Chapter 14 Tasting Sweetness
The man held the little bit of coarse brown sugar in his mouth and was reluctant to swallow it, wanting the sweet taste to stay in his mouth a little longer.
This was a taste he had never tasted before! The sweetness in his mouth made the tall man even want to cry.
"How about it?"
The person behind him asked urgingly.
He nodded quickly and smiled simply, "Sweet!"
Then he made way, and the men dipped a little reddish-brown sugar into their mouths, and then did the same as the first man.
Yan Xuanyu stood there and watched for a while before leaving.
In modern times, every household has white sugar. It is just the most basic condiment in life. However, in the Zhou Dynasty, it was something that the lowest class of people might never come into contact with in their entire lives.
The only thing with a little sweetness that most people can get is probably the roots of a kind of grass in the mountains.
"Sugar" can only be enjoyed by people of status. They would definitely not allow sugar to appear in the homes of ordinary people, even this kind of crude brown sugar. Therefore, at this time, they could only use more "noble" white sugar to distinguish between people of status, and the resistance of the aristocratic families would disappear.
At that time, white sugar had not yet appeared. If he could make fine white sugar, even if it was expensive, countless nobles would definitely fight for it.
Just before the sugar juice crystallized, the men who made the sugar had already skimmed off the top of the sugar juice according to Yan Xuanyu's instructions. Yan Xuanyu then left with the bowl of sugar juice that had not yet cooled down.
The production of mint candy requires careful women, and the person in charge took them to the place requested by Yan Xuanyu.
Several women on the farm had just watched the sugar-making process from beets, and now they felt like they were holding a pot of gold as they held the bowl of sugar juice!
Everyone in the village already knew that although not much sugar was produced today, everyone would get some.
The syrup exuded a rich sweetness that made the woman holding it swallow her saliva.
The manor was specially renovated to have a spacious kitchen, which is fully equipped with cooking utensils.
Yan Xuanyu ignored Li Zhongxian who was circling around him and kept saying "Your Majesty, please stay away" and "There is smoke and dust here", and directed several women to start making mint candies.
The women carefully collected the dried mint leaves and began to roll them vigorously with rolling pins.
Then they mix the mint leaves that have been crushed into a paste into the sugar juice that is about to solidify and stir it continuously. In fact, this step is quite laborious, but the women are all farmers and they still have some strength.
They stirred the thick pole so fast that the mint leaves could no longer be seen, and only the sugar juice could be seen - now it was almost a sugar cube, and its color had changed from reddish brown to reddish brown with a dark green tint.
The next step is to let the sugar juice cool completely and then cut it into small pieces. It takes some effort to cut it into pieces after it solidifies.
Yan Xuanyu rarely smelled anything, but when the woman was making mint candy, he smelled the rich and refreshing mint scent, and he couldn't help but sniff it for a while longer.
Li Zhongxian brought out an exquisite box that had been prepared in advance and asked the women to put the candies neatly into it.
Yan Xuanyu picked up a piece and put it in his mouth. The refreshing feeling of mint instantly filled his mouth and nose. The cool feeling rushed straight to his head, and he couldn't help but squint his eyes.
However, the taste of this candy is not as good as what Yan Xuanyu had eaten in his previous life. This candy is made from the sugar juice on the top of a pot of sugar juice.
This simple version of mint candy tastes quite refreshing.
Yan Xuanyu asked Li Zhongxian to taste a piece as well. Li Zhongxian sighed for a long time before frowning and saying, "Sir... why do you want to mix caustic soda with sugar? The taste is really..."
The only spicy seasoning in the Great Zhou Dynasty was a plant called Cornus officinalis, which had a relatively mild spiciness. Yan Xuanyu had not expected that Li Zhongxian could not stand the spicy taste of a small mint candy, so he could only attribute it to personal preferences.
His Majesty gave it to him, but Li Zhongxian didn't dare to spit it out. He had to hold it in his mouth because he felt it was disrespectful to face the emperor with something in his mouth. He also raised his hand to cover it with his sleeve.
"But mint candy tastes very refreshing." Li Zhongxian said vaguely.
Li Zhongxian tasted this thing called "mint candy" by His Majesty. It tasted strange at first, but after eating it for a long time, it turned out to be cool and comfortable. It also had a sweet taste when tasted carefully. I felt a lot more energetic.
Yan Xuanyu asked the women to cut the sugar into smaller pieces and share them with others to taste. He found that the women preferred the pure sweet sugar, such as the coarse granulated sugar and brown sugar blocks made at the beginning.
In the end, he could only taste it alone with regret. Originally, Yan Xuanyu had thought of making a few more kinds of candy to see if they could be sold. Seeing their reaction, Yan Xuanyu felt that mint candy might not be very popular.
...
"Mom, Dad, and little brother, I'm back!"
Before entering the house, Da Zhuang's voice came in.
Da Zhuang's younger brother ran out of the house barefoot, "Brother, what are you holding in your arms?"
Da Zhuang's parents followed behind and asked, "Son, why did you bring things from the farm back home?"
The younger brother's head looked very big because of his thin body. Dazhuang caught him, touched his head and said with a smile: "The master made some candy in the farm today. Everyone in the farm has some. I brought some back for the younger brother and you to eat."
"Sugar?" The younger brother stared with his big eyes. "What is sugar?"
"Sugar?!" Da Zhuang's parents widened their eyes and stared at the cloth bag in Da Zhuang's arms in disbelief.
Dazhuang took the cloth bag off his body and carefully unfolded it on the stone table in the yard, then protected it with his hands, fearing that it would be blown away by the wind.
The younger brother was bold. Just as he was about to reach out to grab the things in the elder brother's cloth bag, Dazhuang's father slapped his hand and said fiercely, "Don't move!"
Then he turned to Da Zhuang and asked, "Hey kid, is this really candy? Did the dealer give you some candy?"
"Really!" Dazhuang didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He pulled his little brother's hand to dip it in the candy, "My little brother hasn't tasted sweetness yet, let him have it."
The younger brother happily put the "candy" that his elder brother mentioned into his mouth, and then suddenly opened his eyes wide, "It tastes so good..."
He ate it carefully and licked his fingers a few times.
Then he continued to stare at the reddish-brown sugar on the stone table, sucking his fingers.
Da Zhuang's wife stammered, "How come your family has so much candy? Did you really give it to everyone in the family?!"
That's candy! Only the city gentry can afford it! When have the common people ever seen candy?!
While Dazhuang's family of four was talking, the village chief of Xiaoshi Village came with a group of people.
Da Zhuang's parents became alert instantly, and even his younger brother, who was not very sensible, knew to protect the few grains of sugar in the cloth bag.
Dazhuang greeted him with a smile: "Village Chief, why are you here?"
Following the village chief were villagers who came to watch the fun, including men, women, young and old.
"Da Zhuang, I heard from A Tie that the owner of the farm you visited gave out candy?" the village chief asked with a smile.
Dazhuang immediately understood the villagers' purpose. He pointed to the cloth bag on the stone table and said to them, "Yes, the villagers on the farm made some candy together. The owner was kind enough to give it to us."
The villagers all stretched their necks to look at the cloth bag.
There were also villagers who came to watch the fun and asked the people next to them: "What is the candy that the village chief is talking about?"
Dazhuang asked the village chief to take a little bit as well. The village chief put it in his mouth and murmured, "It's so sweet..."
"The master may look for more helpers in the future. If any of the brothers in the village want to go and have a look, just come to me and I will definitely take you there." Dazhuang bowed to the villagers who were watching outside.
This sentence immediately aroused the interest of many people.
Few people from Xiaoshi Village went to the farm. One reason was that they were busy with farm work at home, and the other was that they had long heard that the owners of the nearby farms did not pay much wages, and some even did not receive any wages. At that time, no one had any sense of contract. Not only did the owner of the farm not pay, but he also drove away or beat up his servants. No one dared to say anything and could only go home in shame, having worked for a season in vain.
But now that they saw that the farm that Dazhuang went to was so good, how could they have ever seen any sugar? But the owner of the farm gave some to Dazhuang and others who were working there.
After that, Dazhuang asked the children who came over to the village to take a little bit of the candy in the cloth bag. Although it was okay to hide something like candy that the family had never seen for generations, if they had it at home, they would also hide it. However, Dazhuang's generous behavior of not keeping it for himself and generously sharing it with the children in the village made the villagers like him more and more, and even convinced them of Dazhuang's master.
Da Zhuang's little brother jumped up and down anxiously, crying out, "My candy, my candy!"
Dazhuang's father stopped crying only after he touched a small piece of hard stuff in his arms.
Then they heard Dazhuang talk about how the master made sugar from ordinary beets. The villagers were stunned. Beets can be made into sugar?! How could the master be so capable?
They didn't believe it at first, but after listening to Da Zhuang's explanation and someone else saying that people came to collect beets two days ago, they finally believed it.
Although it was impossible for the village to have the conditions to make sugar, Dazhuang was still cautious and did not tell others how to make sugar.
This scene happened in many villages near the village, but it was impossible for everyone to be as generous as Dazhuang to take out the precious sugar. However, word of mouth spread about how powerful the host was. For a time, the host who distributed sugar to the farmers in the village almost became a "god" in the surrounding villages.
...
I heard that the topic of discussion in several nearby villages recently is all about "sugar".
Someone said that his relative also got some candy at the farm, and after he tasted it, his mouth was so sweet that it tasted like candy all night long. Another person said that he didn't want to eat after eating a little.
This was exactly the effect Yan Xuanyu wanted. These crude brown sugars had no appeal to him. He just wanted to use the sugar juice on the top to make mint candy, but for these farmers who had never tasted sweetness, this was something they had never seen before, so Yan Xuanyu distributed the candy to the people in the farm and asked them to take it out.
It was soon time to sow spring wheat, and Yan Xuanyu felt that the rumors outside were almost true.
As villagers in nearby villages talk about the mysterious owner of the village, it is time to introduce new farm tools and fertilizer methods.
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