Transformed into an extremely evil grandmother and fled to escape famine with her children and grand

Chapter 341 Sweet Work

After lunch, Li Lanzhen began to prepare to make malt sugar.

There were no adults with other jobs today, so the children gathered in the dining room.

The wheat was soaked in rain and had a lot of moisture. Coupled with the high temperature, small white sprouts had already appeared on the wheat grains overnight.

Originally, when making maltose, the wheat should be threshed and the wheat grains should be directly humidified to increase the temperature.

Just maintain the humidity and temperature and let them germinate directly.

But yesterday, all the wheat ears and stalks were placed here together.

So Li Lanzhen simply let them sprout here.

Now the task of adults and children is to cut the wheat ears with scissors or hatchets and put them into the basket.

Adults can do it individually, and children can work in groups.

Later, Lihua and the other children came up with a solution.

Two people were dedicated to spitting out the wheat ears, and their little hands tightly grasped the bottom of each wheat ear.

Then give the handful of wheat ears to another person, put them on a wooden board, which covers the basket. In this way, one only needs to aim the hatchet at the bottom of the wheat ears and cut them with one stroke, and a dozen or twenty wheat ears will fall neatly into the basket.

When everyone saw this method, they thought it was both convenient and efficient.

Adults and children followed suit, which greatly increased the speed.

Another group of people tied all the cut wheat stalks into bundles, carried them out and spread them out next to the drying yard to dry.

After all the wheat ears are cut into the basket, you can proceed to the next step.

It is still a division of labor, with big hands and small hands, whether it is rubbing with hands or other methods, to separate the wheat grains from the husks.

All the peeled wheat grains are discarded into the large basket at the bottom.

Next, Li Lanzhen organized the women to check all the malt in the baskets and put them in clean bamboo winnowing baskets.

"Mom, you don't have to worry about it from now on. We will take turns to look after her." Xue Nizi felt sorry for Li Lanzhen as she had been too tired these days.

Li Lanzhen smiled.

"Okay. Sprinkle water several times a day to keep the wheat moist. Remember that."

After about 20 hours, the malt has grown long. Continue to water it frequently to keep the grains moist.

When the malt has grown to about 5 centimeters, you can use it to make maltose. If it continues to grow, it will consume amylase and affect the fermentation effect of making maltose.

When you lift the straw mat on the basket, a fresh aroma of malt hits you in the face.

Not only do the children look forward to the wheat growing and sprouting quickly every day, but they also look forward to it.

Adults are also looking forward to seeing how the malt is turned into sweet maltose.

At this time, Li Lanzhen organized everyone to take out the malt, remove the moldy and ungerminated ones, wash them 2-3 times in clean water, and then throw them into a large winnowing basket.

Another group of people chopped the malt into pieces, put it into a grinder, and crushed it to fully expose the amylase.

Some of these small crushers are like the small stone mills used to make tofu.

Some are hand-cranked crushers made of wood.

These were all made by Li Erhan and his team at Li Lanzhen's request.

Put the malt into a paste into a large ceramic water tank.

The water tank contains steamed, cooled, and mashed millet rice.

Several strong women used a wooden stick to stir vigorously to fully blend the rice slurry and malt slurry.

The next step is to keep it warm and wait for fermentation.

The large water tank was covered with a thick mat woven from cattails, and on top of the mat was a wooden cover.

The fermentation time should be controlled within three or four hours. If the fermentation time is short, the sugar yield will be low, while if the fermentation time is long, it will easily become corrupt and sour.

The malt sugar is boiled in the early morning of the next day.

After more than three hours of fermentation, the rice paste has turned into a very fluid soup.

Li Lanzhen and her team arrived here early and first removed the lids and mats on all the water tanks.

After the juice in the water tank has cooled down, use a clean cloth to filter out the fermented sugar liquid.

Pour the sugar liquid into a large iron pot and boil over high heat.

When the sugar liquid becomes viscous, use low heat and simmer until the sugar liquid can be hung on chopsticks without dripping.

Maltose syrup is considered to be successfully brewed.

At this time, Xue Nizi and the others poured pots of roasted walnut kernels, chestnut crumbs, peanut crumbs, and pumpkin seed kernels into the syrup.

Then, pick up a large spatula and stir quickly and vigorously.

At this time, loud shouting and yelling could be heard from the cafeteria from time to time.

"Oh, it smells so good and sweet, even my hair is soaked in sweetness."

"Hahaha, when you go home just soak it in water and drink it as sugar water, hahaha."

"Eat, I told you to add more wood and lower the fire. If the fire is too big, the maltose will taste bitter."

"Got it, got it. I'll put out the fire now."

There is also the sound of gulping and swallowing saliva.

……

Li Lanzhen patrolled back and forth behind several large pots.

Keep saying, "Hurry up! Stir hard!"

"This fire is too big, evacuate it quickly!"

When everyone's face was flushed, sweaty, and their hands were sore.

All the fires stopped!

The malt sugar in the pot exudes a sweet aroma.

Wrap everyone in this sweetness.

After a short rest, people quickly took out wooden boards of varying sizes.

The boards were rolled in hot water to ensure they were free of oil.

Wait until the temperature of the maltose in the iron pot drops.

Everyone worked together and quickly began to scoop out the maltose syrup and spread it on the wooden board.

Sometimes when you are in a hurry, maltose may drop on your hands.

A series of wah-la-la-ha-ha sounds will be heard.

The children would ask Li Lanzhen.

"Grandma, look how burned the aunties are! Can't we wait until it cools down before putting it back in the clothes?"

"That won't do. You must not wait until the maltose is completely cooled before scooping it out and spreading it out.

Otherwise, the maltose is too sticky and you can’t scoop it out.” Li Lanzhen explained to the children.

"Yes, your grandmother Lan Zhen is right. Now, while the maltose is still hot and soft, and can be shaken up with a spoonful, scoop it out quickly and spread it on the wooden board.

Wait until we cut it into pieces with a knife and put it into ceramic jars, and then you can take it home and eat it.

Ha ha ha ha. "