Detailed Explanation of Key Processing Techniques for Low-Sugar Candied Jujubes

①Production process flow: raw material selection → grading → washing → slitting → sugar boiling → soaking → baking → shaping → drying → grading → packaging.

②Key process points: Raw material selection: choose varieties such as Yuanling jujube (Ziziphus jujuba 'Yuanling') with large fruit, small pit, loose flesh and thin skin; harvest at the "crisp-ripe stage" is preferable; remove insect-damaged and rotten jujubes.

Grading: divide into three grades - large, medium and small - and process separately. Slitting: use a row of needles to slit lengthwise, with a line spacing of about 1 mm. Just cut through the skin; the slits should be neat and extend as far as possible to both ends. To prevent browning, after slitting immediately put them into a 0.5%-1% sodium sulfite solution.

Sugar boiling: keep the pH of the sugar solution at 2-2.5. Prepare a 20% sugar solution and heat to boiling. After adding the jujubes, boil over high heat, then pour into a vat and soak for 12 hours, keeping the sugar solution at 20%. For the second sugar boiling, add white granulated sugar until the sugar solution is finally maintained at 45%, then soak again for 12 hours (keep the invert sugar content in the jujubes above 25%, accounting for 43%-45% of the total sugar content). Starch syrup or glucose may also be added when preparing the sugar solution.

Baking: scoop the sugar-soaked jujubes out of the vat and drain, then bake for 12 hours, keeping the temperature at about 65°C (start low and then increase); when baked until no longer sticky to the touch, take them out of the drying room and shape.

Shaping: press the baked jujubes flat into rectangular, square or other shapes.

Drying: after shaping, send them into the drying room to bake, keeping the temperature at about 60°C, until the moisture content drops to 16%-18%, about 24 hours or so.

Packaging: to prevent moisture absorption, vacuum packaging or nitrogen-filled packaging may be used.

③Product quality requirements: clear lines, deep amber color, moderate chewiness, not sticky to the hand, no impurities, sugar content about 45%, moisture 16%-18%, meeting food hygiene standards.