Seeing that he couldn't get any salt out of the pot, Chen Kai said, "Da Ya, pour this pot of water into that wooden bucket to cool it down, and then continue boiling the water that you just filtered out!"
After the saltpeter solution was boiled, they also obtained a small jar of salt, which made Zhou extremely happy.
Chen Kai thought it best to purify the nitrates further first, and let the boiled nitrate solution settle for a while, and deal with it tomorrow!
Chen Kai called his mother to a stop and said, "Mother, these saltpeter salts need to be processed a bit more before we can eat them."
"Mother, find a clean cloth and wrap these saltpeter salts in it. Tie it with a rope and rinse it repeatedly in water. Then put the cloth bag containing the saltpeter salts on wood ash and use the wood ash to absorb the moisture. Next, put the saltpeter salts in the cloth bag and some water in a pot and boil it until it becomes thick. After it cools down, the saltpeter salts can be eaten."
After picking up Chen Kai and kissing him a few times, Zhou said, "My good son, how did you know that salt could be boiled out of the soil?"
Chen Kai said with a smile, "Mom, I saw this in a book."
Mrs. Zhou said, "My good son is so wonderful!"
The eldest daughter-in-law of the Chen family said excitedly, "Mother, I'll go find something to wash the salt right now."
Zhou carried Chen Kai into the room and asked, "My dear son, how do you know there is salt in the soil? I've never heard of that before. I've only heard of salt in salt mines and salt wells."
Chen Kai said, "Mom, I don't know why there is salt in the soil. I just saw this method of extracting saltpeter in a book and wanted to try it."
Mrs. Zhou sighed and said, "That's right, my dear son is still young and it's okay if he doesn't understand. Mother doesn't understand either. My dear son, you're already very good. When you study more in the future, you will definitely be smarter than the village chief's grandson. You'll understand then."
Zhou then asked, "My dear son, can salt be boiled out of all the soil?"
Chen Kai smiled and said, "Mother, no, the soil I had them dig is called saltpeter soil, which is different from ordinary soil."
"Saltite is mostly found in toilets, pig and cattle pens, houses, old corners of courtyards, and places that are not easily washed by water. It is the kind of saltite that we often see with a layer of white frost under the corners of walls. Only this kind of saltite can be boiled to make salt."
Chen Shi said, "Our house has already been dug up."
Zhou said excitedly, "Then let's go and poach their customers!"
Chen Kai smiled and said, "Okay!"
When Old Man Chen and the others returned, they saw that the yard was a mess and there was mud in the wooden bucket. They assumed that the children were playing and didn't pay much attention.
Zhou called Old Man Chen and the others into the hall and said, "Come with me, I have something to tell you."
Seeing that the work on this side was finished, Er Ya pulled Chen Kai and said, "Uncle, Uncle, can we make jam now?"
Chen Kai said with a smile, "Okay, let's go to the kitchen now!"
In the kitchen, Chen Kai said to Er Ya and San Ya, who had followed him, "Er Ya, go wash some fruit first, then boil a pot of water. San Ya, crush the fruit and pick out the pits."
After Er Ya boiled the water, Chen Kai told her to put the fruit she had just prepared into it and cook it until it became thick.
Er Ya scooped the cooked jam into a clean wooden basin next to her, and the sweet and sour jam was ready.
Chen Kai said, "Er Ya, keep some for us to eat today, and put the rest in a jar and seal it. It can be kept for a few more days. We can open it when we want to eat it."
Er Ya happily said, "Okay, Uncle!"
When we had dinner that evening, Er Ya brought out the jam she had made that day.
Chen Laosi asked curiously, "Er Ya, what is this? It looks delicious."
Er Ya smiled and said, "Fourth Uncle, this is the jam that my younger uncle taught me to make. I've tasted it, and it's sweet and sour and very delicious."
After tasting it, the Chen family liked it very much. They ate all the black steamed buns with jam. There were still some leftovers from the dishes they made today, which is unusual as there are never any leftovers.
So after dinner, Zhou asked Daya and the others to juice the remaining fruit and make jam from the pulp.
Chen Laosi and the others put the freshly squeezed juice into buckets, hung them on ropes, and placed them in the well at the village entrance to chill.
The next morning, before Chen Kai was fully awake, he vaguely heard the screams of several little kids coming from the yard.
Not long after, Zhou came into the room and woke Chen Kai up, "My good son, the food is ready, get up and eat!"
Chen Kai sat up with his eyes closed, rubbed them with his hands, and said, "Mother, I'm up!" After getting up, Chen Kai washed his face and followed Zhou Shi to the hall for dinner.
After Da Ya and the others finished eating, they urged Chen Kai to eat quickly. After Chen Kai finished his rice in a few bites, Er Ya pulled him to the backyard.
Er Ya said excitedly, "Uncle, Uncle, the water you boiled yesterday seems to have frozen."
Chen Kai said with a smile, "Er Ya, this isn't ice, it's saltpeter."
Old Man Chen and Mrs. Zhou also went to the backyard. They had seen the changes in the bucket that morning and now wanted to know what it was for. A group of people gathered in the backyard to watch. Xiao Tian also wanted to know how Chen Kai planned to make ice, so he stood there watching.
Old Man Chen exclaimed in surprise, "My good son, you can boil saltpeter out of the ground? That's amazing!"
Zhou said with a smile, "Yesterday, we even boiled salt out of the ground!"
Daya said excitedly, "Salt and saltpeter are both very valuable! Although we can't sell salt privately, we can sell saltpeter!"
Chen Kai said, "Da Ya, pour the water from this bucket into another bucket first; it'll still be useful."
The nitrate water that is poured out is brine. Brine has many uses. It can be used as fertilizer to irrigate the land, which can greatly improve the fertility of the soil. It can also be used to make soy milk and tofu.
Chen Kai pointed to the water that had been poured out and said, "This water is also brine. The book says it's salt brine. Sister-in-law, you can use it to curdle tofu."
Mrs. Zhou exclaimed in shock, "Is this also brine? The water we usually use to curdle tofu is gypsum water."
Chen Kai thought that besides brine and gypsum water, other things like salt and brewed white vinegar could also be used to "curl" tofu. However, using salt to curdle tofu would result in an inedible taste due to its high salt content. If brewed white vinegar was used initially, the liquid drained from the tofu could be used to ferment and curdle it later; this type of tofu is called sour whey tofu. Sour whey tofu contains no additives or chemicals; it can be considered "made with the original liquid," making it the safest and most environmentally friendly tofu.
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