The older master is named An Shan, a 70-year-old native of Sanyuan, Shaanxi Province, who specializes in making local food indigo candy. He had been doing this for forty years, and now he had taken in his second apprentice, Zhang Wenlong in 88 years.
Zhang Wenlong is the second eldest among the grandchildren in the family, so everyone calls him Erlong. Erlong opened a local indigo sugar food processing plant in Mihara a year ago.
Whether the indigo sugar is good or not depends on the selection of materials and the production process of the blanks, which have been dried in the ventilated warehouse for half a year, with enough time to wait for it to complete the internal organizational changes.
Blank is the most complex and irreplaceable link in the production process of indigo sugar, only winter and spring can make this every year, because the Qingming passed, the climate gradually warmed, the billet made is easy to spontaneously, although there are still ten days away from the Qingming Festival, but the temperature in the Guanzhong area of Shaanxi has climbed to thirty degrees, according to the custom, the billet making link must be stopped, and then start production in winter.
However, Master AnShan still has to risk wasting glutinous rice, teaching the process of making billets to Erlong again, and judging the length of soaking time according to temperature, humidity, and water absorption rate of rice, these criteria are installed in the experience accumulated by Master An by time.
Master An went to a household mill that he patronized every day as usual, this patronage is like a habit, it is a trust and cooperation tested by time, the polished rice noodles officially enter the blank making link, and a person rushes to the door, he is AnShan's big apprentice, Bai Lei.
Although Bai Lei had already started other food processing, he heard that the master was going to teach the technique of making blanks today, and he suddenly felt that the technique was itchy, and he could also refine his cultivation again.
Boiling water is added to the rice noodles, a very small amount of water, so that the powdered rice noodles become large granules, and then poured into a large cage drawer, which must be steamed for an hour when steaming.
Since the indigo sugar is made of glutinous rice, it is said that after the southern rice cake came to the north, it was inadvertently created food, steamed glutinous rice flour, the color is blue, slightly translucent, while hot into a large pot for picking blanks, the picking blank is to destroy the stickiness of glutinous rice, so that the tissue becomes loose, forming a honeycomb-like tissue of indigo sugar.
At this time, the soybean milk added is also the same effect, the glutinous rice ball becomes supple, and the blank can be made when the temperature is more than thirty degrees.
Although the blank can only be made in the winter to the time before the Qingming Festival, the later puffing processing can be carried out all year round, first soaking the blank with oil, and then entering the hot oil of about fifty degrees to slowly expand, while the oil temperature in the other oil pot next to it rises to one hundred and fifty degrees, and the teacher fu who operates is very experienced.
Eyes, hands always pay attention, the speed and size of the expansion of the rice strips, and so on after the rice strips are completely expanded, quickly add the high oil temperature in the pot to fix the color, the rice blanks to the finished product of the indigo sugar, is a very cooperative process.
The final step is to sugarcoat the candy and roll the sesame seeds.