Traveling through 1942 with space

Chapter 193 Everyone is happy

Sweet potato candy is a very simple thing to make. The raw material is nothing more than sweet potatoes. It only took an hour to purchase a cartload of them, and it only cost a dozen dollars.

Of course, it was impossible to buy household items with just this little money. I spent a lot of money to buy three large iron pots, and I spent 150 dollars.

Since it is to be sold, it is impossible to just make sticky sweet potato candy and sell it directly. Of course, it has to be made into a finished product.

Fortunately, the workshop had sesame seeds and kernels, and we also purchased some peanuts and rice, and asked someone to buy popcorn for one dollar.

Boiling sugar is a long process, so Hou Xiaoge asked people to make more at one time until all three pots are full.

Making sweet potato candy is a labor-intensive process, so ten idle girls and women were hired from the village to wash and chop the sweet potatoes.

Hou Xiaoge was not idle either. He found an excuse to go out and accelerate the malting in the space.

Although sweet potato candy can be made without malt, the malt gelatinization allows it to be drawn into threads, which has a better effect.

Hou Xiaoge plans to make a pot of sweet potato candy without malt for comparison. If it works, he will not add malt, which will reduce the cost. If it doesn't work, he will add malt.

The time in the space is accelerated twenty times. If you add a little spiritual spring water, the malt can be fermented in three hours.

After the malt was fermented, Hou Xiaoge came to the entrance of the workshop to direct everyone to work.

Fortunately, business in the village has been good these days, and we hired people to dig two caves to store things, otherwise there would be no place.

A large iron pot can hold more than 100 kilograms of sweet potatoes. There is no need to peel them for retail production, just peel off the bad ones.

Steaming sweet potatoes in the middle of winter is not a job that humans can do. The women's hands are all red from the cold.

"Uncle Yangbing, please boil some water when we go to clean up later. It's too cold today and our hands will easily get frozen." Seeing that the fingers of several little girls of thirteen or fourteen were frozen, Hou Xiaoge grinned at the elder in charge of the construction work.

"You're quite caring, kid! Ask your mother to find you a wife after the New Year." The uncle who was watching the fire on the side teased Hou Xiaoge with a smile.

"Oh! Uncle, I'm only ten years old. I just feel uncomfortable looking at that rotten hand." Hou Xiaoge said somewhat embarrassedly.

After a while of chatting, the sweet potatoes were washed, chopped and boiled in a pot.

"Heiwa, how come this is the same as cooking pig food? How can it be made into sugar?" The villagers gathered around the cave and asked curiously.

"Of course I can. If not, why would I spend two hundred dollars? Uncle Wu and my uncle will beat me to death." Hou Xiaoge laughed and talked nonsense with everyone.

"You kid, the hawthorn workshop in our village is all thanks to you, so it's not worth two hundred dollars." The two old men smiled and replied.

A pot weighs more than 100 pounds and takes some time to cook. After watching the excitement for a while, the crowd dispersed.

"Master Wu, Uncle Yangbing, Uncle Yangwa, no one is allowed to run into this workshop anymore.

All of our recipes are for sale. Some villagers came in to look at them and went out to talk nonsense. These recipes will become worthless later. "Hou Xiaoge said to a few people in front of the teahouse.

"Yeah! What Heiwa said makes sense. Except for the workers, no one else is allowed to run around in the workshop at the back.

Yangwa, you are responsible for the safety of the village. When the time comes, please notify every household.

Yangbing, you tell everyone working in the workshop that anyone who dares to go out and talk nonsense about the workshop's craftsmanship will be dealt with according to clan rules.

I will also tell Yangmin that he is the village chief, and anyone who disobeys will be locked up for a few days. "The Fifth Master instructed.

"I understand, Uncle Five!"

"middle!"

"Uncle Wu, let's not talk about the craft of making candied haws. The villagers should also be able to learn the craft of making sweet potato candy after a while.

You can cook it and eat it yourself, but you are not allowed to cook and sell it privately." Hou Xiaoge said.

Several people nodded in agreement.

But this is not a big problem. These days it is extremely difficult to do business privately. It is difficult to succeed without someone to protect you and the approval of the villagers.

"Yes, scoop all the sweet potatoes into these jars." More than an hour later, the sweet potatoes were cooked.

All the mashed sweet potatoes were put into a jar, and Hou Xiaoge asked someone to crush them with a wooden stick.

While the workers were pounding sweet potatoes, Hou Xiaoge took the opportunity to go out and bring back malt, and asked them that he could provide malt in the next few times, and that the villagers would have to ferment the malt themselves later.

Cut the malt, mash it, then add it to the sweet potatoes and stir. Wait until the sweet potato puree is completely cooled before filtering.

After filtering, it is time to boil it in the dark.

"Uncle, the sweet potatoes left over from filtering are still good! You can eat them.

You can sell it cheaply to villagers or relatives outside the village, which can also reduce our costs. ” Hou Xiaoge said to his uncle who came back.

"Yes, these sweet potatoes are really good. Even if the moisture is filtered out, they are still good food." Hou Yangmin pinched the filtered sweet potato puree and nodded.

"Let's arrange two people to stir it! Stir it every once in a while. It still takes fifteen hours, so it's still early!" Hou Xiaoge suggested to his uncle as he watched the sky darken.

"middle!"

Nothing happened that night. At around eight or nine o'clock the next morning, the three pots of sweet potato water were finally boiled into black syrup.

The one with malt is indeed sticky, while the one without malt is like paste and has a lighter color.

But you will know the pros and cons only after trying it. Add the fried sesame seeds, walnut kernels, fried rice and popcorn, then start stirring evenly and serve.

Half an hour later, the compacted sweet potato crisps are ready.

"Haha, it's done. This sweet potato candy looks good, and you can smell the aroma of walnuts and sesame seeds after cutting it open." The elder on the side said happily.

"Try it and see how it tastes." Hou Xiaoge took out a portion for everyone to taste.

“The one with malt is better. It tastes sweeter and has better viscosity.” Several people who were tasting the coffee around commented.

"Then we can offer different prices. After all, wheat is not cheap. One pound costs seven cents, which can be exchanged for more than six pounds of sweet potatoes.

You can also use cheap stuffing for the latter, or use high-quality stuffing for high-quality stuffing, or even buy raisins and wolfberries to add in. ” Hou Xiaoge suggested.

After the final calculation, the cost per pound is close to 20 cents, and the minimum wholesale price is 30 cents to make a profit.

That day, Hou Yangmin brought 60 kilograms of cut sweet potato rice candy to Jinyintang. In that era, materials were scarce, so cooperation was naturally easy to negotiate.

In addition, Jinyintang also proactively provides sweet potatoes and wheat, which are of much better quality than those on the market.

Then the village workshop started making it day and night, and even borrowed iron pots from many villagers.

By the 25th day of the twelfth lunar month, the village could already produce 500 kilograms of sweet potato rice candy every day, with 100 kilograms sold as retail and 400 kilograms sold in bulk.

The output of 500 kilograms of sweet potato rice candy results in more than 2,000 kilograms of sweet potato puree left over every day.

Of the more than 2,000 kilograms, 800 kilograms were consumed by the village, and the rest were sold to relatives and refugees outside the village at a cheap price of one kilogram and four cents. Everyone was happy.

Every day, one hundred kilograms of sweet potato rice candy are wholesaled to thirty or forty relatives outside the village. These people buy the goods at the retail wholesale price of 35 cents per kilogram and sell them at 50 cents, making a profit of 20 to 30 cents a day, which is enough to support their families.