Where are Shi Cun candied dates from?

Shi Cun candied dates are a specialty of Shi Cun, Qiucun Town, Guangde County, Xuancheng City, Anhui Province. The production of candied dates in Shi Cun has a long history, and the jujube surface of candied dates is golden in color, without burnt skin, crystal clear and translucent; Jujube noodles are coated with sugar, dry but not sticky; Knife lines are uniform and tidy, and the particle size is symmetrical; Sugar is pure, sweet enough, thick meat, loose but not stiff, and is deeply loved by candied jujube diners.

The production of candied dates in Shi Cun is family-based. Once the candied dates are listed, you only need to walk into Shi Cun. These ordinary peasant families and families are making candied dates. Knead your pure and kind heart and snow-white sugar into a ball and inject it into agave to provide beautiful and sweet candied dates for the society.

There are many jujube trees and varieties in Shi Cun, including milk jujube, red milk jujube and water milk jujube. Among them, milk jujube has the characteristics of big head, small core, fluffy meat, thin and tough skin and less juice, which is the best choice for making candied jujube. Every year in late August in the solar calendar, people start picking milk dates. After removing abnormal jujube, insect jujube and over-ripe jujube, the jujube fruit was squeezed in a jujube cutter and classified according to the diameter of the import and export. Then, put the jujube fruit selected by the heart into the hole of the jujube cutter to cut the seam according to the grade. The depth should be strictly controlled at half of the pulp thickness. If it is cut too deep, it is easy to break, and if it is cut too shallow, the sugar solution is not easy to soak. Wash and drain the cut fresh dates with clear water, and then boil them in water.

Cooking dates all use pot stoves, and generally use large iron pot stoves specially used for candied dates. The ratio of sugar to fresh dates depends on experience, but the general ratio is 1:2. The dryness and wetness, maturity, cooking time and firepower of jujube are all controlled by ourselves. First put some water in the pot, then heat and dissolve the water and sugar into sugar solution, and then pour fresh dates into the sugar solution and stir. Cook over high heat, turn over and remove the floating sugar foam. When the jujube is cooked until it becomes soft, turn over slowly. When the color of sugar changes from white to Huang Shi, turn down the heat and cook slowly with grain fire. Generally, the cooking time of jujube can reach about 50 minutes. Then pour the boiled jujube and sugar solution into a cold pot and let it stand, so that the sugar solution can penetrate into the jujube fruit evenly and stir regularly, then pour the sugar jujube into a sugar filtering basket and filter out the sugar solution. Dried dates should be exposed to the sun. In case of rainy weather, it should be sent to the curing barn in time. When baking, the firepower is slow first and then fast, and the baking time is generally one day. But whether it is drying or baking, it must be turned every few hours.

In the process of turning, the jujube fruit is pressed into a round flat shape by a jujube press or by hand to promote drying or improve appearance.

Expose the naked candied dates to frost, put them in the house and dry them in the shade. Baked candied dates should be dried. The firepower should be urgent first and then slow down, so that the jujube noodles are sugar-coated, and then the firepower gradually decreases, and the jujube fruits should be turned in time to make them dry evenly. During inspection, the jujube fruit is not deformed by force extrusion, the jujube color is golden and bright, and jujube paste is exposed on the jujube surface.

The finishing process is to classify candied dates, put them into plastic food bags and finally enter the market.