Several women put their baskets on the stove and began to pick out the fibrous and aging parts of the green moss or algae like picking vegetables, and also picked out some black mud, sand and stones.
Finally, put all the selected ones into a basket.
Qiao Xuejun couldn't help but ask, "Auntie, are these for cooking?"
The aunt nodded and said, "Yes, child, now is not the time to be picky. It's good to have these water plants to eat."
"Speaking of which, these newly found water plants are pretty good," Auntie took out a long green thing similar to sea moss from the basket and said to Qiao Xuejun, "I'll give you some later. These water plants taste pretty good."
Eating algae is not strange when food is scarce. Kelp and wakame are all algae, which are also common and edible.
But during the famine years in China, people once advocated eating Chlorella.
Chlorella does not have a specific shape like kelp or wakame. It usually exists in green water, with a thick green film on the surface of the water, which is foamy and has a strong fishy smell.
Because it provides rich nutrients, it has also become an emergency food.
Compared to Chlorella, the algae in the aunt's hand now have a specific shape and look more like something edible.
Qiao Xuejun looked at what she had in her hand - Cladosporium and Aphanizomenon.
The two algae have similar appearances, both are slippery and filamentous, so it is not surprising that they are thought to be the same thing. My aunt did not seem to recognize it.
But in fact, there is a big difference. Some Cladophora algae have been edible, but Aphanizomenon is not.
She took a closer look and found that this algae contained certain neurotoxins, which could cause vomiting, convulsions, and even respiratory failure if consumed.
Qiao Xuejun looked at the diatomaceous algae in her aunt's hand and asked, "Do you always eat it like this? Won't...something happen?"
Another girl answered naturally, "Yes, some people will vomit after eating it, and some people won't... Anyway, there are always people who want to vomit. But most people eat it well."
Because most algae are edible, only a few people eat the poisonous small amount.
The vegetable basket is still mostly made up of sea lettuce, bristle algae, pine algae, and peat moss, as well as some kudzu vines. Although they are not conventional foods and most of them are highly fibrous like wood, they are edible if cooked.
The neurotoxins in this bundle of algae cannot be completely killed even at high temperatures, so it is still very easy to cause poisoning.
"This," Qiao Xuejun reached out and picked out a bunch of silk algae hidden inside, "You can't eat this. It's poisonous. If you eat it, you will vomit, convulse, and have difficulty breathing."
After Qiao Xuejun finished speaking, everyone's eyes turned to her again, with some surprise.
Qiao Xuejun remained calm and added, "If you eat too much, you will die."
If you die, you can't go to the first base.
The girl who had spoken to me before said, "Really? The last time Xiaomei ate it, she vomited and her whole body was convulsing!" She looked at Qiao Xuejun, "...You, how did you know?"
Qiao Xuejun: "Didn't I tell you that this thing is poisonous? It will be like that if you eat it. Just pick it out when you're picking vegetables."
The aunt retracted her gaze, looked at the other algae in the basket, and then looked at the fasciculata that Qiao Xuejun had picked out, and looked at them repeatedly: "Is it different?"
After a while, she frowned and said, "They are really different. The edible one feels harder, while the inedible one is softer. This one is a little blue, right? Hiss, huh? Are they really different?"
She came back to her senses: "Thank you, girl. I, we really didn't know this."
They all went to the backyard to collect these aquatic plants. Their house was a three-story building with its own entrance. The backyard was flooded and some aquatic plants grew there. These aquatic plants had no roots and just floated in the water.
What kind of water plants they eat depends on what kind of water plants grow in the water, and it is not always the same water plants. In addition, there are many types of water plants, and it is difficult for them to distinguish them.
Almost every time, someone had problems after eating it, and some almost died. But the number of people with problems was small, and most people were normal, and they thought it was due to their personal constitution.
Unexpectedly, there was really something wrong with the aquatic plants.
"Whether it's true or not, you have to eat it to know."
The man in the black cotton jacket watched for a long time, then stood up and walked over. He also looked at the nematodes that Qiao Xuejun had picked out, and then looked at Qiao Xuejun: "Is it really poisonous?"
Qiao Xuejun: "Didn't you say that you would know after you eat it?"
Black Cotton Jacket nodded: "Let's cook and try to see if it's true."
His expression was quite serious. If this problem could be solved, it would mean a lot to them. This period was not like before, when vomiting and diarrhea were not a big deal. Now these symptoms could be fatal.
Auntie led the girls to start cooking.
Qiao Xuejun sat on the sofa and watched.
Their survival mode is very similar to some real-life doomsday survival modes in history, such as the Siege of Sarajevo.
Everyone forms small survival groups of about ten to twenty people based on blood ties. The middle-aged men eat more and are responsible for going out to collect supplies, protecting family members, and patrolling.
Most women returned to their families to take care of the elderly and children, mend things, cook, and skillfully make some seemingly inedible things eatable.
Their food consists of aquatic plants and shrimps.
Qiao Xuejun saw them take out shrimps as long as their forearms. This was considered a miniature version among mutant creatures.
The shrimp are peeled and the meat inside is taken out, the tail meat is kept separately, and the rest of the meat is chopped.
Put the water plants into the pot and boil. Remove them from the water.
The shrimp meat is put into the iron pan and baked to dry out the moisture. After being dried in the iron pan, take it out and put it into a mortar, pound it, and make shrimp powder.
Shrimp meal with water plants.
Everyone was waiting to eat.
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