Tomatoes are very watery and take longer to bake than other vegetables. However, they still slowly shrink under the slow baking of charcoal fire, and finally shrink into a small piece.

Xia Lunong changed the charcoal fire and opened the lid of the pot when changing it. He picked up a piece with long chopsticks, cooled it, and then tasted it slowly.

Kong Zhi was sitting by the stove, making a fire. Seeing him frowning and looking a little strange, he asked, "Why, it doesn't taste good?"

Xia Lunong didn't know how to describe this feeling, so she simply picked up a piece and passed it to him, "Try it."

Kong Zhi looked at the tomato, opened his mouth and bit the edge of the tomato, put it in his mouth and tasted it for a while, and concluded, "It tastes okay."

"It's not bad." Xia Lunong tasted another piece, frowned, and said, "It's just missing something."

Tomatoes are sour and sweet, with a little more sweetness than sourness. After being roasted into dried tomatoes, they taste roughly the same.

Coated with meat sauce and fat, the sour and sweet tomatoes have a meaty aroma and a longer aftertaste.

This is indeed OK, but for Xia Lu Nong, it is too bland. It is not bad, but it lacks the memorable feeling of being unable to stop eating.

For people of this era, this snack is still missing something.

Kong Zhi said, "You are not satisfied with this version. The dried tomatoes that are baked out of the sun have no meaty aroma and fat, so they will probably be even more bland."

"That's true." Xia Lunong said worriedly, "I'll think about it again."

Kong Zhi said, "If you have any doubts, wait until this pot of dried tomatoes is ready and ask someone to taste it, and you'll know."

"That makes sense." Xia Lunong said, "Then why don't we cut the remaining tomatoes for now? We'll ask later. I always feel that roasting dried tomatoes like this won't be very popular, so I have to ask others."

Xia Lunong's feeling came entirely from an intuition, and his intuition was usually more accurate than the results of careful consideration.

Hearing him say that he wanted to pause, Kong Zhi said "hmm" and continued to sit by the stove and burn the fire.

Xia Lunong took out a bowl of half-dried roasted tomatoes, took a bite for herself, and stuffed a piece for Kong Zhi. The more she ate, the more she thought the dried tomatoes were okay. She frowned and whispered to herself, "Strange, what's wrong?"

Soon the first pot of dried tomatoes was roasted. Xia Lunong put them in a small basket and took Kong Zhi out to give them to passers-by on the road to taste.

No matter if they were familiar or unfamiliar with the base, they were happy to help after receiving their request to taste.

Everyone said that the dried tomatoes were delicious.

When Xia Lunong asked if they were willing to exchange five kilograms of rice for one kilogram of dried tomatoes, everyone directly expressed their unwillingness.

Xia Lunong lowered the price all the way, and finally when it came to two kilograms of rice for one kilogram of dried tomatoes, only one or two out of ten people agreed.

Xia Lunong went back with Basket and Kong Zhi, and said depressedly: "I guessed right, everyone is unwilling to exchange. Although we can make some money by exchanging two kilograms of rice for one kilogram of dried tomatoes, the firewood and labor are here. We might as well go directly to collect supplies."

Kong Zhi asked: "What should we do with so many tomatoes in the field?"

"Let me think about it."

"What should we raise? Don't they raise pigs over there in the cafeteria?"

"Raising pigs is too troublesome, and they smell." Xia Lunong shook her head like a rattle, "Besides, it's a waste to feed pigs with tomatoes."

When the two of them went back, Xia Lunong saw a pot of cut tomatoes. She felt like she had grasped something, but also felt like she had grasped nothing.

When Xia Huoqu and Yan Xinian came back, they saw that he looked very sad and asked, "What's wrong?"

"This type of dried tomatoes doesn't seem to be very popular." Xia Lunong handed the dried tomatoes to his brother, "I don't know what went wrong."

Xia Huoqu went to the kitchen to fetch water to wash his hands, picked up a piece of dried tomato and tasted it, "It tastes okay."

"It's indeed okay, but when we gave it to passers-by for tasting, no one was willing to exchange it for rice."

Yan Xinian also tasted a piece and asked, "Do we have to exchange it for rice?"

"Rice or noodles are fine, we're just short of rice now."

Xia Lunong said as she went to the counter to get today's dinner - tonight we'll have tomato and lamb bone noodles, and the side dishes will still be fried bamboo shoots with braised pork and fried eggplant, but the beans will be replaced with cold cucumber.

Yan Xinian picked up a dried tomato and threw another piece into his mouth, following him and saying, "It may not be easy to exchange it for rice. Food is so precious now, most people can't bear to spend it."

"What about the extraordinary people?"

Yan Xinian said, "Extraordinary people mainly refer to the group of single men who often go out to collect food. They have food in their hands and are generous, but they eat less snacks."

Snacks?

Xia Lunong was startled and looked up at Kong Zhi suddenly, and finally realized that something was wrong.

Why is this dried tomato not so popular? He positioned it wrong!

This dried tomato is a relatively healthy snack, but it is not the kind of snack that can be popular.

It's too bland!

There are actually snacks for sale in the base.

Before the catastrophe, information was too advanced. Ordinary spicy strips, instant noodles, pickled pepper chicken feet, etc., can be made by those who are interested, and now they can be exchanged in the base.

However, these snacks are too expensive, and most people are reluctant to exchange them.

It is difficult for tomatoes to make the rich taste of spicy strips and instant noodles. After the positioning is wrong, it has to compete with spicy strips, instant noodles, pickled pepper chicken feet and other snacks. It is normal that it cannot impress everyone.

Xia Lunong took a long breath, "I finally understand."

His mind turned quickly, and it only took him a moment to figure this out.

Kong Zhi looked at him.

Xia Huoqu also asked, "What do you understand?"

"I understand why our dried tomatoes cannot be exchanged!" Xia Lunong brought out other snacks for comparison, and gave his own conclusion. Finally, he concluded, "I finally made up my mind to exchange for something delicious. If it were me, I would not exchange for dried tomatoes!"

Yan Xinian did not expect that he would think of this so quickly, and asked with interest, "Since the positioning is wrong, how can we change it?"

"It's very simple, just change it into a food that can be used as a staple food." Xia Lunong asked, "Brother Xinian, have you heard of chili cakes?"

"I have some impression." "

This is a local snack made with rice flour and vegetables. Chili peppers, pumpkins, eggplants, etc. can all be made into chili cakes, and tomatoes should be able to do the same."

Yan Xinian asked: "Is it possible to eat it as a meal after it is made?"

"Almost. It will definitely make you feel fuller than just dried tomatoes!"

Xia Lunong had a new idea. The next day, Gancui directly cut all the tomatoes and put them under the sun to dry them as much as possible.

While drying the tomatoes, he took rice to the canteen to grind rice noodles.

The hydropower station has not been built yet, and there are no machines in the canteen. If everyone wants to grind something, they have to rely on manpower to push the stone mill.

Xia Lunong certainly can't do it alone, but fortunately there is Kong Zhi by his side, who can help him push the mill and provide him with practical suggestions for improvement.

With Kong Zhi's help, Xia Lunong thought about several versions and soon made a tomato chili cake with minced meat.

This tomato chili cake has rice noodles added to it, and it tastes quite chewy

. The main part of the rice noodles is starch, and the more you chew it, the more fragrant it becomes, and the aftertaste is long.

After Xia Lunong tasted it, he felt that he was really a genius.

He raised his head and chest, put the whole plate of tomato chili cake in front of his brother, and said calmly: "Brother, how do you taste it this time?"

Xia Huoqu picked up a piece, looked at him, and then looked at Kong Zhi beside him.

Kong Zhi was silent as always, but his lips were slightly swollen, probably because of the spiciness. I don't know how much he ate, or how much he tried.

Xia Huoqu took a light bite, and soon he could taste the diced tomatoes wrapped in the rice noodles, followed by the meat and chili chopped. It tasted fragrant and spicy, with a slight sweet and sour taste, and the more he chewed, the more fragrant it became.

The tomato and chili cake tasted so amazing this time. Xia Huoqu didn't expect his brother to have such a good grasp of the ingredients.

The tomatoes were no longer bland, and the sweet and sour taste added a hint of freshness, which also relieved the dullness of the rice noodles and meat.

Xia Huoqu hadn't tasted such a delicious snack for a long time.

Xia Huoqu raised his head, met his brother's expectant eyes, thought for a moment, and said: "This tomato and pepper cake is fresh, fragrant, salty, spicy, and slightly sour and sweet. It is very delicious and has a rich texture. If I had tasted it from others, it would cost three or four kilograms of rice." If it's a pound, I'll definitely exchange it for something to satisfy my craving."

Yan Xinnian took an extra piece and waited until their brothers finished speaking before saying, "Xiao Nong, give me some more of this tomato and pepper cake. Your brother and I will take it to the hydropower station tomorrow to help you promote it."

"Okay, I'll make more."

Xia Lunong hummed a few lines of a song, and then said, "In fact, it not only tastes good, but is also very suitable for making dry food. You see, there are vegetables, meat, and carbohydrates in it, and it is nutritious. It tastes good and is convenient to carry and eat. Even if you are in a hurry, it is completely okay to stuff a piece into your mouth and eat while walking."

Yan Xinian couldn't help laughing, "Okay, I will use this advertising slogan tomorrow."

Xia Lunong looked at him with big eyes, "I didn't make false publicity."

"You are just complimenting me." Yan Xinian asked, "You haven't been to the hydropower station yet, do you want to go and see it together and promote it yourself?"

"No." Xia Lunong refused directly. "I'll make more tomato chili cakes. We'll go to Nha Thanh in two days. Even if no one wants them in the base, Nha Thanh is so big that we can definitely exchange some."

Xia Lunong was very confident. His intuition told him that the tomato chili cakes would be very popular.

And it was true.

The next day when Yan Xinian came back, he took out a notebook from his inner pocket and handed it to him, "The tomato and chili cakes you made are very popular. I ordered 37 kilograms of tomato and chili cakes for you at the price of one kilogram of tomato and chili cakes for five kilograms of rice. Take a look."

"So fast?" Xia Lunong was surprised, "Don't they want to think about it?"

"They've tried the finished product today. What else do they have to consider?" Yan Xinian picked up the teacup and took a sip of water. "I didn't let them order more because I was afraid there wouldn't be enough tomatoes at home. Each person is limited to purchasing five kilograms. If they don't have enough materials and can't make it, I will supply them next time."

Xia Lunong opened the notebook and saw that most of the people who ordered ordered five kilograms, and only one person ordered two kilograms.

Xia Lunong touched her chin, "Thirty-seven kilograms should be doable. I can finish it tomorrow."

"Okay, I'll ask them to bring the rice to you after work tomorrow."

After writing down the numbers, Xia Lunong returned the notebook to Yan Xinian, "Brother Xinian, please arrange the order and deliver fifteen kilograms first. I'll make some eggplant and chili cakes tomorrow and give them as samples to see if anyone likes them."

Yan Xinian smiled and said, "It's up to you. Don't work too hard. There's no shortage of food at home. Just use up the tomatoes and eggplants in the field."

"It's not bad. It's much easier than going out to collect rice, and you don't have to worry about it." Xia Lunong's eyes sparkled. "Don't work too hard. Once this batch of rice arrives, the family won't be nervous anymore."

Xia Huoqu looked at Xia Lunong and for the first time felt his father's satisfaction. He nodded gently, "Okay."

Xia Lunong clenched her fists, her face full of fighting spirit.