Chapter 168 Feeding
“Is this the cassava we usually eat?”
Although she had no idea what kind of wild plants grew in the wild, Zhao Chunhua quickly made a judgment based on her understanding of the characteristics of the fruits of this crop.
"You are absolutely right, it is true."
Zhang Xufeng smiled and replied, "Actually, during our exploration in the deep forest with Brother Shu, we accidentally came across a small patch of dense artificial cassava forest, so we collected some and brought them back to share with everyone."
The resources on the mountain, whether it is herbs or timber, are unclaimed public property.
If you fail to collect and use them quickly, the next time you come back, someone else might have taken them first.
"Just stay outside the woods and try not to go deep into the mountains."
Zhao Chunhua instructed everyone like this.
There was a hint of concern in his tone, fearing that his companions would ignore safety issues due to curiosity.
Zhang Xufeng nodded in agreement and said that they would move along the foot of the mountain.
“Yes, we all plan to work only in the marginal areas,” he responded, “but the vegetation there is very dense, especially in places full of shrubs, which makes it very inconvenient to walk. Most people are not willing to choose this route.”
Due to the special terrain, even if you wear relatively wear-resistant work clothes, you cannot completely avoid the damage to your clothes caused by thorns.
But precisely because of such a complex and changeable environment, there were very few people traveling on this road, which allowed the group to gain a great advantage in collecting supplies.
Recently, they have temporarily settled in a small courtyard to rest.
Whenever she had free time, Shu Ziying would often come over to visit, and the two would chat about family matters; sometimes her younger sister Shu Mian'er would also join in the discussion, and together they would study how to improve their sewing skills.
Occasionally, they would go together to visit relatives who lived in an old house a little further away, sit with their two sisters-in-law, and play with their two cute little nephews for a while.
Although the days are ordinary, they are full of simple and warm atmosphere.
This afternoon, Shu Mian'er went out to do some errands while there was nothing to do at home, so Zhao Chunhua, who was alone at home, decided to do some housework - she took out a basket of fresh cassava rhizomes that had just been harvested from the cupboard and prepared to process them.
After putting on special thick gloves to protect your hands, use a sharp knife to slowly cut through the hard skin and carefully peel it off.
This is a job that requires a lot of patience and skills.
In fact, compared with other common ingredients, fresh cassava is not particularly rich in various trace elements and vitamins, but the starch content it contains is extremely rich and considerable.
According to relevant data, at least 4-5 taels of pure, delicate and white high-quality starch can be extracted from every kilogram of fresh cassava after processing; if sweet potatoes are processed in a similar way under the same conditions, the final starch output is only about 20% of the total weight. The gap is obvious.
One thing that needs to be noted is that eating any unprocessed cassava raw poses a health risk. This is because cassava itself carries a toxin called linamarin. Only after high-temperature heating or specific chemical treatment will this harmful substance disappear without a trace, making it suitable for human consumption.
After peeling, cassava can be directly steamed and made into food, which is very filling.
You can also imitate the previous process of extracting sweet potato flour. First, chop the washed and peeled block raw materials into a paste, rinse it in clean water until it is clear, let it slowly settle and filter out the residue, and finally get a pure snow-white finished product - this is what we usually call cassava flour.
Taking into account the diverse needs of daily dietary structure and the factor of long-term preservation, Zhao Chunhua gave up the simple direct cooking method and instead adopted the second more complicated starch separation process to treat this batch of raw materials.
This not only extends the shelf life but also facilitates flexible use in the future.
The whole morning was spent busy like this. In an environment where there was no one around, when hunger gradually came over her, Zhao Chunhua would casually take a piece of the golden pumpkin roll that had been prepared in advance as lunch.
Because pumpkins that mature in autumn are generally very large, weighing at least 7 or 8 kilograms and at most more than 10 kilograms.
Once cut open, it cannot be stored for long.
Apart from the stew, the rest of the ingredients were basically made into pumpkin and red bean rolls with unique flavor.
Therefore, this was the main source of food supply almost every day during this period.
When Zhang Xufeng came back from delivering cassava, he packed a bag of pumpkin rolls with him, planning to chop more firewood for future use as there were many people in the village today.
He wanted to take advantage of this opportunity, not only to deliver the cassava from his home to those in need, but also to take advantage of the crowds gathering to stock up more wood for the winter.
Little Shitou couldn't stay idle at home, so Zhao Chunhua asked him to go to his grandfather's house to play and brought a small basket of pumpkin rolls for his two older cousins.
Zhao Chunhua carefully packed clothes for Xiao Shitou and even checked the basket in his hand, fearing that he might accidentally drop the food on the way and return empty-handed.
Little Shitou ran out of the door excitedly, muttering that he wanted to go enjoy delicious food and fun with his brothers.
Since Zhang Wei had some free time recently to look after the children, and the children got along well with each other, and Zhao Chunhua prepared food for the children in advance, everything went very smoothly.
When the children were hungry, Shumian would help feed them and she didn't need to worry about anything special, so everyone was very satisfied with this situation.
Compared with sweet potatoes, the powdered cassava appears whiter and more translucent. There is no need to repeatedly change the water to precipitate impurities. The processing can be completed by simply spreading it evenly and leaving it to dry tomorrow morning.
This time-saving and labor-saving method has been highly praised by family members, who all think it is one of the tips to improve their lives.
Taking advantage of the rare free time in the afternoon, Zhao Chunhua decided to add water to a batch of sweet potato starch that had been dried previously and remix it into a paste to start a new attempt.
This is not just about finding more delicious recipes, but also about bringing more happiness through innovation.
While carefully stirring the mixture in the bowl, Zhao Chunhua was thinking about how to give this traditional food a new lease of life.
According to her plan, there are two different treatment options:
The first method is to imitate the previous way of making rice paper, that is, after forming each piece, remove it from the mold and transfer it to a bamboo pole to dry the excess moisture; Zhao Chunhua imagined that in the future, the soft and smooth rice paper would be neatly hung up and swaying slightly in the sun. What a warm and beautiful picture it would be.
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