Chapter 463 Banana Tree
After the rain, the straw mushrooms grew densely in just two days.
As sad as Zhao Yeqing looked at the heavy rain before, he smiled happily now.
How could she not be happy with two large baskets filled with chickens? She had always complained about having too many chickens at home, but now with these straw mushrooms, she wouldn't get tired of eating chicken even if she could eat it for a week.
Fried chicken with straw mushrooms, chicken stewed with straw mushrooms, chicken soup with straw mushrooms...
Zhao Yeqing had been feeling uncomfortable these days due to the not-too-cold weather, so he asked Mu Xi to kill the chicken and then made some straw mushroom chicken soup.
The chickens at home are fat and plump, so before making soup, you have to remove the chicken fat under the skin and cut off the yellow chicken fat and put it in a bowl. When you make fried rice the next day, you can use the chicken fat to lubricate the pan before putting the rice in. It is so delicious without even using eggs.
Just put the straw mushrooms into the chicken soup ten minutes before it’s done cooking. The small straw mushrooms are crispy and tender, with plump texture, and they taste much better than chicken one bite at a time.
Zhao Yeqing, who loves the taste of food, ate several chickens in a row over the past few days. His appetite was satisfied, but chicken is too nutritious. How could he not get a sore throat if he ate it like this?
Mu Xi gently pulled open her lips and saw the small white ulcer inside. Feeling her hot breath, he bent his fingers and tapped her head lightly, then sighed and went out.
Not far away, he went to the lotus pond outside the yard and picked all the ripe lotus pods.
I went back to the kitchen and sat at the dining table, carefully peeling the lotus seeds one by one and then removing the lotus core.
This time the lotus seeds were not thrown away but collected in a small plate at hand.
After Zhao Yeqing came back from weeding the vegetable garden, he saw Mu Xi peeling a large bowl of lotus seeds and was stunned: "Why so many?"
Mu Xi twitched his chin and said, "Eat it if you want to. If you can't finish it, dry it and use it to make soup later. I mainly want the lotus seeds."
Zhao Yeqing washed his hands and came over to sit opposite him, eating lotus seeds one by one. After eating more than ten, he could not eat any more. "Do you want to eat?"
Seeing Mu Xi shaking his head, he took the rest to the yard to dry.
When I came back, there was a cup of steaming tea on the table.
"Try this. Didn't you complain before that you wanted to drink tea but couldn't find any tea leaves? This is the same, it can reduce internal heat."
It was Zhao Yeqing’s first time to drink lotus heart tea. He blew on it gently and took a sip carefully.
She originally saw that there were only a few lotus seeds in the cup and thought that it was not that bitter. Unexpectedly, it was much more bitter than tea leaves. Just as she was about to frown, a sweet and cool feeling suddenly surged from the root of her tongue.
Zhao Yeqing looked up and widened his eyes, "It tastes good!"
Mu Xi smiled: "Even if it tastes good, you can only drink one cup. Although this thing can reduce internal heat, it is very cold. If you eat too much, I'm afraid your stomach won't be able to handle it."
Zhao Yeqing nodded and couldn't help but take another sip despite the heat.
After so many years, I have finally satisfied some of my tea addiction. Unfortunately, it's still not as good as tea and lacks the fragrance.
The fragrance of lotus seed tea is very light, and its main taste is cool and sweet aftertaste, and its medicinal value is more important.
"This is also good. You can drink it at night and it won't keep you awake."
Mu Xi responded and opened the refrigerator, "You're not eating chicken tonight, right? What do you want to eat?"
"Eat some vegetarian food?" Zhao Yeqing thought for a moment and said, "It's for cooling down the internal heat. I see there are quite a few bitter melons and cucumbers in the shed. They can cool down the internal heat, right?"
"Then the bitter melon fried eggs."
As Mu Xi spoke, he went into the field to pick some bitter melons and came back to process them. It was only noon now, but it was better to process the bitter melons in advance. After cutting them into thin slices, marinate them with salt, let the flesh soften, squeeze out the juice and wash it again. This will reduce most of the bitterness.
Of course, if you want to be convenient, you can just blanch it and then cook it, but the bitter melon flesh will become a little soft and lacks the chewy texture, and the fragrance will also be diluted.
The pickling process is best started at least two hours in advance, but Mu Xi has to prepare the fermented glutinous rice wine later, and is afraid that he will forget to deal with the bitter melon when he is busy, so it is safer to do it now.
Zhao Yeqing stood on a small stool and took down the yeast hanging on the high wall. After Mu Xi cooked the glutinous rice, she mixed the crushed yeast with cold water, and then stirred them all together after the glutinous rice became cool.
The temperature difference between morning and evening is quite large now. In order to ensure the temperature inside the fermenting glutinous rice jar is balanced, we still have to cover it with a quilt at night.
Seeing that it had not rained for the past two days, Zhao Yeqing removed the plastic sheet on the dragon fruit and left the wooden frame that Mu Xi had built on the outside in place. The dragon fruit grew very vigorously during this period. Originally, it was just a small plant, like a small succulent plant grown on a table, but now its branches are longer than a person, about as thick as a calf.
I just transplanted it this year, so I don’t know if it will bear fruit, but it looks like it should have no problem blooming.
The bananas on the banana tree had turned a lot yellower. The two had originally wanted to wait until they were fully ripe before picking them and eating them, but the rain had been lasting for a long time, and the yellow bananas would probably go bad if they were left any longer.
Zhao Yeqing called Mu Xi over. The banana tree was too tall for her to pick the bananas, so Mu Xi raised her hand and was able to pick the bananas in the bottom row.
After getting a banana, she squeezed it gently and found it was just the right hardness and softness. Some parts of the skin began to darken slightly. She estimated that it could be kept for a few more days before it started to rot.
There is such a big bunch on top. The two of us don’t have enough experience in farming and raising fish, so we estimate that it is only about 40 kilograms, which is enough to eat. Several more trees have been transplanted outside the wooden fence. I haven’t been out to check on them for such a long time, so I don’t know if they are doing well.
Mu Xi picked another one. They peeled the banana and the first feeling they had when they put it in their mouths was how sweet it was.
This thing is not very watery and has a solid texture. I was a little hungry at first, but after eating one, I felt full.
"Once all the bananas are eaten, the tree can be cut down. The banana leaves can also be used to build an awning." Zhao Yeqing was eating bananas while thinking about how to maximize the value of this banana tree.
Ever since the banana tree began to bear fruit and the bunches of bananas gradually grew larger, the tree could no longer support the weight. Mu Xi used a two-meter-long wooden stick as thick as an arm to tie up the trunk in advance to increase the support.
Although the banana tree is called a tree, it can only bear fruit once and then wither. In essence, it is actually a perennial herb.
The two of them consumed three or four bananas a day. When only half a bunch was left, Zhao Yeqing did not wait any longer. He simply cut off the part connecting the bunch of bananas to the banana tree, and then cut off all the leaves of the banana tree.
The two of them had nothing to do during this period, so they built a small shed outside the courtyard wall on the right side of the yard. The firewood will be stored outside in the future. The place where the firewood was originally piled in the yard has not been filled with cement yet, which is just right for planting passion fruit seedlings that have already grown.
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