Seeing that the herbal jelly was almost done, Chen Kai said, "Mom, it's ready. You can take these out and let them cool and solidify before eating."
Suddenly, Sanya exclaimed in surprise, "Uncle, why is the color different after cooking?"
Chen Kai said with a smile, "I'm not quite sure why either. I just did what the book said."
Zhou said, "Alright, why ask so many questions about food? As long as you have something to eat, that's enough."
Just then, someone outside the courtyard called out, "Is anyone there? We've come to deliver the ground frost!"
Zhou hurriedly ran out to collect the frost.
A woman pointed to two wooden buckets on the ground and said, "Auntie, I dug up two buckets of ground frost and brought the clothes I want to dye. Is it really okay to dye them?"
Zhou squatted down, rummaged through the frost in the bucket, pointed to the corner of the yard, and said, "Of course you can. Just pour the frost over there, then give me the clothes. Come pick them up tomorrow. But right now we only have red dye, so it can only be dyed red. Is that alright with you?"
The woman quickly carried the two wooden buckets to the wall, poured the frosting onto the ground, and said happily, "No problem! No problem!"
The woman handed the clothes to Zhou and happily went home to continue digging for frost. She was thinking that there wasn't much frost left in the house, and wondered if she should ask her in-laws if they wanted to use the frost to dye her clothes.
In the kitchen, Chen Kai saw Er Ya and San Ya staring longingly at the jelly, so he smiled and said, "Er Ya, the book mentions another ingredient that can be used to make jelly. Do you want to know what it is?"
Er Ya asked curiously, "What is it? Can we find it in our village?"
Chen Kai said, "We just saw them, they were mulberry leaves!"
Sanya exclaimed in surprise, "Mulberry leaves can be used to make this jelly?! We usually just stir-fry it and eat it as a dish."
Mulberry leaf jelly, with its emerald green color, looks very appetizing. The key is that it can also be used in cooking, making it both delicious and nutritious.
To make jelly, you first need to pick some fresh, tender mulberry leaves without insect holes. Soak the freshly picked mulberry leaves in lightly salted water for half an hour to disinfect them and kill any insect eggs.
Next, wash the soaked mulberry leaves with clean water, cut them into small pieces, add an appropriate amount of water, and crush them into juice; filter the crushed mulberry leaf juice through a cloth.
Next, find another wooden basin, put the straw ash into the basin, add some water to dissolve it, and then filter out the ash residue with a clean cloth.
Finally, pour the mulberry leaf juice and rice straw ash water into a pot, heat and boil, stirring constantly with a spoon, and remember to skim off the foam on the surface. Once the water boils, pour it into a bowl and let it cool for several hours until the mulberry leaf juice solidifies. A bowl of elastic, amber-colored mulberry leaf jelly is now ready.
The mulberry leaf residue, after filtering out the juice, can be mixed with glutinous rice flour to make mulberry leaf pancakes. Pan-frying them until golden brown on both sides makes them incredibly delicious. I don't think we've heard of glutinous rice being used here, so I could ask my mother to try making mulberry leaf pancakes with wheat flour and see if they turn out well.
Er Ya asked, "Uncle, isn't it troublesome to make jelly with mulberry leaves?"
Chen Kai laughed and said, "It's not troublesome. It's similar to the process we just went through when we first made jelly. The only difference is that when washing the mulberry leaves, you need to soak them in salt water to prevent insects from remaining on the leaves."
Er Ya frowned and said, "We need salt! I was thinking of using all the mulberry leaves we have to eat to make jelly and sell it!"
Chen Kai said, "It won't be long before our family harvests a lot of frost, which will be enough to make a lot of salt!"
"Moreover, we can't eat too much salt made from boiling ground frost, or we'll get sick. I'll just go and beg my parents for some salt, and that'll be enough for us."
Er Ya smiled and said excitedly, "Then I'll leave it to you, Uncle!"
Sanya happily said, "Thank you, Uncle!"
At this moment, the jelly they had just made had solidified. Chen Kai said, "Alright, it's ready to eat. Er Ya, use a spatula to cut the jelly into small pieces, and then you can eat it."
After Er Ya finished preparing the food, she ladled a bowl for Chen Kai and placed it on the small table, saying, "Uncle, why don't you eat here and see how it tastes?"
Sanya had already ladled out a bowl and was eating. As she ate, she said, "Sister Erya, you should try it too. It's so delicious. Before you even bite into it, it's like ice is melting and you've already swallowed it."
Chen Kai laughed and said, "After the saltpeter is boiled, the jelly will taste even better if we chill it."
After finishing her meal, Sanya excitedly ran out, saying as she ran, "Uncle, I'm going to go see how Mother and the others are harvesting the ground frost. If it's almost done, I'll get some to boil into saltpeter."
In the kitchen, Chen Kai said, "Er Ya, after you finish this bowl of jelly, scoop me another bowl, then cover the rest of the jelly so that Mom and the others can have it when they're done."
Er Ya asked hesitantly, "Uncle, you've already eaten one bowl, can you eat another one?"
Chen Kai smiled and said, "This bowl is for Xiao Tian. I already promised him that I would bring it to him to try after it's made."
Er Ya said, "Oh, then Uncle, I'll take it to Xiao Tian for you. The bowl is a bit heavy after the jelly is filled, so please don't break it."
Chen Kai said helplessly, "Fine! When will he grow up? I'm afraid he'll break a bowl even if I'm just holding it."
Chen Kai followed Er Ya to deliver cold noodles to Xiao Tian. They found him in his room; he was lying on the bed, seemingly asleep. Er Ya put the cold noodles on the table and went to attend to other tasks.
Chen Kai called out softly, "Xiao Tian, Xiao Tian, are you asleep? I brought you something delicious."
Hearing the sound, Xiao Tian, who was lying in bed, said, "I'm not asleep, I'm just meditating with my eyes closed."
Xiao Tian opened his eyes and sat up, ordering, "Bring it to me!"
Chen Kai rolled his eyes, picked up the cold noodles from the table, and said, "Here you go. You want to eat all day but don't want to move. You're so lazy."
Xiao Tian took a bite, smacked his lips, and said, "Next time you make it, adding some sugar will make it even tastier."
Chen Kai pursed his lips and said, "I didn't know that. We're out of sugar at home. Remember to take your bowl to the kitchen after you finish eating. I'm going outside to check on how their frost harvest is going."
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