhiqiu was responsible for frying. They had to cook over a low heat and slowly.
The technique for frying pine needles is similar to that for frying Longjing tea. Do not roll or twist them.
Just fry it until dry.
After a while, the smell of pine came out of the iron pot, and many old men and men were attracted to it.
"Xiao San, what are these pine needles used for? They smell so good!"
Shen Zhiqiu carefully stir-fried the pine needles: "Ah! It's so hot and prickly," he muttered, and then said to Doctor Guo who was asking the question: "Uncle Guo, I plan to fry some pine needle tea for everyone to drink. It's good for the body."
Shen Youyou also said: "It has the effects of dispelling wind and promoting blood circulation, improving eyesight and calming the mind, and reducing the hyperactivity of liver yang."
In fact, she wanted to say that it can also treat hyperlipidemia, but she really didn’t know how to say hyperlipidemia in ancient times, so she omitted it.
"Which book are you reading?"
Doctor Guo discovered that Shen Youyou knew a lot of pharmacology that he didn't know, and he didn't know what book she was reading. What doctor doesn't like medical books?
Shen Youyou was speechless, and Shen Zhiqiu quickly added: "It was a very old and worn medical book that I saw in a bookstore before. It didn't even have a cover, and Youyou took it to read. She knew everything that was written in it."
Shen Youyou was grateful to her father for lying for her, mainly because she had always felt guilty when she lied since she was a child, her eyes would wander and her face would blush.
It's easy to find flaws.
"Where is the book?" Doctor Guo asked anxiously.
Shen Zhiqiu didn't even need to think about it, he just opened his mouth and said:
"It's too worn out. You left the county town in an emergency, so you didn't bring it with you? Besides, when you settle down, you can just ask Youyou to write it down for you. She will remember it."
Shen Youyou took back her gratitude to her father. This was a trap for her. She even had to compile the pharmacology she knew in her previous life into a book. Alas!
"Ouch!" Shen Zhiqiu cried out in pain. It is very easy to get pricked when frying pine needles. Just now he was pricked by two thorns.
Shen Zhichun felt sorry for his third brother, so he quickly took over and let his younger brother direct. His younger brother's hand was used to hold a pen, so he could just do some work as long as he was not injured. It didn't matter that there was fire and pine thorns.
Shen Zhiqiu glanced at his elder brother, and felt warm in his heart: "Brother, be careful when you stir-fry the tea, it's very hot and it's easy to get thorns.
Shen Zhichun smiled innocently: "My hands are all calloused, they can't be pierced! It's okay!"
This sentence made Shen Zhiqiu feel even worse. Most of those calluses were left there for the original owner to study.
Seeing the pine needles gradually turn green and yellow, Shen Zhiqiu said
"Okay, big brother, take it out and let it air dry for a while, then continue to stir-fry it for the second time. Stir-fry it twice separately, the pine needles will be more fragrant."
Shen Zhichun took out the pine needles from a bamboo basket and spread them out flat. Except for the people who were making the candy, everyone gathered around and watched.
After waiting for a while, Shen Zhiqiu felt the tea leaves were cold:
"Now you can stir-fry it for the second time. This is equivalent to reheating the pan. The second time, you must be gentler and stir-fry slowly over low heat until it is completely dry and the pine needles turn yellow."
As Shen Zhichun continued to stir-fry, the smell of pine nuts became stronger and stronger.
Shen Fugui said, "These pine needles are really delicious when fried. Can you sell them for a copper coin?"
Shen Zhiqiu smiled and said, "Get some bamboo tubes and fill a few buckets to see if anyone will buy them. Maybe someone likes the taste."
He was not very optimistic about it, mainly because the taste of pine needle tea was rather ordinary, with no flavor except a light pine scent.
But what if a blind cat catches a dead mouse? It’s a waste not to make the free money, and it’s not a waste of effort!
This time, not only Shen Fugui was impressed, but other men also said, "Then make more. If you can't sell it, just drink it yourself. It doesn't cost money. Don't we have pine needles?"
The pine needle tea was fried and had a strong aroma. Shen Zhiqiu grabbed a handful of it and put it into the boiling water pot next to him, then covered it with a lid and let it steep for a while.
Shen Youyou was also impressed by brewing tea directly in the pot. His father really saved trouble!
About three or four minutes later, Shen Zhiqiu opened the lid and the scent of pine filled the air. Everyone held a bamboo cup and prepared to taste it.
It has a light pine scent, very refreshing, and tastes slightly sweet. I don’t know if this sweetness is due to the pine needle sugar caused by the drought, or if pine needle tea is naturally sweet.