Fresh or dried osmanthus flowers are fine for making homemade osmanthus sauce, but of course the fresher the better.

Picking fresh osmanthus flowers is best done in the morning, when they are still dewy. The fresh osmanthus flowers should be put in a breathable bamboo basket, and you should do it as soon as possible after picking them, because the longer you leave them there, the more you will lose the flavor.

The second step: processing osmanthus

The fresh osmanthus will be picked home to remove flower stalks and leaves and other debris, has been wilted and decaying osmanthus also thrown away, and then sieve off the fine dust particles and fine flower stalks. Finally, rinse the fresh osmanthus flowers, and put them in a cool, ventilated place to dry the water, and use an electric fan to dry them more quickly.

If the flowers are dried, soak them in a small amount of cool or lukewarm water until soft, then drain them and use them to make the osmanthus paste.

Step 3: Pickle the cinnamon

Place the cinnamon in a large, clean bowl and sprinkle with a pinch of fine salt to taste for about 10 minutes. The purpose of salting is to sterilize and dehydrate the osmanthus flowers, as well as to enhance their sweetness. But don't use too much salt, usually 1 pinch of fine salt for 1 bowl of cinnamon, to give it a slightly salty flavor.

Step 4: Sterilize containers

Homemade cinnamon sauce is usually made in sealed glass bottles, which are brushed and cleaned, then boiled in boiling water for about 10 minutes, and then placed upside down to control the water before use, including the caps, which should also be sterilized by boiling.

Step 5: Bottling and sealing

After the marinade is over, you can really start to make your own cinnamon sauce, the more commonly used recipes and production methods are as follows--

1, honey cinnamon sauce: first take the right amount of cinnamon spread in the bottom of the bottle, and then poured a layer of honey in the cinnamon on the pavement and pour, and then paved and poured, and the bottle is basically full.

1, honey cinnamon sauce: take the cinnamon at the bottom of the bottle, then pour a layer of honey on the cinnamon, and then pour it again.

2, sugar cinnamon sauce: the operation method and steps with the above, as long as the honey replaced by sugar on it, you can also cook sugar into thick syrup instead of honey.

3, flavor cinnamon sauce: the appropriate amount of plum meat torn into thin shreds and cinnamon mix, and then bottled as described above.

Step 6: Refrigerate and Ferment

Place the sealed glass bottle in the freezer and ferment for 7 days or more under refrigerated conditions. The cinnamon will float during the fermentation process, so you will need to turn the bottle over frequently to place it.

How to do it:

Salt must be used in small amounts, and the amount of sugar or honey must be controlled; too much salt or too much sweetness will mask the flavor of the osmanthus.

How to eat osmanthus sauce

The good osmanthus sauce can be used as jam, used to smear slices of bread and other food or make tea to drink, but also can be used as the production of dumplings, moon cakes, cakes, pastries and candied fruits and other food ingredients, or as a sweet soup and other dishes seasoning.

Also, sugar cinnamon sauce and honey cinnamon sauce have different textures, and I personally feel that sugar cinnamon sauce is more suitable as a filling heart for Chinese pastries.