In fact, the variety of zongzi in this era was not as numerous as in later generations, and Su Qingluan did not want to make overly innovative flavors to attract attention.
After all, many people think that zongzi is something that suits the occasion, not to mention that glutinous rice itself is relatively expensive. When most people still have problems getting enough food and clothing, zongzi that tastes better when dipped in sugar can be considered a luxury food.
However, Su Qingluan still prepared both sweet and salty fillings for the rice dumplings.
Sweet taste is relatively simple, you can add red dates or candied beans pickled in sugar, but salty taste is more complicated.
Even in later times, zongzi were an important item for the exchange of gifts between close relatives and distant neighbors before the Dragon Boat Festival. However, in an era when most zongzi were still made of pure glutinous rice, zongzi were considered not just a gift, but rather a refined and high-end gift.
Su Qingluan thought that one would make the same thing as a whole pot of dumplings, so she bought ten kilograms of glutinous rice, plus the fillings she planned to put in later. All in all, she could make almost two large pots of dumplings - this was because the Su family's cooking pot was big enough, otherwise, an ordinary small pot would probably take four or five pots.
At the beginning of last year, Su Qingluan was also looking forward to the Dragon Boat Festival, because she generally liked to eat that kind of fragrant, smooth and soft food.
However, as the business of "Su Ji" became more and more prosperous since she traveled through time, Su Qingluan had not experienced the embarrassment of not having enough food to eat or clothes to wear for a long time. What's more, she was able to buy ingredients by herself and figure out the corresponding cooking methods, so she often had a wrong estimate of the "popular diet level" of this era.
For example, "zongzi", although it has a wide audience in this era, and is indeed made of glutinous rice, horseweed and bamboo leaves, the ingredients inside are very different from what Su Qingluan imagined.
First of all, there is glutinous rice. The rice dumplings that Su Qingluan ate last year - she had to queue up at Hongfulou to buy them in order to avoid eating rice dumplings of poor quality - had a much denser texture than she had expected, and were a bit hard.
Later, Su Qingluan carefully inquired about the method of making zongzi here and found out that the problem lies with the "heat".
There were no pressure cookers in those days, and for most households, firewood and charcoal were significant expenses, requiring every penny to be carefully calculated. Hong Fu Lou certainly had plenty of money, but for a business, the top priority wasn't the flavor of the product, but profit margins.
Foods like zongzi, which are very seasonal, are more valuable for the occasion than for their taste. Many people cannot even get used to the texture of glutinous rice that is crushed and difficult to chew, so they just symbolically buy two to keep at home.
As for the so-called "tricks", they are only done by a few wealthy families who drizzle honey or dip the rice dumplings in white sugar, which is already a supreme delicacy for people of this era.
However, most ordinary families who do not have enough spare money to buy sugar and honey just eat zongzi as a staple food without any seasoning.
Although glutinous rice can resist hunger, it is also expensive and far less cheap than brown rice, bean flour, etc. Therefore, it is in an awkward situation that "rich people dislike the taste and are not willing to eat it, while poor people dislike the price and are not willing to eat it either."
So Su Qingluan planned to improve the taste of the zongzi this time - of course, this would require sacrificing a lot of charcoal and firewood. But fortunately, her family could afford it, and zongzi was, after all, a seasonal festival food and was not made often.
That's why Su Guangfu and Yang had ignored her recent practice of changing the water in every pot. Otherwise, they wouldn't have said much to Su Qingluan, who now controlled the "financial power," but they would have been able to nag her about things like "firewood is expensive."
Su Qingluan first put the soaked jujubes, wolfberries and pickled honey beans into three small bowls respectively. The wolfberries and jujubes were one kind of filling, while the honey beans were another kind of filling.
Because the honey beans are actually "candied fruits" made from ripe black beans, red beans, mung beans, and water chestnuts, which are pickled in a thick syrup made from white sugar, they are very sweet - they are prepared for two children and other friends who may like sweet food.
As for dates and wolfberries, although they have a sweet taste, their sweetness is not very high. Especially after being cooked, the sweetness will be further reduced.
This makes it a good choice for those who don't like sweets but still want a sweet taste. Of course, if you want something extra sweet, you can also dip it in sugar or drizzle it with honey.
Su Qingli turned the two pieces of zongzi leaves over and put them together, with a slight overlap between them. In this way, the two layers of zongzi leaves interacted with each other, one of which could form a wider zongzi leaf, making the volume of the zongzi bigger. The other two zongzi leaves overlapped each other, which could also prevent the situation where one of the longitudinal leaves suddenly broke, and the other could serve as a bottom to prevent the filling from flowing out.
Su Qingluan was a little unfamiliar with the technique of wrapping rice dumplings, but she had not forgotten the necessary skills. For example, when shaping the rice dumpling leaves into a "funnel shape", one of the key points was to leave a small section at the most "pointed corner", allowing the rice dumpling leaves to naturally sink a little as they bend at an angle. This way, it still looks like a beautiful pointed corner from the outside, but there is a small upward fold inside.
The biggest advantage of wrapping zongzi in this way is that it maintains the beauty of the "triangular zongzi" while preventing the filling from leaking directly from the tip.
In addition, when folding the rice dumplings leaves to seal them, the same "corner pressing" should be done - the glutinous rice inside the rice dumplings leaves should not be too full, and there should be an inward folded corner on each side, so that the filling will not leak out from the two sharp corners on the side.
Although it looks like just a matter of folding one leaf at a time, it is very easy for novices to make mistakes. Either they leak through the leaves or they don't fold the corners properly. At first glance, it looks neat, but when the rice dumplings are cooked, the fillings will flow out from the gaps in the three corners, turning them into "rice porridge with rice leaves".
Although Su Qingluan's movements were unfamiliar, she still paid attention to the things she needed to pay attention to. However, due to her lack of proficiency, her speed was much slower.
So when she had just wrapped a dozen or so rice dumplings, she heard Yang Su Guangfu leading Su Xueyan in.
From quite a distance, I could hear my sister's chirping voice, like a little sparrow, imitating my parents about what strange guest she had seen at Old Master Xu's that day, how she had learned a few new words, and how to use an abacus to do accounts...
Then, the little girl saw Su Qingluan sitting near the kitchen door and asked in surprise, "Sister, you're back first? What are you doing?"
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