Jiexiu Filling-Stuffed Candy

Jiexiu Filling-Stuffed Candy

　　Jiexiu Filling-Stuffed Candy is a specialty of Jiexiu City, Jinzhong, Shanxi Province. Known as "Guànxiàn Táng" or "Filling-Stuffed Candy," Jiexiu's version is a renowned food item with over 1,000 years of history. It is made from bran flour, red and white candied strips, walnut kernels, icing sugar, osmanthus, rose petals, and sesame seeds.

　　Jiexiu Filling-Stuffed Candy, a traditional confectionery of Jiexiu City and one of the "Eight Treasures" of the region, is also ranked among the top ten famous and special foods in Shanxi. It has long been considered on par with Zhejiang’s “Cunjin Candy.” As early as the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, Filling-Stuffed Candy became popular in the domestic market for its thin skin, fragrant filling, crispy texture, and sweet taste. This candy is a seasonal product, typically produced after the Beginning of Winter and discontinued around the Lantern Festival the following year. Not only is it rich in nutrients and delicious in flavor—with health benefits such as moistening the lungs, resolving phlegm, invigorating the brain, nourishing kidneys, enriching blood, and promoting lactation—it is also a candy suitable for all ages, including women and children, making it an excellent gift for family and friends.

　　Production Method of Jiexiu Filling-Stuffed Candy:

　　The most crucial process in making Filling-Stuffed Candy is the production of bran flour. The typical ingredients are: 37.5 kg of millet, 8.5 kg of barley, which are boiled down to 31.5 kg of water bran flour, then further processed into 25.5 kg of aged bran flour, and finally refined into 25.5 kg of white bran flour.

　　1) The barley must first undergo a germination process. Rinse it twice with cold water to let the barley sprout to about 1.3 cm. Crush the sprouted barley with a millstone, then soak it in a water tank until it becomes a white paste. Soak the millet thoroughly in water, then drain and steam it. Pour in 70% of the millet first to allow proper steaming, and steam for 40 minutes. The millet should become sticky but not overly so or too soft.

　　2) Mix the barley paste with the steamed millet, then pour the mixture into a dripping vat. The dripping vat must always maintain 25 kg of base water, and there should be a 6.7 cm gap around the vat to ensure even heat distribution. After pouring in the mixed ingredients, wait for an hour and a half—by then the millet will have sunk about 6–6.7 cm. Add 100 kg of millet at the top, with the water temperature at 30°C, then heat from the bottom until the temperature reaches 70°C. At this point, the millet will rise completely. Keep the fire going for an hour and a half, then let it smolder. Three hours later, open the spout at the bottom of the dripping vat to release the sugary liquid. Pour the sugar water into a pot, heat it, and boil it down into water bran flour. Particular care must be taken to control the fire here—low and steady, with the flame height at 33 cm and diameter over 90 cm.

　　3) Once the water bran flour is boiled down into aged bran flour, spread it in an iron basin to cool until it reduces to 40%, at which point a layer of millet oil skin will form on top. Stir the bottom manually and mix the contents in the basin to allow all the steam to dissipate. By evening, move it next to the warm heated bed near the stove to soften it.

　　4) Cut the aged bran flour into pieces weighing 3.5 kg each, place them on a 13 cm board cover, apply bottom heat, and pull the bran flour from above. First, hang the sugar bran on a wooden stake on the board cover, pull it out forcefully, and step back 3.3 meters. Then hang the pulled end back on the stake, use a stick to cradle it from the middle, and pull again. Repeat this process 40 times to produce white bran flour.

　　5) Place the well-pulled white bran flour on a work surface, flatten it, add icing sugar filling in the center, wrap it up, pull it evenly again, roll it in sesame seeds, then use a bladeless iron slice to make imprints. Once dried, it will become crisp and can be broken apart easily. This finished product is Jiexiu Filling-Stuffed Candy. One kilogram of the candy is cut into 24 sticks, each 9 cm long and 3.3 cm wide, in a long strip shape.