Chapter 53 Brown Sugar Ice Jelly
Seeing Pei Yian's serious look, Ji Zhisui knew that he had an idea in mind, so he did not refuse again and handed him the hoe.
While working, she quietly observed Pei Yian's expression, fearing that he would turn pale in a moment. After all, she had seen him like this several times before.
After observing him for a while and finding that his complexion and breathing were normal, Ji Zhisui finally felt relieved and handed the work in his hands to him.
With the efforts of the two people, several ice powder trees were transplanted into the yard.
Pei Yian collected the orange peels that had been eaten at home and handed them to Ji Zhisui.
Ji Zhisui used a small carving knife to scrape off the white layer of the orange peel, leaving only the outermost layer. This will make the orange fragrance more pure and natural, and the orange fragrance will be richer.
Cut the orange peel with the white part removed into small pieces to allow the orange aroma to better absorb into the taste.
Without olive oil, a little coconut oil for cosmetics would cost several taels of silver, which was too expensive. By the time the ointment was made, she might be the first to go bankrupt.
In order to make a living by herself, she planned to refine animal oil, which is also the material from which most ointments are made.
Wash the fat meat you bought and cut it into small pieces. Put it into the pot and fry it slowly over low heat to start refining the oil. The snow-white meat will slowly shrink and turn into golden oil residue. Take out the lard residue and put it on a plate.
These lard scraps are delicious when simply stir-fried with cabbage.
The fried oil is filtered several times with cotton and linen cloth to remove the fine oil residue, then beeswax bought from a cosmetics shop is added, boiled in a small ceramic pot until melted, and then mixed with lard.
Pour the lard into the mold and wait for it to cool. After it solidifies, evenly place the orange peel on it to allow the oil to fully absorb the orange fragrance.
This way, the preliminary citrus-flavored ointment is complete.
You also need to leave these ointments for a few days to allow the citrus scent to soak in. During these days, you need to repeatedly remove the ointment and change the orange peel to make the citrus flavor more intense.
After finishing the citrus-flavored ointment, Ji Zhisui did not forget the unexpected surprise.
The fruits of the ice powder tree have been peeled by the Pei family and turned into ice powder seeds.
Lime water is essential for making ice jelly. Since I didn’t have it at home, I had to go out and buy lime powder.
Mix water and lime powder, stir well and wait for it to settle. After the lime water settles, take only the clearest part on the top and put it in a bowl.
Put the processed ice powder seeds into gauze, leaving a little space, tie it tightly with a rope, soak it in cold water for a while, then you can start rubbing it, just like rubbing clothes, and slowly squeeze out the pulp.
The Pei family was very curious about this thing called ice powder seeds. What kind of delicious food could be made from these brown, inconspicuous things? Everyone gathered around Ji Zhisui curiously, looking around.
"It's out, it's out!" Pei Ersao squatted beside Ji Zhi, watching the thing called ice powder seeds rub out something without blinking.
"Is this ice jelly?" Mrs. Pei has lived for so many years and has never seen such a scene. It is really amazing.
"Well, but these can't be eaten yet." Ji Zhisui answered while continuing to rub the ice jelly seeds with his hands until many small bubbles appeared.
Stir the kneaded slurry clockwise with chopsticks, and add clear lime water little by little while stirring. When the mucus becomes a sticky texture, the ice jelly is ready.
She placed the basin of ice powder into the well and left it there to solidify.
Pei Ersao had never seen anything like this before. Those grains could really be rubbed into something.
She was eager to try, "Sui Niang, can I try it? What are the techniques for making ice powder?"
"Sure, sister-in-law, just rub it like you would rub clothes."
After getting Sui Niang's approval, Pei Ersao picked up the sack and started rubbing it. However, after rubbing for a long time, nothing came out. There was only white foam, which was completely different from the pulp that Sui Niang had rubbed before.
Pei Ersao was a little helpless and asked Sui Niang for help. She really did it like washing clothes, but why couldn't it succeed?
Ji Zhisui soon noticed something was wrong and reminded her, "Second sister-in-law, this bag of ice powder seeds has been rubbed out. Just throw it away and replace it with a new one."
Mrs. Pei followed the instructions and indeed rubbed out a paste. She said excitedly, "Sui Niang, I rubbed it out. I rubbed out ice powder."
Her actions inspired others to try it as well.
In the end, everyone in the Pei family joined in the business of making ice jelly, even the two children.
When Pei Xinghai was kneading the ice jelly, his little face was filled with excitement as he came to Ji Zhisui holding a small piece of linen wrapped in a ball, looking at her with bright eyes.
"Third...Aunt...Aunt...look..." A childish voice sounded.
Everyone was attracted by the voice and their eyes fell on Pei Xinghai. It was he who made the voice.
After arriving in Qizhou County, perhaps the surrounding environment made him feel safe. Ji Zhisui clearly felt the changes in Pei Xinghai. He was no longer so nervous, began to help with housework, and would respond to his family members, but he never spoke.
I originally thought it would take some time for the little guy to speak, but unexpectedly, I heard it today.
The little guy's voice was very different from Tiantian's. He had that grandma-like baby voice and spoke very slowly. It was obvious that he was not used to it yet. This was why the Pei family noticed that the words came from Pei Xinghai's mouth.
Ji Zhisui's voice was also filled with joy, "Xingxing, what did you call me just now?"
But this time, Pei Xinghai didn't say anything, he just handed the kneaded ice powder to Ji Zhisui again.
Ji Zhisui couldn't rub the little guy's head, so he could only praise him verbally: "Our Xingxing is so amazing!"
After listening to this, Pei Xinghai ran back contentedly and continued to rub the ice jelly.
A small amount of ice jelly seeds can be rubbed into a lot of ice jelly, which is more than the Pei family can eat up. Ji Zhisui plans to set up a stall in the afternoon to see how everyone accepts this ice jelly.
Although mung bean soup with spring rolls is popular for relieving heat, it has no special features. Now some people have followed her example and started selling mung bean soup on stalls, and there are more than one stall. They sell a large bowl for one cent, and the portion is larger.
After the competition, the mung bean soup at the burrito shop became less popular. Many customers bought burritos at the stall and then ran to other stalls to buy mung bean soup.
I don’t know if this ice jelly can become the specialty of the burrito stall.
The ice jelly had already solidified into shape. Mrs. Pei couldn't hold back any longer. Looking at the transparent thing in front of her that she had never seen before, she couldn't wait to ask, "Sui Niang, can this ice jelly be eaten directly?"
"It doesn't taste good when eaten directly. Second sister-in-law, try this."
Ji Zhisui scraped some ice jelly cubes into a bowl with a spoon and added the brown sugar water that had been boiled and cooled earlier. The simplest brown sugar ice jelly was ready.
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