Li Waishan was in charge of the canteen, and the staff was ready. He was not far from the canteen, walking back and forth, looking around.
"Hey, why hasn't Zhenghe arrived yet? Why is he so slow?"
Daniu and Xie Wangcai are both members of the group that grows sugarcane.
Daniu said, "Village head, don't worry, they will definitely be here soon. Didn't Zhengchuan's wife say that we should wash it clean? Zhenghe must have asked those women...women to wash it several times more."
Xie Wangcai trotted forward for a while, stretched his head to look, and suddenly his eyes lit up. He ran back and shouted, "Here they come, the village chief, Zhenghe and his men are driving the ox cart over here."
Li Waishan hurried back to the well and gave instructions: "Hurry, those who are moving the sugar cane inside, come over and unload the sugar cane and move it to the well."
The washed sugarcane pulled by the oxcart is not squeezed for juice directly, but is washed once before use, in order to prevent the washed sugarcane from collecting dust on the road.
After unloading the sugarcane here, Xie Zhenghe followed the ox cart back to Tang for the second trip.
Soon, the washed sugarcane was carried to the juicer by commander Li Waishan using baskets and shoulder poles.
Li Waishan and Tian Laoshi were the first to step on the pedals.
Daniu and Xie Wangcai added sugarcane to the two juicers respectively. Li Waishan turned his head and said while pedaling: "You guys have to keep your eyes on it. When the juice comes out, keep an eye on the buckets. Don't waste the sugarcane juice. The one holding the bucket at the back, take over as soon as this side leaves."
"Okay, Village Chief, don't worry, we're watching!"
"Yes, it won't be wasted. If you get tired of pedaling, just ask someone to take your place."
"Come on, everyone. Whether our village can eat more meat by the end of the year depends on tomorrow." After giving the instructions, Li Waishan shouted again. This sentence was very inspiring. Everyone wanted to eat more meat at the end of the year, so they became more focused.
“Crack, crack, crack—”
The sugarcane is squeezed loudly when it is put into the juicer.
"It's juicy, it's juicy!"
Xie Wangcai shouted excitedly, and the people around him were shocked, even though the words he shouted were infuriating.
Su Li distributed a set of white cloth work clothes and gauze masks to everyone who worked in the cafeteria. At first, many people were reluctant to wear them as they thought they were unlucky. Li Waishan originally told Su Li that it would be fine and he would ask the workers to wash their hands and feet, but Su Li righteously refused.
Anyone who wants to work in the sugar factory must follow her rules. She also said that these work clothes were bought specially from the people in the county hospital, and she paid for them herself, and they have all been disinfected by the hospital. After all, what they make is imported, and if it is unhygienic and causes problems when eaten, no one can be held responsible, not to mention that the sugar has to be sold.
After Li Waishan explained the situation, most people understood. It would be disgusting if one found a hair in the brown sugar, so they were all fully armed and dressed tightly. As for those who didn't want to wear clothes, they just lay on the sugarcane ground.
Those who can come here to work are basically those who are not very skilled in work and like to be clean. These people are carefully selected by Li Waishan. If there are secretaries or relatives who send people here, they will be sent away by Li Waishan.
Without Su Li saying much, Li Waishan also knew how important these people were. These people were basically taught by Su Li personally, and behind them were craftsmen from the sugar factory, so they could not be careless at all.
The muddy yellow juice slowly flows from the juicer into the wooden barrel, and then is poured into the filter net made of gauze. The light yellow juice slowly flows into the clean large vat.
A piece of sugarcane weighs about ten pounds and produces a lot of juice. This is partly due to the soil in Su Li's space and the spiritual spring water, but Su Li thinks it is more due to the hard work of the villagers.
The filtered sugarcane juice was carefully carried to the kitchen and poured into the pot.
"The sugarcane juice is here!" An old lady guarding the door shouted excitedly inside, and then the person sitting by the stove started to light a fire and boil the pot.
As bucket after bucket of sugarcane juice was poured into the clean pot, Su Li began to teach the aunts and sisters how to make sugar.
Su Li held a large iron spoon and stirred the pot while saying, "Our brown sugar is made using traditional techniques, which requires more than ten steps, including juicing, boiling, scooping sugar foam, turning the pot, boiling sugar, frying sugar, waiting for sugar, removing from the pot, and cooling. 2 kilograms of sugarcane juice can only produce 1 kilogram of brown sugar!"
"The first pot is used to remove impurities; the second pot is used to remove impurities again and evaporate water vapor; the third pot is used exclusively to evaporate water vapor; the fourth pot is used to fry sugar, and the success of the sugar depends on this pot. There is also a spare small pot. If there are other impurities during the cooking of brown sugar, they can be filtered again here and it will be completely pure."
"You need to control the temperature of the stove well. Usually, high heat starts the bubbles, low heat starts the bubbles, fierce heat starts the vaporization, and low heat starts the sugar. The fire at the top of the stove is the strongest, and the fire gradually weakens towards the end of the stove."
In fact, Su Li had trained these aunts and aunties before, but it was all verbal. This was the first time they actually put it into practice. These aunts and aunties were all troublesome people and easy to talk to. Others aside, Xie's mother was even more nervous, fearing that she would embarrass her daughter-in-law. Now everyone was very uneasy. This was brown sugar. If they messed it up, they would be really sinners.
Su Li was also a little worried, so she explained it in detail, fearing that they would not remember it.
When the sugarcane juice is poured into the first pot on the stove with the highest firepower, it must be boiled in the shortest time possible.
Boiling sugarcane juice will produce a large number of bubbles. Due to the effect of surface tension, the bubbles will bring impurities from the liquid to the surface. This process is called foaming.
At this time, the bubbles with impurities floating on the surface of the sugarcane juice must be scooped out with a ladle, a process called skimming. The skimmed sugarcane juice needs to be scooped from the first pot on the stove to the last pot in turn, and the water is evaporated after multiple high flames.
As the sugarcane juice moves from the top of the stove to the bottom, the water continues to evaporate, and the color and viscosity of the sugarcane juice slowly change.
The syrup that has reached the cooking temperature cannot be boiled any further. It needs to be quickly scooped into the sieve and filtered for the final time to become brown sugar syrup.
Pour the brown sugar syrup into the prepared molds.
Both molds are square wooden buckets, one meter long. Then use a spatula to push the syrup back and forth, scraping it constantly to cool it down.
This brown sugar retains the fragrance of green-skinned sugarcane, which is sweet but not greasy, and has a comfortable and mellow aroma.
"Mom, it's your and Aunt Lanzhi's turn to cook the next pot!" Su Li said this without stopping her movements, pushing and pulling the spatula in her hand back and forth.
Xie's mother, Aunt Lanzhi and other maids had actually understood it, but when they heard Su Li say this, they felt nervous and the smiles on their faces froze.
Mother Xie said with trembling lips: "Old... Third daughter-in-law, I... I dare not."
Although she had said in her heart a hundred times that she must not bring shame to the third son's wife, she was still very timid when she said it. Not to mention her, the other women also wanted to hide away.
That's brown sugar, what if I spoil it? There are a lot of people outside who want to come in to learn the craft, don't you see? Even Mrs. Li from the village head's house couldn't come in.
Aunt Lanzhi made up her mind and said, "Come on, if we can make brown sugar, we will be the ministers of Shanghe Village. We will also be skilled in the future. Mrs. Zhengchuan can teach us the craft. We will have more than enough to eat in this lifetime. Besides, Mrs. Zhengchuan is watching us. She will teach us step by step. We don't have to be afraid."
After hearing what Aunt Lanzhi said, Mother Xie felt relieved.
Isn't it? I can't take the lead and retreat, "Okay, Third Wife, I'll listen to you."
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