The frozen rice candy

In the waxing moon, farm work in the fields is idle, and folks begin to organize things for the New Year. The smell of New Year in the countryside gradually becomes stronger.

　　On a sunny day, parents would cook a few pots of late rice. The house was filled with the tantalizing aroma of rice, but the rice was not for us to eat, we only enjoyed the golden and crispy layer of potpourri at the bottom of the pot. The rice is cooked so that the grains are full and round, and spread out to dry on bamboo plaques or gabion mats so that they don't stick together.

　　After a few warm winter sunsets, the rice grains shed their water and become dried rice, one grain is dry, hard, transparent and crystal clear like jade.

　　After the twentieth day of the lunar month, the village will ring with a loud shout: "Fried frozen rice hello - fried frozen rice hello -" so the master was invited to the house, replaced the large pot fried frozen rice to. Under the sharpening of the iron sand and iron pot, as the master's hands turned the bamboo pieces, the small kitchen resounded with the joyful sound of "Bi Bi Peel", and the dried rice swelled into a white with yellow and very chewy frozen rice.

　　Finally it was time to make sugar, but making sugar is also one of the most difficult processes - because of the difficulty of mastering the fire. Young Uncle San was already a famous village chef for several miles around, and he was also a good sugar maker, so he was the one who basically made the sugar for several of our families. My father sat in front of the pot hole, stuffing firewood from time to time and holding the bellows a few times, the firewood reflected his face red. The pot was frying sugar, which was a mixture of maltose and brown sugar. Sugar water in the pot "nuisance" rolling foam. Uncle Sam stood in front of the stove, with a spatula to adjust the fire of the sugar water, see almost, then pour in the frozen rice, sprinkle into the long-fried sesame, peanuts or soybeans, two spatulas quickly stirred, until the mixture. The sugar is then poured into a rectangular sugar shelf made of four wooden strips, divided evenly by hand, and rolled back and forth with a wooden rolling flogger to compact it. Then, after dismantling the shelf, she cut a large piece of sugar into long strips with a knife, and went to wash the pan to fry the sugar again. My mother, on the other hand, cut the long strips into small, thin pieces while the sugar was still fresh. The two of us, brothers, were already jumping for joy, chewing the candy while putting the cut candy in the tin box in order. Because the tin box is well sealed, it does not easily turn damp and can be preserved for a longer period of time.

　　At this time, there is a unique fragrance of frozen rice candy floating in and out of the house, which entices neighbors to come in and try the newly made candy from time to time. Frozen rice candy is fragrant, sweet, crunchy, crispy, very chewy and hunger-resistant, and is a must-have for New Year's Eve in our countryside. It can be used to entertain guests in the first month, but it is also the family's usual leisure food, many mornings in winter we just take a few candy for breakfast. Many people can even eat until the time of wheat.

　　I remember one year when school was out for winter break, some students didn't go home directly, but visited their classmates' homes in turn along National Highway 329 from Yuyao to Cixi. When they arrived at our house, my mother entertained the classmates with this freshly made frozen rice candy, something they probably don't get to eat very often, so many of them have a long aftertaste, and there are still people who often mention it to me now. It's a pity that after the house renovation and demolition of the earthen stove more than 30 years ago, my family, like many of my neighbors, no longer made frozen rice candy.

　　Now we have a pond in the next village listed as intangible cultural heritage of Zhejiang Province, and the store is near my house, so I often see the frozen rice candy again, but I always feel that the taste is not the same as the one we made at home when I was a child.