Jujube has always been one of the famous fruits in China. As early as 1000 years ago, our ancestors had the habit of cultivating jujube trees artificially. Guangxi has a long history of planting red dates. There is a record of "red dates" in Gui Zhiheng compiled by Fan Chengda in Song Dynasty. Cangwu has been one of the main producing areas of red dates since ancient times. Changzhou, Zhuwan, Sizhong, Sizhou, Zhengyang, Xia Ying, Renhe and Longtan are the most places. The jujube produced is big, thick and of good quality, which is the best raw material for making candied dates. Cangwu candied jujube is a traditional candied food with fresh dates rich in these places as raw materials and carefully processed.
Cangwu candied dates have a long history, which was recorded in the Qing Dynasty's Cangwu County Records. By the time of Yongzheng (A.D. 1729- 1733), Cangwu candied dates had become quite famous and were said to have been listed as one of the local taxes. During the Republic of China, Cangwu candied dates were sold in Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Macao under the signboard of Wuzhou candied dates, so there is still a saying that "Cangwu candied dates are the signboard of Wuzhou". After liberation, the traditional processing technology of Cangwu candied dates has been fully inherited and developed, and the products and output have been continuously improved. Cangwu candied dates are trusted by consumers because of their exquisite selection of materials, fine production, beautiful shape, bright color, crisp and easy processing, sweet and refreshing, and rich nutrition. Products are sold well all over the country, marketed in Hong Kong, Macao and exported to Southeast Asia, becoming a large number of traditional export commodities in Cangwu County. The production technology of candied dates in Cangwu County is as follows:
Fresh dates and sugar.
(Process) is divided into six processes:
(1) material selection. Choose eight ripe fresh dates, commonly known as green dates, which are white, moth-eaten and thick. Overripe fresh dates are easy to rot after being cooked; Fresh dates with insufficient maturity have poor sugar absorption, so it is not suitable to process candied dates with over-ripe or over-ripe fresh dates, otherwise the quality of finished products will be affected.
(2) scraping dates. Commonly known as combing groove, it is to scrape the jujube peel into grooves with special tools. When scraping dates, jujube grooves should be moderate in depth and evenly arranged in rows.
(3) washing. After the dates are scraped into grooves, they should be stacked in large, medium and small sizes. They should not be mixed and cooked together to avoid uneven raw and cooked. Use a copper pot to cook dates, and soak jujube gum at any time. Boil for about 1 hour, take out and rinse with cold water to remove jujube gum.
(4) Boil sugar. Add appropriate amount of water to the white sugar and boil it in a pot. Boil it at 105- 1 10 degrees Celsius to make syrup. In addition, the rinsed jujube blank without jujube gum is put into a copper pot, and some syrup is added for boiling 1 hour, and the remaining syrup is added twice in the middle, and impurities such as sugar bubbles and jujube gum are removed during boiling. If there are too many sugar bubbles, you can add a little peanut oil and then remove the impurities floating on it. When the groove on the jujube absorbs sugar and is full and transparent, the syrup has reached115-118 degrees Celsius. At this time, the jujube blank is picked up and put into a sieve for cooling.
(5) plastic surgery. Squeeze jujube blanks one by one by hand, twist them into saddle shape at the same time, and arrange them in dustpan according to different sizes in order to master their dryness and classification.
(6) drying. The shaped jujube blank should be exposed to the sun in time or sent to the oven for slow baking to prevent the jujube blank from "flowing sugar" due to long parking time. Attention should be paid to strengthening sun-drying, and the jujube blank with poor appearance should be reshaped and supplemented during sun-drying. After drying for 2 days, the dustpan can be taken back while it is hot and sealed with plastic film, commonly known as "_ dustpan", which makes the product transparent, crisp and matte. Then continue to dry until it is dry.
(Features) Shaped like a saddle, beautifully shaped. Jujube is dry, frosted, crystal clear, crisp and easy to change, sweet and delicious, full of honey fragrance.