Chapter 11: Ancient Chinese sugar-making technology—yellow mud slurry decolorization method
When Zhao Qinghe and his uncle came to the shop, they saw Wang Yuan holding up an iron pot and pouring the mixed syrup and yellow mud into a funnel lined with straw.
"Dad, look!"
Zhao Qinghe pouted his mouth.
Uncle looked at it in surprise
Da da……
Black sugar residue leaked out from below, and the syrup began to layer in the funnel.
After a while, there was crystallized white sugar at the top, sandy brown sugar in the middle, and brown sugar residue at the bottom.
"Brown sugar, white sugar"
Zhao Qinghe's eyes almost flew out of his head.
The cheapest brown sugar is 100 Wen per pound, and brown sugar is 300 Wen per pound. There is no white sugar on the market yet.
Look at the ratio of the three colors of sugar in the funnel, 50% is white sugar, 30% is brown sugar, and 20% is black residue.
The brown sugar alone is almost enough to cover the cost of brown sugar, and the money from selling white sugar is pure profit.
Uncles Wang Hanshan, Dahu, and Wang Sihai were surprised and surprised. They didn't understand why this happened.
Erhu asked directly, "Brother Yuan, why did the brown sugar turn into brown sugar and white sugar when the yellow mud was poured on it?"
Everyone was curious.
Wang Yuan simply explained, "There are pigment impurities in brown sugar, and the yellow mud can absorb pigment impurities, so brown sugar and white sugar appear."
Sugar production in Daye is relatively rudimentary, and sugar cane is grown in the south to boil brown sugar.
There are also a few people who use plant ash and duck egg greens to decolorize brown sugar.
No one has yet discovered how to make white sugar.
The yellow mud slurry decolorization method is the pinnacle of ancient Chinese sugar making technology and has been used into the industrial era.
He has a doctorate in chemistry and knows the principles of this low-level process very well.
"pigment?"
"Impurities?"
"Adsorption?"
No one understands!
Wang Yuan twisted a piece of sugar and said, "Try them both."
Six people gathered around the funnel, and they all carefully twisted a little sugar and put it in their mouths.
Zhao Qinghe’s big eyes were bright, “It’s so sweet, much sweeter than brown sugar or brown sugar!”
"Well, it's sweeter than brown sugar."
Wang Sihai agreed seriously, as if he had really eaten brown sugar.
Sugar is a tonic and the villagers cannot afford it.
New Year's Eve
Only when relatives are away can the villagers eat some sweets, mostly brown sugar.
Brown sugar is eaten by rich people.
"I have only eaten brown sugar, and this white sugar is much sweeter than brown sugar."
Erhu seeks truth from facts and does not pretend to be a big-tailed wolf.
Uncle, Uncle Shanshan, Dahu twisted the brown sugar again, tasted it, and nodded sharply after comparing.
"White sugar is just sweeter, but its true medicinal value is not as good as brown sugar!"
Wang Yuan glanced at Zhao Qinghe, "When a girl needs to replenish her blood, it's best to drink brown sugar water."
Zhao Qinghe's oval face turned red and he gave Wang Yuan a fierce look: "Bah, you scoundrel!"
Uncle, Wang Hanshan has a dry cough.
The big tiger, the second tiger, and the three stupid green men from all over the world looked at it inexplicably.
Erhu said again, "Brother Yuan, how do you know this method?"
"You still have to ask?"
Wang Sihai raised his head and said confidently, "Wang Yuan must have learned it from books."
"Great cleverness!"
Wang Yuan gave a thumbs up. Wang Sihai was so imaginative that it saved him the trouble of making up excuses.
"Fool!"
Looking at Wang Sihai with a proud look on his face, Zhao Qinghe rolled his eyes.
If there was a method for making white sugar in the book, it would have been sold on the market long ago, and I would wait until my cousin made it!
"Yuan'er!"
The uncle cut to the chase and asked, "How much do you plan to sell a pound of sugar for?"
Erhu rubbed his head, "Brown sugar already costs 300 renminbi, but this white sugar, which is sweeter than brown sugar, still costs 400 renminbi no matter what!"
Dahu nodded repeatedly. Four hundred coins per pound of sugar was already a lot of profit.
"Four hundred cents is too low!"
Wang Sihai waved his hand and opened his mouth like a lion, "In my opinion, it has to be sold for 600 Wen, which is twice the price of brown sugar!"
Uncle and Uncle Shanshan shook their heads together, "White sugar is more than twice as sweet as brown sugar. Selling it for 600 Wen is a bit low. It should be sold for 800 Wen per pound!"
Zhao Qinghe is the most courageous:
"Eight hundred cents is too low. This sugar is not sold to ordinary people. It can only be enjoyed by rich people. I think adding another two hundred cents will make enough for one pound. Cousin, what do you think?
?”
"Always a pound!"
Everyone gasped.
Brown sugar costs one hundred cents per catty, white sugar sells for one catty, and brown sugar can sell for ten catties.
"Let's eat first!"
Wang Yuan did not answer.
Even my cousin with a small abacus only dares to sell it for a pound. I can only say that these relatives and friends are too simple.
Lunch was very sumptuous.
Pancakes, stewed fish with tofu, stewed meat with radish, stir-fried eggs with garlic sprouts, and cabbage with vinegar.
Uncle Zhao Dachui also took out a bottle of fruit wine.
This made Dahu, Erhu, and Wang Sihai feel flattered.
Growing up, they had never eaten four dishes or drank wine!
Wang Yuan took a sip of the fruit wine and then put down the cup. The taste was too bad and bitter.
This is the tannin in fruit wine, which needs to be broken down by adding glycerin, otherwise drinking too much will be bad for your health.
But how do people in this era know this? Drinking is a good life.
After dinner, Wang Yuan taught the key points of making sugar.
How long should the sugar be cooked, the proportion of yellow mud and water, and when should it be poured into the funnel.
The five people performed the operation correctly, and Wang Yuan began to wash his hair, change clothes, and dress up.
Seeing his cousin wearing a satin robe, a sachet hanging from his waist, and white jade, holding a paper fan in his hand, looking like a handsome young man, Zhao Qinghe was startled, and turned around with a hot face, "Why don't you just sell candies? He is dressed like a groom;
If you dress so well, people will give you some money."
"Respect your clothes first and then your people. If we dress like ordinary people, even if we take sugar to a sugar shop to sell it, they will try their best to lower the price."
Wang Yuan blinked: "Do me a favor, pretend to be my maid!"
"Be your maid!"
Upon hearing this, Zhao Qinghe put his hands on his hips and said, "Wang Yuan, don't push yourself too far!"
Wang Yuan raised his eyebrows, "A pair of jade bracelets, a pair of silver earrings, and a silver hairpin!"
"make a deal!"
Zhao Qinghe jogged and turned around.
Wang Yuan called again, "Dahu, Sihai, come over and wash your face and put on new clothes."
Dahu and Wang Sihai quickly ran over, changed out of their old clothes that smelled like fish, put on two sets of satin servant clothes, and put on new shoes.
Erhu looked envious.
Daye fabrics include damask, Luo, silk, satin, cotton, linen, etc.!
Ordinary people wear linen, wealthy people wear cotton, and wealthy people in the city wear satin.
In the countryside, only landowners, village chiefs, elders, and household chiefs can wear satin clothes.
He grew up wearing linen and never even wore cotton, let alone satin.
Wearing satin clothes for the first time, Wang Sihai was so excited that he walked up and down with his head held high.
The steady tiger also became cautious.
Not long after, Zhao Qinghe put on a satin dress, her eyebrows were a little longer, her oval face was lightly pinked, and she wore earrings and a silver hairpin.
Wang Yuan's eyes lit up, and he felt that Xiao Baanpan was not much worse than Li Shihan.
Dahu, Erhu, and Wang Sihai looked straight.
"Come here, let me tell you what to do when you get out right away!"
Wang Yuan gave an explanation.
The three of them asked questions from time to time.
Not long after, my uncle, Uncle Shanshan, and Erhu finished boiling all the sugar.
Fifty pounds of brown sugar, twenty-five pounds of white sugar, fifteen pounds of brown sugar, and ten pounds of sugar residue.
Two red sandalwood boxes hold twenty kilograms of sugar, and these are taken to the East Market to be sold.
Three kilograms of white sugar and five kilograms of brown sugar were left with my uncle, and the rest was taken back to the village.
The seven people divided into two teams and headed to Dongshi.
The East Market is very large. In addition to fish, meat, vegetables, grains and oils, there are also dry goods, seafood, and candies.
Let your uncle take ten guan of money to take Uncle Shanshan and Erhu to buy supplies.
We went to the car dealership and hired a carriage. Wang Yuan and Qing He sat in the carriage, Dahu drove the carriage, and trotted along the seaside. They were all nervous and excited.
The carriage arrived at Zhou's Candy Shop, a shop owned by the powerful Zhou family in Fu County.