Food is always related to memory. As Jiang Xun wrote in the "Four Lectures on Taste": Our memory of food is very peculiar, and you will find that the taste of the mountains and the sea that ordinary people talk about is not necessarily the memory of the most important food in their lives, and sometimes the reason for tossing and turning is a plate of small greens.
I don't know if the fengcheng villagers remember it, there is a snack that makes you start to worry about it from the beginning of winter, it is like sugar and cake. As soon as the New Year comes, my mother will buy it and hide it, afraid that you will eat it all at once, and this sweetness that is deeply hidden in the memory is the crunchy frozen rice candy.
Fengcheng frozen rice candy, commonly known as "Jiangnan small cut", is famous for its flavor of "white as snow, crispy and sweet, and melting in the mouth", no slag and no chips, no sticky teeth, no stuffed teeth, and rich in nutrition, which is deeply loved by people. According to the "Records of Fengcheng County", during the Ming Dynasty (1573-1620), Fengcheng began to make frozen rice candy, which has a history of more than 400 years.
01 Even the emperor praised the "small cut"
According to legend, Deng Zilong,a national hero of the Ming Dynasty (1531-1598), ordered his subordinates to dry glutinous rice, fry it into popcorn, mix it with sugar, cut it into small pieces, named "small cut", also known as "rice candy", for the army to fight for dry grain. This delicious and portable food accompanied Deng Zilong to lead the Jiangxi soldiers to Fujian, Guangdong, Guizhou, Yunnan and North Korea. In the future, every Mid-Autumn Festival, every household in fengcheng made small cuts to commemorate the patriotic general Deng Zilong of the Ming Dynasty.
This tradition continued until the Qing Dynasty, and gradually evolved into the use of tea for guests and gifts to relatives and friends. In 1756, when the Qianlong Emperor went down to Jiangnan, he passed through Fengcheng, tasted Xiaoche and then claimed to be good, after which Xiaoche became a royal tribute, and became famous throughout the country, well-known in Southeast Asia, becoming a prestigious local specialty of Jiangxi, enjoying the reputation of one of the "four famous spots" in Jiangxi.
02 From Fengcheng to the world's "famous spots"
Later, small cut production gradually became a unique industry in Fengcheng, and before liberation, there were dozens of workshops specializing in making "small cuts" in Fengcheng City. During the Republic of China period, Fengcheng frozen rice candy was exported to Changsha, Wuhan, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and even nanyang, and there were also well-known long-established brands such as "Tianyi Zhai", "Peace" and "Hechang". Frozen rice candy in Fengcheng, which has been passed down for thousands of years, carries the laughter and sweat of generations of working people, and records the trajectory of life in this world.
A small piece of frozen rice candy, from the birth of the Land of Fengcheng during the Tang Dynasty, to the twenty-first century to step out of the country to the world, every step is solid and powerful. The people of Fengcheng are determined to develop and innovate frozen rice candy, while inheriting and enriching its inner spirit. Day after day, year after year, a small piece of frozen rice candy has also been transformed into a symbol of nostalgia for the people of Fengcheng.
03 Frozen rice candy is the "gift" of time and craftsmanship
Fengcheng frozen rice sugar, with pure glutinous rice, clean tea oil, and granulated sugar as the main raw materials. With transparent caramel, aromatic osmanthus and red grapefruit silk as auxiliary raw materials, it is characterized by strict selection of materials, and it has been said that "newly dried glutinous rice, longquan tea oil, Jiangsu osmanthus fragrance, Taiwan's white sugar." It has the characteristics of fragrant, sweet, crisp and crispy. The four corners are flat, white and shiny, the red grapefruit silk is evenly paved, and the small pieces are cut into packages, crisp and refreshing, and the aftertaste is endless.
It is easy to eat and enjoy, but it is done through procedures such as "steaming-drying-hair-boiling-cutting", which requires enough patience. Like making mochi and making sweet wine, frozen rice candy is steamed first. Wash and soak the glutinous rice one night in advance, and drain the glutinous rice that has been soaked for 8 to 10 hours the next day and steam it into the rice.
After the glutinous rice is steamed, it is dried and dried. Pour the glutinous rice into a bamboo plaque woven of bamboo and stir and dry for ten days and a half days, until the rice is completely dried, the grains are scattered, and the light is clear. Then there is the "rice blossom", the dried glutinous rice is poured into the hot oil pot and immediately expands, becoming a grain of rice floating on the oil surface, there are places where frozen rice sugar is called rice candy.
A pot of rice flowers fished out of the oil is drained on a bamboo sieve, and the next step is to boil the syrup. The clean tea oil, water, caramel, and white sugar added to the pot are heated and dissolved into a syrup, and the syrup should not be tender or old, and the chopsticks should be dipped to observe the drawing situation at all times. If it is broken when it is pulled, it means that it is too tender, and the rice blossoms cannot be knotted; if it is pulled up very roughly, it means that it is old, it takes more sugar to make the rice blossoms knot together, and grasping the heat of the syrup silk is the core technology of making frozen rice candy, and whether the frozen rice candy is of good quality is often in the key seconds.
The following recommends several frozen rice candy brand stores that Fengcheng people are proud of, small partners can buy back to try it, the crisp and sweet taste must make you can't stop ~
Zilong frozen rice candy
Recommended reasons: It is the preferred dim sum for fengcheng people to travel and entertain guests at home, in 1965 it was awarded the title of "Jiangxi Famous Product", in 1985 it was rated as the ministry's excellent product, the "Zilong" brand frozen rice candy was rated as the 98th Jiangxi food quality product in 1998, and was designated as the "only designated product of the 10th Jiangxi Provincial Games", and in 2005 it was rated as "Jiangxi Famous Brand" product and "China (Nanchang) Green Pollution-free Excellent Product".
Planet Frozen Rice Candy
Reason for recommendation: The selection of local cinnamon silk glutinous rice, puffed by edible vegetable oil, with sugar, maltose, sesame, osmanthus and other raw materials, using traditional technology and modern technology, containing a variety of amino acids, proteins, vitamins and other nutrients required by the human body. It has the characteristics of white as snow, fresh and refreshing, sweet and crispy taste, dissolving in the mouth, beautiful taste, and endless after eating.
Hongzhou frozen rice candy
Recommended reason: Hongzhou frozen rice sugar excavates the essence of the millennium heritage process, combined with modern food production technology, selects high-quality glutinous rice, vegetable oil, white sugar, maltose as the main raw material, supplemented by natural osmanthus flowers, sesame seeds, fruits and vegetables, etc., refined after more than 20 processes, which not only enriches the product variety, but also ensures the quality of the product.
Green delicacies frozen rice candy
Reason for recommendation: Big brand, trustworthy. "Green cuisine, professional specialties", fully tap the resources of local specialties, and open up a world of green delicacies. Since its inception, it has always been rooted in the brand concept of "professional specialties", strict selection of materials, refinement of technology, and maintenance of the original taste of food.
When food has the temperature of feelings, it can be inherited, and the taste of feelings that seeps into it can often arouse people's warmth and touch the softest part of the heart. With the profound accumulation of traditional craftsmanship, frozen rice candy condenses the emotions of joy and sweetness, and contains the local complex of Fengcheng people.
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Producer: Department of Culture and Tourism of Jiangxi Province
Finishing and editing: Hu Daijiang
Submission Email: [email protected]