Chapter 11 Pumpkin Flower Cakes
The mushroom drying ovens were located on the outskirts of the village, where two spacious workshops were built. Calling them workshops isn't quite accurate; they were more like two large mud-walled houses containing the drying ovens. These ovens were clearly homemade, with metal linings and covered with mud walls and bricks. They consisted of two drying cabinets, each taller than a person, flanked by a wood-burning stove, a chimney, and a drying pump—a simple arrangement of ovens. With one oven on each side of the two workshops, the remaining spacious area was filled with numerous square shelves supported by long benches. A rough count suggested over a hundred of these shelves, each just the right size to fit inside the oven.
The factory was covered in dust, and the shelves were already overgrown with cobwebs. When Zhao Xuan first entered, he saw many dried bamboo fungus packaged in transparent plastic bags piled up in a corner.
Bamboo fungus is also an edible fungus, with a white stem covered in a lace-like skirt. This mushroom looks very pretty, but Zhao Xuan doesn't particularly like its taste.
Of course, when Zhao Xuan, who had overcome his picky eating habits after the apocalypse, saw these bamboo fungus again, he still missed the chance to eat them. After a few years, the dried bamboo fungus was either eaten by insects and rodents that chewed through the packaging, or it rotted completely inside the packaging.
But through these bamboo fungus, Zhao Xuan seems to be able to deduce how this village, which is basically only inhabited by the elderly, made a living before the apocalypse—by growing mushrooms or picking tea.
These two jobs require slightly less effort than farming, and elderly people with mobility issues can still earn a meager living by growing mushrooms and tea.
The drying oven is not far from the generator that Lu An set up. Lu An ran a temporary power line to start the drying pump.
Neither of them had ever used such a drying oven before, and they had no idea how long it would take to dry mushrooms.
If she had a choice, Zhao Xuan would prefer to sun-dry her bamboo shoots and mushrooms; it would take longer, but it would be safer. However, the recent rainy weather made it impossible for her bamboo shoots and mushrooms to wait.
After discussing it, she and Lu An decided to try drying half a rack of mushrooms first. Shiitake mushrooms were the most suitable for drying. Zhao Xuan put a few on the rack, pushed them into the stove, locked the door, and lit firewood, all in one smooth motion.
The two people squatted in front of the stove, watching the firewood burn brightly.
Zhao Xuan wiped the sweat from his forehead, turned to Lu An and asked, "When do we turn on the drying pump?"
Simply put, a drying pump is a dehumidifying fan. The fire raises the temperature inside the furnace, and the drying pump removes the moisture evaporated from the mushrooms, allowing them to dry.
Lu An shook his head seriously: "I don't know, but we should at least let the temperature rise before turning on the drying pump, right?"
They decided to turn on the drying pump in twenty minutes and set the drying time to two hours.
Keeping watch over the furnace is a tedious job. As the weather gets hotter, the two men sit on small stools, staring blankly at the fire. The drying pump is extremely loud; perhaps because it's been around for a long time, it makes a sputtering sound like a broken-down tractor.
Lu An glanced at Zhao Xuan, whose face was flushed, and said, "Go outside and take a walk. It's too hot in here. I'll stay here and keep watch."
Zhao Xuan shook his head: "I'm not leaving."
So Lu An changed his approach: "It will be almost noon by the time the stove goes out, so go and cook."
"Then I'll go later."
Lu An had no choice but to think about asking her to leave later.
The stove can't be left unattended. Lu An's plan is to roast mushrooms while burning some charcoal. Therefore, once the firewood has burned to charcoal, he has to take it out in time and put in new firewood.
He and Zhao Xuan still mostly cook with charcoal. Charcoal doesn't produce smoke, while the thick smoke from firewood rises high up the chimney, making the smoke visible from a great distance.
Therefore, they need a lot of charcoal.
They would choose to burn charcoal a little further away from their homes, such as in a distant tobacco curing barn, or here.
After a while, Zhao Xuan was reluctantly driven out of the factory by Lu An.
460 wasn't very interested in their mushroom roasting, so it lay sleeping outside the door with its front paws up. As soon as it heard Zhao Xuan come out, it excitedly jumped up and took a small step ahead of Zhao Xuan.
It knew Zhao Xuan was going home.
On the way, Zhao Xuan was planning what to eat for lunch. She and Lu An had gotten up early to get to the drying oven, so they unusually didn't cook rice that day; they should make some noodles or vermicelli instead.
There was still some flour left at home, but she wasn't good at kneading dough, let alone making hand-pulled noodles. There was also some vermicelli left. This kind of food can be preserved for a very long time after dehydration. It has a firm texture and is not as easily infested by insects as noodles. Even though it was the fifth year of the apocalypse, she could still find several dozen intact vermicelli at some farmers' homes.
It's just that fans need some time to mature.
With a quick glance, she suddenly changed direction and headed down another path.
She had been gone for quite some time when the 460 in front suddenly realized its owner was missing. It turned around, tilted its head and thought for a moment, then sniffed and quickly followed Zhao Xuan's scent.
Vegetables grow everywhere in this village.
The farmhouses used to grow vegetables in their yards, but after the village fell into disrepair, these plants grew even more rampantly. Some birds ate their fruit, and then scattered it freely throughout the village. If you look carefully, you might find a pumpkin vine growing among the lush weeds by the roadside.
Zhao Xuan was not only thoughtful, she also recorded the location of all the vegetables in the village in her notebook.
Many vegetables are annual plants, such as winter melon and pumpkin, but their fruits do not change location, so what grew here last year will most likely grow here again this year.
In Zhao Xuan's view, the leaves of all kinds of vine vegetables look the same, almost identical to the leaves on the Calabash Brothers vine. The only difference is the size. Therefore, she couldn't recognize these vine vegetables before they bore fruit. Fortunately, they came to the village last autumn, and she could deduce what they were from the rotten fruits.
In her memory, there was a farmhouse at the end of the path she was walking on. The pumpkin vines in the farmhouse were now growing very lushly. The vines with soft thorns and large leaves had even climbed over the wall and were wrestling with the weeds outside the wall, making it difficult to distinguish between them.
Fortunately, the pumpkin vines bloom, allowing her to identify which vine is which.
The large yellow flowers, each about half the size of a palm, are not particularly pretty, but they taste delicious.
Pinch off the flowers that haven't yet produced any small fruit from the bottom of the flower—Grandma said that the flower with a small fruit behind its bottom is a female flower, and after that flower withers, it will grow into a pumpkin. The flower with nothing behind its bottom is a male flower, and once a male flower withers, it's gone and leaves nothing behind, so it's perfect to pick it for cooking.
Walking into the weeds, I bent down and carefully searched for male flowers, and soon filled a bag with them.
Without wasting much time, Zhao Xuan returned home.
First, she lit the charcoal, then scooped a ladle of water into a basin and began washing the flowers. Sometimes there were small insects in the pumpkin flower's center, so she washed them very carefully. By the time she finished washing the flowers, the charcoal in the stove was almost completely glowing red.
—Although electricity was available, she didn't use it to cook. In this old village, everyone was used to cooking with stoves; induction cookers were nowhere to be found, and even frying pans were a rarity. There were a few rice cookers, but they had been exposed to the air for years without use and were contaminated by insects and rodents; using them would be unsanitary. As for other kitchen appliances, such as blenders or electric griddles, there were none.
So in the end, they still cooked according to their old habits.
Although using firewood or charcoal is troublesome, humans are such adaptable creatures that nothing can overcome the simple statement: "Anyway, I'm already used to it."
Zhao Xuan lightly stir-fried the pumpkin blossoms in a small pan until softened. Then she took out a large bowl from the cupboard. She had some flour left over from her last trip to Taiping Town. Instead of storing it in the pantry, she casually put it in the kitchen cupboard. Now she poured it all out, added the half-cooked pumpkin blossoms, some salt, and a little chopped green onion, and finally added some water to make a batter.
Brush oil on a frying pan, pour in a large spoonful of batter, and the pumpkin flower pancakes will quickly solidify. The white pancakes are interspersed with yellow flowers and green scallions, making them very pretty.
No need to rush to take it out of the pan. Fry it a little longer until both sides are golden brown and crispy, it will taste even better.
460 sat next to her, watching her longingly.
"Wait a little longer, I won't forget you," Zhao Xuan said to 460.
Making pancakes is a very interesting task. Unlike stir-frying, which involves splattering oil and water, or making soup, which requires a long wait, you can fry small pancakes one by one. The heat doesn't need to be too high, and you don't need to use your brain much while frying. It's quite interesting to watch the batter turn into pancakes.
She tore off a corner of the pumpkin flower cake and tasted it. The outside was crispy, while the inside was soft flour. With another bite, she could taste the slightly chewy veins of the pumpkin flower. It was a little salty and a little sweet.
She was very pleased that she could make such delicious pancakes on her first try.
She divided the food into two portions and put them into a 460-yuan food bowl. She put the rest into a large iron bowl, covered it, and wrapped it in a cloth bag. After thinking for a moment, she also brought a pot of tea and two cups.
When Zhao Xuan returned to the factory, he saw Lu An staring blankly at the furnace door. When he saw her, he smiled subconsciously.
"I made some pancakes today, you should try them." Zhao Xuan said, sitting down next to him and unpacking his bundle to reveal a large yellow iron bowl inside.
Lift the lid, and inside is a stack of golden pancakes.
Lu An took a piece and tasted it.
Zhao Xuan asked with inquiring eyes, "Is it delicious?"
Lu An nodded: "What's in it?"
Pumpkin blossoms.
Lu An seemed to have discovered a whole new world: "Can you eat pumpkin blossoms?"
"Sure, I used to eat this all the time when I was little. Besides making pancakes, you can also stir-fry it or deep-fry it. My grandma used to fry it for me as a snack all the time." Zhao Xuan clicked his tongue, looking very longing.
They always use oil sparingly, and haven't eaten fried food in a long time.
"Once we harvest the peanuts and have oil, we can fry them and eat them," Lu An said, seemingly trying to comfort her.
After finishing their simple dinner, their attention returned to the drying oven—two hours later, Lu An turned off the fire, waited for the oven to cool down a bit, and took out a few mushrooms.
The mushrooms had shrunk and their exteriors were wrinkled, but when you broke them open, they were still moist inside.
Sure enough, two hours was too conservative a timeframe, so they adjusted the time to four hours.
Zhao Xuan specifically chose mushrooms of relatively moderate size. If this attempt is successful, these mushrooms will serve as the standard; larger ones can be cooked for longer periods, while smaller ones can be cooked for shorter periods.
A day had passed in the blink of an eye. They had experimented with three batches throughout the day. When the last batch came out of the oven around 9 p.m., the two of them were finally satisfied as they held the dried mushrooms that were exuding a woody aroma in their hands.
Because it was an experiment, the quantity of the finished product was not large, and she and Lu An decided to officially start drying the mushrooms first thing tomorrow morning. They didn't get many dried mushrooms today, but they burned a lot of charcoal. They put the charcoal into square bamboo baskets, with Lu An carrying the charcoal on his back and Zhao Xuan holding a flashlight to light the way ahead.
They rarely come home this late; they usually go to sleep when it's completely dark. Even with electricity, this is the first time they've come home this late for safety reasons.
460 arrived home earlier than them and was guarding the door when it saw a bright light shining from afar. It barked twice, then smelled its owner's scent and excitedly wagged its tail to greet him.
Zhao Xuan patted the dog's head, first holding the door open for Lu An, and then locking the door after Lu An came in.
As summer approaches, the number of stars in the sky gradually increases. In the past, the starlight seemed dim in the city, but now, in the pitch-black countryside, I only realize how dazzling the starry sky is when I look up occasionally.
From a dark corner, the occasional cooing of an owl could be heard.
The two quickly washed their faces and fell into a deep sleep, embracing each other.
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