The fruit-filled candy is another innovation, at least for Haicheng Food Factory.
Since no similar candies had been produced before, Zhan Chunlan had no precedent to follow and had to take every step on her own.
Therefore, she encountered a problem with how to inject the molten pineapple jam into the transparent sugar coating. At this time, she had no seniors to ask for advice, and since she had come up with the idea herself, she could only find a solution on her own.
In the sugar-making room, Zhan Chunlan poured 150°C of clear syrup into an oval mold, and then quickly injected vacuum-degassed pineapple jam into it with a syringe.
With a "sizzle," the jam, with its low boiling point, instantly vaporized, the sugar shell shattered, and the scalding sugar liquid sprayed onto the cold steel plate, solidifying into dark yellow mountains of candy.
She held the empty syringe, her fingertips red from the steam, but she didn't utter a sound and continued with the next attempt.
Spread the pineapple jam on a stainless steel tray and put it into a cold storage at -18°C to quickly freeze it into semi-solid ice blocks; use a 2mm punch to cut the jam into 1cm small cylinders to form "ice core jam". The jam part is temporarily completed.
Then I got busy making the crispy sugar coating. I cooked the clear syrup to 160°C in advance, then spread it thinly after removing it from the heat and cooled it to 120°C so that it was still fluid but wouldn't boil violently anymore.
She found some small tweezers, picked up the "ice core jam" and quickly dipped it into 120°C syrup. The outer wall of the ice core was instantly coated with syrup, forming a 2mm transparent shell.
Immediately remove it and drop it into 10°C cold salt water to set. The sugar shell shrinks rapidly due to the temperature difference, tightly binding the jam core inside.
Once it returns to room temperature, the ice core slowly melts, turning into flowing jam, but it no longer boils because the pressure inside the shell has been locked in by "cold setting".
The method seemed to have been found, but after three consecutive batches, Zhan Chunlan found that the sugar coating had formed a misty crystal, like a layer of frost, and had nothing to do with a transparent and crispy sugar coating.
A week has passed since we reached this point, and the technical team says it's already a great success. Although it's not transparent, it's already a sandwich candy. One bite and it's sweet and crunchy, a very new taste, and it's ready for mass production.
Zhan Chunlan disagreed. Not to mention the many novel and creative candies she had eaten in her previous life, even now, foreign filled candies are much more appealing. She absolutely refused to allow her fellow countrymen to fall behind others in this small, sweet treat.
She began to carefully search for the reason, and although her colleagues did not quite agree, they also joined in the search.
In the end, it was an experienced technician who first found the problem: the cold brine contained impurities, which induced the sucrose to crystallize, causing the sugar shell to form a hazy crystal, which looked like a layer of white frost, making it appear foggy.
Zhan Chunlan nodded: "So how do you solve this situation? Have you encountered it before?"
The technician shook his head: "No, we've never produced transparent candies before, so we haven't dealt with this situation."
Zhan Chunlan was not discouraged. There is a first time for everything. Once this problem is solved, she will have experience for the future.
She started trying again and again, and this time she was much faster. She found a solution the next day: replace the cold brine with distilled water + 5% edible alcohol. The alcohol reduced the surface tension, and the shell became crystal clear again.
However, the alcohol flavor would overpower the fruity aroma, so she reduced the alcohol concentration to 2% and added 0.1% lemon essential oil to prevent the fruit from becoming grainy and to create a "tropical top note" with the pineapple scent.
On the fourth day at noon, the first qualified pineapple candy with filling lay on the enamel plate:
The candy is about the size of a thumb and completely transparent. When placed in the sunlight, you can see the golden jam inside slowly flowing, like a miniature glass lantern.
Zhan Chunlan gently broke the sugar shell with the tip of her scissors, and the jam gushed out, carrying the fresh pineapple aroma locked in by the ice core, instantly filling the entire tasting room.
She lowered her head and wrote in her notebook—
"Batch number 27, success."
At the same time, we also began to work out the recipe for this sandwich candy.
When Zhan Chunlan presented the results of this experiment to the leaders, they were immediately thrilled.
This time it's different from the strawberry-flavored fruit candy from last time; last time it was just developing a new flavor.
This time it's a new type of candy, and there isn't even an existing production line available. We have to find a machine factory or experts to develop a new production line.
Moreover, this kind of filled candy was something their factory leaders had wanted to develop for a long time, but due to the heavy production tasks, they hadn't been able to officially assign the task. As a result, Zhan Chunlan quietly completed it ahead of schedule, which greatly surprised the leaders.
This time, it was Haicheng Food Factory that took the lead again, and it's estimated that other food factories will come to visit and learn from them later.
After Zhan Chunlan left, the leaders in the conference room remained seated.
Deputy Factory Director Li spoke first: "Everyone knows why Comrade Zhan Chunlan came to our Haicheng Food Factory, right? Before long, other food factories in the surrounding area will definitely come to visit and learn from us. I have one request: we must take good care of Comrade Zhan Chunlan and make her feel at home here. We can't let her 'run off' with any other factory again!"
Section Chief Xie of the Technical Department wasn't too worried: "Deputy Factory Director Li, don't worry. She came to Haicheng because of Comrade Wang Wenfeng. Comrade Wang Wenfeng and his family treat her very well. I've seen Wang Wenfeng's mother personally pick her up to go shopping several times, and she often brings her some food she cooks herself. There shouldn't be any major problems."
Other leaders chimed in, "Yes, not to mention the status of our Haicheng Food Factory in the food industry, since she arrived, every one of us has been very caring towards her. Her talents have been fully utilized here. As long as we maintain this attitude towards her, or even better, there shouldn't be any major problems."
Seeing everyone's confident demeanor, Director Qiao couldn't help but say, "From that incident with the foreign businessmen, we should know that Comrade Zhan Chunlan is a very capable woman. Besides sugar making, don't forget that she is also good at design. I suggest that this time, we can also entrust her with the design of this pineapple-filled candy to increase her sense of belonging to this candy and our food factory. We must nip any unstable factors in the bud."
The leaders unanimously agreed: "We agree. Her design is very innovative. If foreign businesses see it, it will probably trigger another wave of exports."
Factory Director Qiao nodded in agreement: "Yes, it's fine for us to dream about the future like this, but we can't just say these things outside. What if someone overhears us and it puts pressure on Comrade Zhan Chunlan?"
Deputy Factory Director Li immediately chimed in: "Director Qiao is right. We should pay special attention to Jiangcheng Pastry Factory. If they send another exchange group to learn this year, we must keep a close eye on them. I heard that Comrade Zhan Chunlan has two very good friends who work at the pastry factory. The three of them entered the factory together, and they have a very deep friendship. The comrade in charge of receiving them must get the list of all the people coming to learn in advance, and if these two people are mentioned, we must report it immediately."
Factory Director Qiao couldn't help but chuckle: "Hahaha, alright, Factory Director Li, this matter hasn't even been settled yet, and you're already acting like it's a major crisis. It's not good to be so complacent. Let's all calm down, keep a normal attitude, and not be too enthusiastic, lest we make Comrade Zhan uncomfortable."
Deputy Factory Director Li also shook his head with a smile: "Hahaha, you got carried away while talking. Okay, then we'll all listen to Factory Director Qiao. Don't go around surrounding Comrade Zhan as soon as the meeting is over."
And so, Zhan Chunlan had another task: designing candy packaging.
However, Zhan Chunlan really had ideas about this. The biggest contributor to the smooth development of pineapple-filled candy this time was our Comrade Zhan Xiaoman.
Should this sandwich candy be named "Hai Xiaoman"?
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