Long Feng Qiong (first from the left) and the workers put the pine candy into the mold to cool the shape. Photo by reporter Liu Jingling
Citizen Ms. Qin's homemade sesame candy. (Courtesy of the interviewee)
Huang Liyue fried hemp balls at home. Photo by reporter Liu Jingling
The Sound of New Year's firecrackers sounded, and the people who gathered took out a crispy Piece of New Year's Sugar from the fruit plate and stuffed it into their mouths, and the taste buds gushed out a sweet taste.
Pine flower candy, sesame candy, hemp tong, hemp ball... There are more than ten kinds of Annual Sugar that often appear in the fruit plates of Guilin people, which are the memories of Guilin people's childhood and must-buy on the New Year's list.
Guilin pine flower candy on CCTV
Recently, a handicraft pine candy shop in Liangjiang Town, Lingui District, Guilin, was on a CCTV program. Across the screen, the golden color, crispy and delicious pine flower candy carries the memory symbols of old Guilin full of new year's flavor. Many Guilin netizens left a message saying: I seem to remember the taste of my childhood.
As the Spring Festival approaches, the store receives more than 300 pounds of local pine candy orders every day.
On January 15, when the reporter came to the store, the strong sweet taste of fried crispy fruit and boiled syrup came to the nose. The shop is run by Mr. and Mrs. Long Fengqiong, whose sugar making skills have been passed down for three generations and are now passed down to their son, Xie Da.
Xie Da told reporters that pine flower candy is a traditional new year sugar that Guilin people often prepare during the Spring Festival, and there are many young people among the customers who order pine flower candy at home. Sheda has tried to innovate matcha and chocolate-flavored pine candy, but he has found that traditional original pine candy is the most popular.
In the memory of Guilin people, the annual sugar is not limited to pine flower candy, there are many types.
"My daughter and I love sesame candy." Ms. Liu, a citizen, said that there are many patterns of sesame candy in Guilin, including white sesame candy, black sesame candy, cut into thin slices, wrapped in peanut kernels and cut into strips, and wrapped in walnut kernels and goji berries... Either way, she loves to eat. Every Spring Festival, Ms. Liu and her daughter will buy two or three pounds of sesame candy. One part is placed in a fruit plate to entertain the guests, and the other part is kept to eat slowly.
In the major shopping malls and supermarkets in Downtown Guilin, Nian Sugar is also the main product and is placed in a conspicuous position.
A sales clerk at the Smile Hall Commercial Building Supermarket told reporters that the number of citizens who buy New Year sugar has gradually increased recently, including pineapple crisp, milk candy, fruit candy and dozens of flavors of Annual sugar, the most popular is still sesame candy, peanut candy, sesame crisp and other traditional flavors of New Year sugar.
The owner of a sugar shop near Tiexi Community told reporters that near the New Year's Pass, the number of citizens buying Matong and sesame candy has increased significantly. Sometimes the shop's sesame tongs and sesame candy are sold out, and the public consults and makes reservations. He was so busy every day that he even worked overtime to make Candy.
Homemade New Year sugar makes the New Year flavor stronger
In addition to buying finished New Year sugar, some citizens will also make their own New Year candy at home.
Huang Liyue, a resident of Yingbin West Community, makes hemp balls for her family every year. Huang Liyue said that she grew up in the countryside when she was a child and did not have the conditions to buy Candy. Parents would fry hemp balls at home and give them to their children to eat. "Fragrant sesame seeds wrapped in a sweet skin, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, I always remember this taste."
Later, Huang Liyue followed her son to settle in Guilin. After she became a grandmother, she would also cook and fry hemp balls for her family.
The skillful Huang Liyue improved the recipe taught by her parents when she was a child. She mixes the pumpkin puree and glutinous rice flour together, rolls them into small balls, and then wraps them in raw sesame seeds and frys them in the pan.
Huang Liyue introduced that such a practice does not require additional sugar. Because of the addition of pumpkin puree, the hemp ball has a natural sweetness and a golden color. It tastes firm and healthy.
Citizen Ms. Qin is good at making sesame candy. Every year during the Spring Festival, I will make some for my relatives and friends, which is full of heart and makes the New Year taste more intense.
Ms. Qin uses stir-fried black sesame seeds, white sugar, maltose, oil and water to make sesame sugar. The first step is to put the sugar, water and oil into the pot, boil until the sugar bubbles, put the maltose into it, cook to a thick state, use chopsticks to dip a little sugar into the water, if the syrup quickly cools and becomes hard and crisp, you can put the sesame seeds in, quickly stir-fry, and then pour into the abrasive to set the shape.
Ms. Qin said that according to this recipe, she did it several times and was successful. After proficiency, you can also add crushed peanuts and walnut kernels according to your taste.
Sheda also shared her experience of making pine candy. He said that after stirring the glutinous rice flour and sugar into a ball, rolling out a thin skin with a rolling pin, then cutting into small pieces about 1 cm square, frying in oil until fluffy, fishing out and pouring into the viscous malt syrup and stirring, waiting for each crisp fruit to be glued to the syrup, then put into the abrasive to set, cool and then cut the pieces to complete.
Every kind of annual sugar has a good meaning
Luo Shuming, deputy secretary-general of the Guilin Catering and Culinary Association, said that many places across the country will eat New Year's sugar for the New Year, but Guilin's New Year's sugar has certain local characteristics. The most common local annual sugars in Guilin are Ma Tong and Sesame Candy.
Luo Shuming said that Ma Tong was named Ma Tong because it was wrapped in sesame seeds and was inside like a tong grass. Ma Tong has certain requirements for the ratio of heat and glutinous rice flour, and the middle of the fried Ma Tong is not empty enough, and only experienced teachers can make an empty and crisp Hetong.
The early Guilin sesame candy was mainly white sesame candy. White sesame seeds are boiled into a golden syrup, so white sesame sugar is also called "inch golden candy".
"Eating Candy during the Spring Festival is a traditional custom of the people of Guilin, which means sweet and sweet." Luo Shuming said that in the era of material scarcity, the sugar bought by children was wrapped in paper, and inside was a yellow sugar block. Only during the Spring Festival, the sugar eaten has some tricks, and it will add sesame seeds, peanuts and other fragrant nuts, which means different things for children.
In addition to ma tong and sesame sugar, Guilin people also like to put pine flower candy in their fruit plates. Because pine flower sugar is like a grain of golden beans, it means to get rich, and the New Year chart is a good omen.
"No matter what kind of sugar you eat in the New Year, it is the people's yearning for a better life and the joy of sharing sweet candy with friends and family." Luo Shuming said.
Reporter Liu Jingling Correspondent Yu Meiying