Homemade blue and red silk

Homemade blue and red silk

Overview

Green and red silk is an indispensable condiment in Chinese desserts. Its light orange peel aroma enhances the flavor whether it is added to Chinese desserts, such as moon cakes, glutinous rice balls, etc., or added to breads and cakes. Although the fragrance is faint, it is always sought after. I love to make all kinds of desserts at home, and this green and red silk is also an ingredient I like to add. But the color of the ready-made cyan red silk is really unacceptable. I wonder what pigment is put in it. Just search it on Taobao and you will know. So I didn’t dare to buy and eat it. Always make your own candied orange peel instead. But the candied ones are all soft, and you can't find the old-fashioned green and red silk feeling. I have always wanted to make my own green and red silk, and I have consulted with pastry technicians about this. He told me that traditional green and red silk is soaked in quicklime water and then cooked with sugar. The method he described is not suitable for home production. I've been thinking hard and haven't found a way. So it has always been candied. Making candied ginger slices this year suddenly inspired me. Is it possible to make hard green and red silk using the method of making candied ginger slices? ! As soon as I had the idea, I put it into practice immediately, and it turned out to be a success! This can also be said to be my little invention, haha! Excited! I was so excited that I immediately posted a post to share it with everyone. Friends who like to use it can also make their own blue and red silk in the future. By the way, I have tried orange peel, but it doesn’t taste as good as orange peel. I suggest you make it directly with orange peel.

Tags

Ingredients

Steps

  1. Choose fresh oranges with unwaxed skins. The fresher the oranges, the better. The oranges I bought still had fresh leaves. It is recommended to use oranges. I tried the ones with orange peels which did not taste as good.

    Homemade blue and red silk step 1

  2. After cleaning the oranges, use a paring knife to scrape off the skin. Try to avoid white ones, which are too bitter. Scraping with a paring knife is a great way to do this.

    Homemade blue and red silk step 2

  3. Scrape the skin and cut into shreds

    Homemade blue and red silk step 3

  4. Add edible alkaline noodles. The traditional method is quicklime water, which is an alkaline substance. I used edible alkali, and the effect is also very good.

    Homemade blue and red silk step 4

  5. Add warm water to cover the orange peel shreds and stir evenly to melt and distribute the alkali noodles evenly. Then soak for 20-30 minutes. This step is mainly to remove the bitter taste of orange peel. I tried it without soaking and it tasted very bitter. What a big difference after soaking in it.

    Homemade blue and red silk step 5

  6. After soaking, take out the filtered water

    Homemade blue and red silk step 6

  7. Put the soaked orange peel shreds into the pot, add an equal amount of white sugar, then add a little green coloring, and stir evenly. For the pigment, I bought imported pure plant-derived pigment, which is much better. You still have to be careful when choosing the ingredients for what you eat. Just use a spoonful of ear pick for the pigment.

    Homemade blue and red silk step 7

  8. Marinate for about half an hour. After marinating, the sugar has basically melted.

    Homemade blue and red silk step 8

  9. Bring to a boil over high heat, then simmer over medium heat. A lot of water will come out at the beginning,

    Homemade blue and red silk step 9

  10. Cook until the water evaporates and the sugar juice is almost gone, which is actually absorbed by the orange peel. Turn off the heat

    Homemade blue and red silk step 10

  11. After turning off the heat, continue to stir until the sugar becomes sandy and the orange peel strands stick together and become strands. During the stirring process, the sugar liquid becomes sandy and changes from liquid to solid, and the orange peel strands become hard. Because green pigment is added, the color is naturally green. This is blue hair. Because I use plant-derived pigments, I don’t want the color to be so heavy with adult pigments. But health still comes first, that’s all.

    Homemade blue and red silk step 11

  12. As for the red silk, I didn’t use red dye and used the color of orange peel itself. The color of what you eat is not important, the key is the taste. The specific method is the same as that of black hair, except that no pigment is added.

    Homemade blue and red silk step 12

  13. I put the finished green silk and red silk in different jars. It is more convenient to use. Because it is hard and contains a relatively large amount of sugar, the green and red silk made by yourself can be stored for a long time. Once you make it, it will last for a while. You can put your own green and red silk into the glutinous rice balls for the Spring Festival this year, and you can also use it for the eight-treasure rice during the Chinese New Year

    Homemade blue and red silk step 13