The next morning, the rain was still pouring outside. Shui Hong frowned and paced around the house, muttering, "God, please stop! If it rains any more, the wheat will all sprout!"
Upon hearing his brother-in-law's words, Li Xiangdong's heart stirred. The wheat was sprouting, the wheat was sprouting...
Got it!
Perhaps there is a way to salvage the losses from the wheat harvest!
After days of rain, some of the wheat has become moldy, and most of it has sprouted. Sprouted wheat is inedible.
Although sprouted wheat can't be ground into flour, it still has other uses!
If the wheat germ grows big enough, it can be used to make maltose!
However, making maltose requires a lot of glutinous rice, which is not produced in the northern region and is all transported from the south. The price of glutinous rice is even higher than that of regular rice, so not many people are willing to use such precious glutinous rice and wheat to make maltose.
When Li Xiangdong was scrolling through Douyin in his past life, he seemed to have seen a new method: using sweet potatoes instead of glutinous rice!
Sweet potatoes are also rich in starch, which makes sweet potato maltose taste even sweeter!
Glutinous rice is expensive, but sweet potatoes are cheap!
Since its introduction to China in the late Ming Dynasty, sweet potatoes have rapidly spread throughout the country thanks to their high yield, versatility in soil type (suitable for both northern and southern climates), and sweet taste, saving many starving people from hunger. Sweet potatoes have become the fourth largest food crop after rice, wheat, and corn.
However, it's summer now, and sweet potatoes are usually harvested after the first frost in autumn. I wonder if there are any sweet potatoes available now?
"Brother-in-law, do you have any sweet potatoes at home?" Li Xiangdong asked.
"Yes, what do you need that for? But it's all leftovers from last year, it's not very tasty anymore." The flood stopped circling around and the thoughts were drawn to the sweet potatoes.
How much do you have left?
"Three to five hundred pounds! Do you want to eat some? Eating too much of that stuff will give you heartburn."
In previous years, there wasn't enough food, and sweet potatoes were the staple food for every meal. The flood damaged our diet, and now just thinking about sweet potatoes makes my stomach churn.
Li Xiangdong felt he should give it a try. If the method worked, the entire Huichuan County might not experience a famine like the one he had in his previous life.
"Third sister, third brother-in-law, do you know what maltose is?" Li Xiangdong asked.
“Maltose? How come I didn’t know that? Back when our family lived in Yongxing County, my mother would make maltose for the New Year,” Li Ying said.
"What is maltose?" Hong Shui, the third brother-in-law, asked curiously.
"It's the sugar melon we give to the Kitchen God on the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month; it's made of maltose," Li Ying explained.
“Oh, we all call it sugar melon, nobody calls it malt sugar.” Hongshui scratched his head.
"Do you want some candy? You bought some for Daxia last time, do you still have any? I'll go get it for you!" Li Ying asked Li Xiangdong, thinking he wanted something sweet.
"Third sister, with the current rainfall, the wheat will sprout in a few days! Sprouted wheat can't be ground into flour, but you can use it to make maltose!"
Li Xiangdong laid out his thoughts directly.
Hong Shui was very excited after hearing this, but to everyone's surprise, his third sister, Li Ying, didn't react at all.
"Xiangdong, you're still young, so you might not remember. Although it's called maltose, you don't actually need much malt to make it. The main ingredient is glutinous rice."
Li Ying explained the production process and ingredient ratios of maltose to Hong Shui.
Li Ying assisted Zhao Sufang in making maltose at that time, and she remembers it very clearly.
After a brief moment of excitement, the floodwaters fell silent again.
This is easy to calculate.
It takes 20 jin of glutinous rice, 2 jin of malt, a lot of labor and firewood to make 10 jin of maltose.
Now, white sugar costs 80 cents a pound, brown sugar costs 70 cents a pound, and fruit candy ranges from 90 cents to a dollar or so a pound. Of course, all of these require sugar coupons.
During the Lunar New Year, candied melon usually costs one yuan per kilogram. Because it is a necessary item for worshipping the Kitchen God, no matter how expensive it is, every household will buy one kilogram. After worshipping the Kitchen God and the Kitchen Goddess, it can also be given to the children in the family to sweeten their mouths.
Sugar is quite expensive, but glutinous rice is also very expensive; the supply and marketing cooperative can sell it for 50 cents a pound!
This is because Huichuan County and even the entire Dongfang City do not produce glutinous rice. The glutinous rice sold in the supply and marketing cooperatives is all transported from the south, and much of it is old rice.
Wheat is relatively inexpensive, generally costing between one and one and a half cents per pound.
Upon closer examination, it becomes clear that making maltose not only doesn't generate profit, but actually results in a loss!
"Third sister, third brother-in-law, you don't have to use glutinous rice to make maltose; you can use sweet potato too!"
"What?!"
"Sweet potatoes too!?"
Li Ying and Hong Shui were really excited now. Why?
Sweet potatoes are cheap!
A whole bunch for a penny!
"Yes, that's what I read in the book." Li Xiangdong nodded with certainty.
Of course, don't ask which book it is; the answer is Douyin Encyclopedia.
"No wonder Xiangdong asked me if we still had any sweet potatoes. So that's why."
Hongshui said to Li Ying, "Daxia's mother, why don't we give it a try? Anyway, with this heavy rain, we can't do anything else!"
Li Ying nodded, then shook her head. "It only rained for two days. How could the wheat sprout so quickly?"
"Silly girl, go to the field and get some wheat first, then let it sprout at home."
Grandma Jiang, who had been listening to the conversation inside the room, finally spoke up.
“That’s right! I’ll go right now!” Li Ying slapped her thigh.
"I'll go, the rain is too heavy!"
The floodwaters stopped Li Ying, so she grabbed a straw hat, put it on her head, draped an oilcloth over her shoulders, and hurriedly went out.
The rain was pouring down. Li Xiangdong sat on the kang (a heated brick bed), playing with Daxia while explaining the precautions for making maltose from sweet potatoes to Li Ying.
"Third sister, once the malt has sprouted, wash the sweet potatoes, steam them until cooked, mash them, pour in the malt juice, stir well, let it react for half a day, and then you can filter the juice."
Li Ying knew how to do the rest, so there was no need for him to explain further.
The heavy mood that had been weighing on Li Ying these past few days seemed to be lifted again by a glimmer of hope.
"Okay! I'll make it and give it to you and your sister-in-law when it's ready." Li Ying said with a smile.
“Sure, if you have any extra, I can ask the supply and marketing cooperative in the county town if they'll buy them and help you sell them!” Li Xiangdong nodded.
Li Ying's eyes lit up; she thought her younger brother was really capable!
Although her family has over 140 yuan in savings, enough to buy grain until the autumn harvest, who would want to sit around and eat their savings away?
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