After lunch, Li Lanzhen began preparing to make maltose.

Today, since there were no adults doing other work, the children all gathered in the dining room.

The wheat was damp from the rain, and with the high temperature, the grains had already sprouted small white buds overnight.

Originally, when making maltose, the wheat should be threshed and the grains should be directly moistened and heated.

As long as you maintain the humidity and temperature, you can let them germinate directly.

But yesterday, all of these wheat ears and stalks were placed here together.

So Li Lanzhen simply let them sprout here.

Now, the task for both adults and children is to use scissors or machetes to cut the wheat ears and put them into baskets.

Adults can do it one by one, while children can work together in groups.

Later, Pear Blossom and her children came up with a solution.

The two of them carefully spit out the ears of wheat, their little hands tightly gripping the bottom of each grain.

Then, this handful of wheat ears is handed to another person and placed on a wooden board that covers the basket. This way, by simply aiming a machete at the bottom of the wheat ears and cutting them down, a dozen or twenty ears of wheat will fall neatly into the basket.

Everyone saw that this method was both convenient and efficient.

Adults and children alike followed suit, which greatly increased the speed.

Another group bundled up all the wheat stalks after the ears of wheat were cut, carried them out, and laid them out to dry in the threshing ground.

Once all the wheat ears have been cut and placed in the basket, the next step can be carried out.

It was still a division of labor, with big hands and small hands, whether by rubbing by hand or by other methods, to separate the wheat grains from the husks.

The hulled wheat grains were all discarded in the large basket at the bottom.

Next, Li Lanzhen organized the women to check all the malt in the baskets and put them into clean bamboo baskets.

"Mom, you don't need to worry about it anymore. We'll take turns watching over her." Xue Nizi felt sorry for Li Lanzhen, who had been working too hard these past few days.

Li Lanzhen smiled.

"Okay. Sprinkle water several times a day to keep the wheat moist. Got it."

After about 20 hours, the malt has grown longer. Continue to water it frequently to keep the grains moist.

When the malt has grown to about 5 centimeters, it can be harvested to make maltose. If it continues to grow, it will consume amylase and affect the fermentation effect of making maltose.

Lifting the straw mat on the basket, a fresh aroma of malt wafts out.

Not only do the children eagerly anticipate the wheat growing and sprouting, but they also hope it will grow quickly and sprout soon.

The adults were also eager to see how the malt would turn into sweet maltose.

At this time, Li Lanzhen organized everyone to take out the malt, remove the moldy and unsprouted ones, wash them 2-3 times in clean water, and then put them in a large winnowing basket.

Another group chopped up the malt and put it into a grinder to fully expose the amylase.

These small crushers are sometimes like small stone mills used for making tofu.

Some are hand-cranked shredders made of wood.

These were all made by Li Erhan and his team at Li Lanzhen's request.

Pour the malt, which has been stirred into a paste, into a large ceramic water vat.

The water vat contained steamed, cooled, and mashed yellow millet rice.

Several strong women used a wooden stick to vigorously stir the mixture, ensuring that the rice paste and malt pulp were fully combined.

The next step is to keep it warm and wait for fermentation.

The large water vat was covered with a thick mat woven from cattails, and on top of the mat was a wooden lid.

Fermentation time should be controlled within three to four hours. Short fermentation time results in low sugar yield, while long fermentation time makes it prone to spoilage and sourness.

The maltose was boiled in the early hours of the next day.

After more than three hours of fermentation, the rice paste has turned into a very fluid soup.

Li Lanzhen and the others arrived early and first removed all the lids and pads from the water tanks.

After the liquid in the water tank has cooled down, use a clean cloth to thoroughly filter out the fermented sugar solution.

Pour the sugar syrup into a large iron pot and boil it over high heat.

When the sugar syrup becomes thick, reduce the heat to low and simmer until the syrup can cling to chopsticks without dripping.

The malt syrup is now ready.

At this time, Xue Nizi and the others poured bowls of roasted walnuts, chopped chestnuts, chopped peanuts, and pumpkin seeds into the syrup.

Then, swing the large shovel and stir vigorously and quickly.

At this time, shouts and yells could be heard from time to time in the cafeteria.

"Oh my, it smells so good, it's so sweet, even my hair feels sweet after soaking in it."

"Haha, when you get home, just soak it in water and drink it like sugar water, haha."

"Eat, I said add firewood, keep the fire low. If the fire is too high, the maltose will taste bitter."

"Okay, okay, I'll take the fire off right now."

There were also sounds of gulping and swallowing saliva.

...

Li Lanzhen patrolled back and forth behind several large pots.

He kept saying, "Hurry up! Stir it vigorously!"

"The fire is too big, get it out of the way quickly!"

When everyone's face was flushed, their foreheads were covered in sweat, and their hands were sore.

The fire has completely stopped!

The maltose in the pot emitted a sweet aroma.

It envelops everyone in this sweetness.

After a short rest, people quickly took out wooden boards of various sizes.

These wooden boards were rolled in hot water to ensure they were free of oil.

When the maltose in the iron pot cools down.

Everyone worked together to quickly scoop out the maltose syrup and spread it on the wooden board.

Sometimes, in the rush, I'll spill maltose on my hands.

It will then emit a series of "wa la la ha ha ha" sounds.

The children would ask Li Lanzhen.

"Grandma, look how hot it is for the aunties! Can't we wait until it cools down before putting it in?"

"That won't do. You absolutely must not wait until the maltose has completely cooled down before scooping it out and spreading it out."

"Otherwise, the maltose is too sticky, and you simply can't scoop it out," Li Lanzhen explained to the children.

"Yes, your Grandma Lanzhen is right. Now, while the maltose is still hot and soft, you can shake it out spoonful by spoonful. Quickly scoop it out and spread it out on the wooden board."

Once we cut it into pieces and put it into ceramic jars, you can take it home and eat it.

Ha ha ha ha."