Chapter 404: Eyes can see, hands can’t learn
Su Ying borrowed a leaky bucket from the vermicelli factory, covered it with gauze, installed the washed activated carbon, and asked Afa and the others to crush all the brown sugar.
I soaked a basin of lime water and a bucket of yellow mud water.
Add water to a pot and boil brown sugar, remove the foam from the brown sugar water, and pour in lime water in proportion and stir.
Remove from heat, pour in turbid yellow mud water to settle, and remove some of the color when the yellow mud sinks to the bottom.
Scoop out the sugar water separated from the upper layer, add activated carbon and stir, let it stand for a while, and pour it into a colander.
What flows out from the bottom of the leaky bucket is pure, transparent and thick sugar juice. It takes several times to get all the brown sugar.
Fuwang was stunned. It was clearly red, so how could it become clear after adding charcoal powder?
"Is it ready now?" Fuwang looked at the clear sugar juice.
"We have to wait a few more days for it to crystallize." Su Ying placed twine into the syrup.
"Sister, why do we need to add lime water? We didn't add it last time!" Xiao Tao was puzzled.
“I’m improving the process, using lime water to sterilize and remove impurities from the syrup.
"Activated carbon is added to the syrup to increase its adsorption capacity. Do you think this syrup is cooler than the last one?" Su Ying asked.
"Yeah!" Xiaotao nodded.
"Is this called activated carbon?" Fuwang found it interesting.
"Well, it's extracted from charcoal. Its function is to decolorize and absorb impurities and odors!" Su Ying explained.
"Aying, isn't this your secret for making rock sugar? You're making it in front of me, aren't you afraid that I'll steal your technique?" Fuwang thought Su Ying was a little silly.
"It's a skill that you can steal it! As long as you don't use it to teach Bangzi and Jiaobuji, you can do whatever you want!" Su Ying didn't care.
"Congee? Chicken in a basin?" Fuwang was puzzled. What are Congee and Chicken in a basin?
"Two unpresentable scoundrels, thieves and robbers!" Su Ying said vaguely.
This ancient method of producing white sugar is crude and simple, resulting in low sugar yield, low production efficiency and poor sugar quality.
The sugar-making technologies of modern countries are similar, the difference lies in the quality and sugar output.
If chlorine dioxide were available, the process could be greatly improved. Chlorine dioxide could be used for disinfection, sterilization, and decolorization, and the sugar output could also be increased.
Then use a centrifuge to spin at high speed to separate the water in the syrup and quickly form white sugar.
Even if Fuwang learned it, he only had a partial understanding and didn't understand the principle, so the quality of the sugar he made would definitely be bad.
Modern sugar production is the result of thousands of years of continuous refinement and innovation of ancient technology, and the use of modern equipment. It is not a change that happened overnight.
"What's the matter with the yellow mud?" Fuwang thought it was amazing.
"Yellow mud has a sedimentation and flocculation effect! During summer rainstorms, the river water becomes turbid. Adding yellow mud can quickly make the water clear.
"We use it here to precipitate impurities in the brown sugar syrup and remove some of the color," Su Ying said.
I collected seven basins of syrup, placed six in a separate room to slowly crystallize, and left one basin next to the stove, using the temperature of the stove to try to speed up the crystallization.
Modern sugar-making processes all involve heating, and Su Ying wanted to see how firewood could be used to speed up the heating process.
"I finally understand why this rock sugar is so expensive!" Fuwang said as he looked at the wasted sugar residue.
When the yellow mud settles, the sugar containing mud at the bottom has to be discarded, and some of it is consumed by activated carbon adsorption and filtration. In total, only six or seven kilograms of brown sugar can be left out of ten kilograms.
"Without mass production, the waste of using brown sugar to make water is huge. If it is mass production, impurities and pigments will be removed when boiling the sugar juice, so there will be no waste." Su Ying smiled.
"Oh, look, if you hadn't told me, I would have thought that it had to be made by melting brown sugar, and I never thought of making it directly from sugarcane." Fuwang said, patting his head.
Su Ying smiled and said nothing. She put the yellow mud and sugar residue into clean water and stirred it to dilute and dissolve the syrup in the yellow mud. After letting it stand, she poured out the water on top.
Filter it again with activated carbon, pour it into a pot and boil it, it will soon become thick.
"Is this to extract the sugar from the yellow mud?" Fuwang opened his mouth in surprise.
"Well! It's just a bit cumbersome and a waste of firewood!" Su Ying saw that there were too many sugar residues and it would be a pity to throw them away.
Then boiled out almost a bowl of thick sugar juice.
"Xiao Tao, Atang, go pick some mint!" Su Ying suddenly had an idea and thought of mint candy.
"Oh! That's great!" The two sleepy sisters suddenly woke up.
He ran out and came back with a bunch of mint in a short while.
Su Ying mashed the mint into juice, squeezed out the juice with gauze, poured it into the syrup, and boiled it for a while.
The syrup is clear and translucent, with a hint of green, which is particularly beautiful, and it also has a strong minty aroma.
"Sister, is it delicious?" Atang stared at the beautiful syrup, his saliva almost dripping into the pot.
"Try it!" Su Ying dipped the tip of her chopsticks in it and let everyone taste it.
It's clearly hot syrup, but it feels cool in the mouth, and has a sharp mint flavor, what a unique feeling!
Atang and Xiaotao like it very much!
"Master Fu, you try it too!" Su Ying picked up a little with the tip of her other chopstick and handed it to Fuwang.
Fuwang didn't refuse and put it in his mouth. He was stunned! This, this, candy can be done like this?
"How is it, Lord Fu, does it taste okay?" Su Ying asked.
Fuwang didn't say anything, but nodded vigorously.
"It's winter now, and mint candies are hard to sell. But in summer, when it's hot, you can put a piece in your mouth and it will be sweet and cool.
"I took a sip of the cool, sweet water, and my whole body felt relaxed, and my throat was cool." Su Ying recalled the feeling of eating mint candy in the summer.
"Can we make a batch in the spring?" Fuwang asked.
"Uh..." Su Ying just said it casually, but Fuwang wanted the goods.
"This is very complicated to make. Do you want the one with brown sugar?" Su Ying was so tired from doing this that she didn't want to do it anymore.
"Brown sugar?" Fuwang didn't understand.
"You can also add brown sugar, the effect is the same, but it won't look as refined as this one, and the taste won't be as good as this one." Su Ying explained.
"We can also add ginger juice to make ginger brown sugar. How about asking Jinfeng Village to make a trial batch?"
"?" Fuwang didn't expect to ask for some mint candy, and then pulled out some ginger and brown sugar. He wanted to knock Su Ying's head open to see what it was made of.
Su Ying scooped up the mint syrup, spread it on the chopping board, let it cool slowly, and then cut it into pieces.
"Give them all to me!" Fuwang looked at the green mint candies. They were so delicious that he couldn't bear to eat them himself. He had to send them to the master quickly.
"Sister!" Atang and Xiaotao were anxious because they had picked mint.
"Don't be anxious, don't be anxious!" Su Ying had a headache and filled a small bowl for her two sisters. The two girls then left happily.
"Take it!" Su Ying put the food in a small jar and gave it all to Fuwang.
"I knew that Aying was a beautiful and kind person!" Fuwang said with a smile.
Don’t forget to pick up the sugar crumbs on the chopping board and put them in your mouth. It feels cool and sweet, so happy.
"I need 500 kilograms in the spring!" he said as he left the house.
"You see, you already know how to do it, just do it yourself!" Su Ying didn't want to take this job, it would be too tiring.
"I haven't learned it yet!" Fuwang is a clumsy person. He can see with his eyes, but he can't learn with his hands.
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