Guanxian Sugar

Guanxian Sugar

　　Jiexiu Guanxian Sugar boasts a long production history. It is rich in nutrition and equally famous as Zhejiang’s renowned “Cunmian Sugar.” With a thin skin, aromatic filling, delightful fragrance, and tasty flavor, it mainly consists of maltose syrup—produced by saccharifying sprouted barley and millet—thus offering lung-warming and kidney-strengthening properties, as well as lactation-promoting effects. The walnut kernels inside the filling, being sweet and neutral in nature, also contribute to brain health, kidney fortification, qi and blood nourishment, and lung-moistening with phlegm-resolving benefits.

　　Shanxi Jiexiu Guanxian Sugar is a famous food product with over 1,000 years of history, made from bran crumbs, red and white silk threads, walnut kernels, icing sugar, osmanthus, rose petals, and sesame seeds. In recent years, orange juice and banana oil have been added, enhancing its flavor. General feedback describes it as having a thin skin, fragrant filling, crisp bite, and soft chew. However, it is a seasonal product, only producible in cold weather, making winter its peak season, especially around the Lantern Festival.

　　Production Method: The most crucial step in making Guanxian Sugar is preparing the bran mash. A typical formula includes: 37.5 kg millet, 8.5 kg barley, yielding 31.5 kg water bran mash, then further processed into 25.5 kg aged bran mash, and finally into 25.5 kg white bran mash. The barley must first undergo germination—rinsed twice with cool water to allow sprouts to reach 1.3 cm. The sprouted barley is crushed in a mill, then soaked in a water tank until it becomes a white paste. The millet is soaked thoroughly in water, drained, and steamed in a pot. Pour 70% of the millet first to allow steam to build up, then steam for 40 minutes. The millet should be steamed until sticky but not overly so or too soft.

　　Mix the barley paste with the steamed millet, then pour into a dripping tank. The dripping tank must always maintain 25 kg of base water, with 6.7 cm of empty space around the tank to ensure even heat distribution. After pouring the mixed ingredients into the tank, wait one and a half hours—the millet will sink about 6–6.7 cm. Add 100 kg of millet and maintain the water temperature at 30°C, then increase the heat to 70°C using a low flame. At this point, all the millet will rise. Heat for one and a half hours, then simmer. After three hours, open the spout at the bottom of the dripping tank to release the sugary liquid. Pour the liquid into a pot, heat it, and boil down into water bran mash. Special care is needed to control the fire—keep it low, with the flame reaching 33 cm in height and over 90 cm in diameter.

　　Once the water bran mash is boiled down into aged bran mash, pour it into an iron basin to cool and reduce to 40%, whereupon a layer of rice oil skin will form on top. Use your hand to scoop from the bottom and mix inside the basin to release all the heat. By night, move it next to the warm heated bed by the stove to soften it.

　　Cut the aged bran mash into 3.5 kg blocks, place them on a 13 cm board cover, apply heat from below, and pull the bran mash from above. First, hang the sugar bran mash on a wooden peg on the board cover, pull it taut, and the person pulling steps back 3.3 meters. Then rehang the pulled end on the peg, use a stick to hold it from the middle, and pull again. Repeat this 40 times to produce white bran mash.

　　Place the stretched white bran mash on a flat surface, press it even, add icing sugar filling in the center, wrap it up, and stretch evenly again. Roll it in sesame seeds, then use a blunt iron cutter to imprint marks. Once dried, it will become crisp and can be broken apart—becoming Guanxian Sugar. One kilogram of Guanxian Sugar is cut into 24 sticks, each 9 cm long and 3.3 cm wide, shaped like long strips.