Lu Chuan ate the new dishes. He wouldn't say they were bad, but he clearly felt that he didn't eat as much as he did with other meats.
"What's wrong? Is it not good?" Xu Han asked.
"It's delicious! But I'm probably used to strong flavors, so this sweet dish is more suitable for you girls," Lu Chuan said.
Xu Han smiled but remained silent, though she herself quite enjoyed the food. She then took out some boiled fish from her spatial storage to give to Lu Chuan as a side dish.
After dinner, Lu Chuan said, "Tomorrow I'll go cut down the trees first, and then deal with the remaining bison and wild sheep. You're afraid of the cold, so it's better to burn some charcoal as soon as possible. In case the temperature suddenly drops, there won't be any charcoal left at home."
“Okay, there’s no rush for the things in the space. The potatoes and sweet potatoes won’t spoil anytime soon, and we’re not going on any long trips recently, so we won’t need them,” Xu Han said.
After that, she added, "Tomorrow I'll wash the sweet potatoes first, then start grinding them to make sweet potato starch."
"Can you wash yourself? The river water is getting colder and colder, don't get cold. Let me wash you! We can go cut down trees after you're done."
"No need. I'll put the sweet potatoes in a bamboo basket and take them to the stream to wash off the big muds. When I come back, I'll add some hot water and wash them slowly. It'll be fine."
"Okay, I'll take the sweet potatoes to the river to wash them tomorrow. It won't take much time to cut down the trees."
"That's okay too!"
Another night of sweet dreams...
The next day, when Xu Han got up, it was already 7:30. When she came to the yard, she saw that Lu Chuan had already washed two baskets of sweet potatoes and was looking at them! Lu Chuan then picked out two more baskets of washed sweet potatoes and brought them in.
"You're up. Breakfast is in the pot. Go eat breakfast first! I'll go wash two more baskets."
"Do you want me to bring it over to you?" Xu Han asked.
"No need, it's not far, just a few steps away." After saying that, he packed up the sweet potatoes and went to the stream.
After finishing breakfast, Xu Han thought about boiling water. She lifted the lid of the large pot and saw that it was already full of hot water and had boiled.
Xu Han carried a bucket of hot water to the pond in the backyard, and added some cold water to the pot to continue boiling. She planned to wash sweet potatoes in the backyard later, and it would be convenient to pour the water there.
She poured hot water into a large wooden basin, added some cold water, then poured in the sweet potatoes. Xu Han then moved a chair over and began washing the sweet potatoes.
Trim the top, bottom, and some fibrous roots of the sweet potato, then use a brush to remove any remaining mud from the surface. Place it in another wooden basin and rinse it with hot water.
Put the rinsed sweet potatoes into the basket for now, and we'll process them after we've washed them all.
Xu Han had just washed one basket when Lu Chuan came in carrying two more baskets of sweet potatoes. Seeing that Xu Han had brought hot water, he didn't say anything.
"I'm going to cut down trees, I won't be back for lunch," Lu Chuan said to Xu Han.
"Wait a minute, take your food with you." Xu Han took out a lunchbox from her spatial storage. She had bought it before but forgot to give it to Lu Chuan. She only found it a few days ago when she was looking for something.
Lu Chuan looked at Xu Han with a puzzled expression and asked, "What is this?"
"This is a lunchbox. It keeps food warm, so the food won't get too cold and you can eat it hot right away. I forgot to give it to you before." Xu Han said, scratching the back of her head sheepishly.
"Oh, what's there to be embarrassed about? We didn't even have enough to eat when we were hunting in the mountains! Since I married you, my clothes aren't tattered anymore, and you cook all my meals. If it weren't for you, I would be in a much worse situation!"
After saying that, he was about to kiss Xu Han, but Xu Han quickly dodged him and urged, "Go and cut down the tree! It's almost noon."
Seeing this, Lu Chuan stopped teasing him and went to cut down trees with his lunchbox and tools.
Xu Han sat down and continued washing the sweet potatoes. She changed the water when it got dirty or cold, until all six baskets of sweet potatoes were washed.
Then he carried a chair and a clean wooden basin to the front yard.
The sweet potatoes are too big now; they can't be put directly into the millstone. They need to be chopped first.
Pour the sweet potatoes into a wooden basin, then use a cleaver to chop them until they are about two to one centimeter in size. Then put them into a wooden bucket and continue chopping the next batch.
This is not easy, and it's tiring, but it's much faster than grinding with a stone.
After chopping up a portion, Xu Han went to the backyard and brought the donkey over. She blindfolded the donkey, so it couldn't see the road and would keep pulling the millstone without feeling dizzy.
After covering the donkey, tie it up and pour the sweet potatoes onto the millstone.
Xu Han also used a small wooden bucket, carved a hole in it, and placed it on top of the millstone. This way, the water would flow continuously, and there would be no need for anyone to add water or sweet potatoes.
Just check on it regularly to make sure the sweet potatoes don't fall out.
It has to be said that being lazy to the extreme is actually a form of intelligence. Xu Han thought about this many times and experimented repeatedly to control the water flow before she finally came up with it.
This way, Xu Han can do other things while keeping an eye on the millstone. She just needs to empty the wooden basin filled with water in time to prevent it from overflowing.
And so the donkey pulled the millstone while Xu Han continued chopping sweet potatoes.
Once the wooden basin is full of water, replace it with the next wooden basin.
Then Xu Han took out the large bathtub she had bought earlier, placed a wooden board on it, and then placed a large colander on top.
Line the sieve with the cotton cloth that Xu Han had prepared beforehand, and then cover the sieve with the cotton cloth to prevent the sweet potato residue from leaking out.
After pouring the sweet potato pulp into a cotton cloth strainer, you can start filtering out the sweet potato residue.
Rinse the filtered sweet potato pulp several times with water until the water is no longer cloudy.
Squeeze out the water from the rinsed sweet potato pulp and let it dry on the ground. It can then be used to feed chickens, ducks, geese, or corn.
And so, Xu Han spent the whole day doing these tasks all by herself.
It wasn't until Lu Chuan returned that Xu Han finished filtering all the sweet potatoes. All that was left was to cover the bathtub opening with a wooden board to prevent any dirty things from falling in.
Tomorrow morning, pour out the water; what settles is sweet potato starch.
However, the sweet potato starch at this stage is not white enough and needs to be washed to make it whiter.
Rinse off the black starch from the sweet potato starch. Then put all the sweet potato starch into a bucket, add water, stir well, and let it settle again.
Repeat this process twice, and the resulting starch will be very white.
At this point, you can take it out directly, put it in a gauze bag, hang it up to drain the water, then cut the starch lumps open and dry them. Once they are dry, you can store them away.
When draining the water, the starch clumps need to be pounded into a funnel shape to make it easier to drain the water.
While drying, use a knife to cut off the impurities at the bottom, then chop it up and let it dry. This step is the most stress-relieving. Xu Han loves cutting up starch lumps; it's so much fun.
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