In the early days of the Cultural Revolution, all food was rationed, and each person was only given the bare minimum needed to survive. As for health, even though each person may not have the recommended 2-4 servings of fruit each day or the 2-3 servings of meat and fish, they were at least guaranteed to consume the recommended “as little refined sugars as possible.” It’s simple: there wasn’t any candy, so no one ate it. As a brilliant incentive for recycling, however, scrap metal collectors traded children one piece of maltose candy for three tubes of empty toothpaste, ensuring that pretty much every tube of empty toothpaste was repurposed toward the country’s overall good.
This traditional maltose candy isn’t made from sucrose like most of our candies today, but is made from… well, maltose. It’s called mai ya tang (麦芽糖), or barley sprout candy. The process begins with sprouting barley and simmering it with rice. Then, the hot porridge is immediately sealed and left to ferment. Finally, the liquid is simmered until reduced to a viscous goo, which cools into a soft, chewy candy.
Modern barley sprout candy, of course, isn’t made this way now that we have sucrose. It’s doubtful that sidewalk peddlers put love into every batch when they’re worried about feeding their children and paying the utilities. The traditional candy was made in rural homes, where foods often take a year to create, lack of space is the least of their problems, and cooking is an art form and a symbol of love. Peddlers and factories lack the time, space, and concern to create things the old way. Barley sprout candy is probably just barley candy, since sprouting takes six days. They use mostly rice, and very little barley. Fermentation most likely never takes place. In fact, adding sucrose is not only cheaper and faster, but actually makes the candy sweeter, which modern consumers like anyway.
I hope to find an intermediate between these two approaches in my own candy-making. I certainly don’t have the space to ferment twenty gallons of porridge, but I also can’t stand to make inferior candy. How will I do it? Check back for Barley Sprout Candy, Part Two. Teaser picture below!
This plate holds valuable lessons from a good week's work.
