After distilling for a period of time, most of the alcohol was distilled out. Two hundred catties of barnyard grass yielded about fifty catties of liquor. Such a yield is already quite good. This was my first time making it, and there was a certain amount of alcohol loss during the process.
Zhao Xian knew that this high-proof liquor was not suitable for direct sale; it had to be blended to reduce its alcohol content to around 30 degrees.
In this era, the highest alcohol content was probably that of rice wine, which was only around ten degrees. Wine with a 30-degree alcohol content was definitely considered high-proof in this era.
Freshly brewed baijiu doesn't taste its best; it needs to be stored for a period of time to improve its flavor.
He filled a jug to the brim with wine and handed it to Wang Lizheng. He then stored the remaining fifty jin of wine in a ceramic jar, intending to store it for a period of time before blending it.
“Uncle Village Head, the barnyard grass in the wasteland is now fully ripe. I want to start buying it in large quantities starting tomorrow. What do you think is the best way to do it?”
The village head was already six-tenths drunk, but it didn't affect his thinking.
“Currently, the barnyard grass in the abandoned fields is easy to harvest. A single laborer can harvest several hundred kilograms a day without any problem. If the purchase price is high, there may be a looting frenzy, which could easily lead to accidents.”
"Of course I know that. The price of this acquisition cannot be as high as last time. Even if it is priced at one coin per pound, there may still be a phenomenon of scrambling."
The village headman began to consider that if all the barnyard grass in the wasteland were harvested, it would yield at least 500,000 catties. Even at one copper coin per catty, that would be worth 500 taels of silver.
Thinking of this, the village head spoke up:
"How about this? I'll have the villagers work in the name of the village to collect the barnyard grass from the wasteland, and then sell it to you. After paying the villagers' wages, the remaining money will be kept in the village's accounts. What do you think of this idea?"
"This is a good idea. It solves the problem of purchasing barnyard grass, avoids conflicts, and also brings income to the village."
“Then let’s do it this way. I’ve estimated that we’ll buy all the barnyard grass, about 500,000 catties. Do you have enough barnyard grass?” Li Zheng asked.
Zhao Xian had also thought of the problem raised by the village head. At present, he didn't need so much millet to brew his own wine, but he had many cattle and horses at home, which required a lot of feed every day.
Especially in winter, when grass withers and feed is scarce, barnyard grass can be processed into high-quality feed.
"That's no problem. We don't need that much barnyard grass for brewing. I can process it into animal feed, so even a lot of barnyard grass can be put to good use."
"Then it's settled. I'll arrange for someone to harvest tomorrow, and you can buy it for one coin per pound, how about that?"
One coin per pound of barnyard grass was already the lowest price imaginable, so I had gotten a great deal. Even so, buying so much barnyard grass would still require five hundred taels of silver, which was no small sum.
“Then let’s do as the village head says. But we need to find a place to store so much millet. Although my workshop has a warehouse, it can only store a maximum of 100,000 catties. We need to find a place to store another 400,000 catties.”
"That's easy. There's an abandoned granary in the village. It was built by the imperial court more than ten years ago, but it was abandoned because there was no grain to store."
This is a small granary, but it can store several million catties of grain. If we just repair one of the silos, we can store 500,000 catties of millet. Wouldn't that solve the problem?
That's indeed a good idea. It seems the village head is quite clever; he solved the problem with just one idea.
"Then I'll trouble Uncle Village Head to find someone to repair the granary. I'll pay you for the repairs as well."
"Okay, no problem. The workload of repairing the grain warehouse is not large, and it will be repaired in less than two days. I will arrange for someone to repair it now, and it will be ready for use the day after tomorrow."
After the village head finished speaking, he left, still carrying the pot of millet wine in his hand.
The process of making barnyard wine, from preparation to sealing the jars, took a full seven days. The relatively high temperature at this time greatly shortened the brewing time. If it were winter, it would probably take more than ten days to brew the wine.
Seven days have passed, and the preserved eggs from my uncle's family should be ready to be taken out of the jar.
It was still early, so he planned to go to Zhao Youzhu's house to check on Pidan's condition.
These past few days, Zhao Youzhu has been making one hundred preserved eggs every day, and he has already filled seven jars. Today, he is preparing to fill the eighth jar.
Zhao Youzhu knew that the preserved eggs could be taken out of the jar after seven days of preparation, but he didn't know if the preserved eggs had been successfully made.
The whole family was a little uneasy, but Zhao Xian didn't come over, so they didn't dare to open the jar to check.
It wasn't until the afternoon that Zhao Xian arrived, and his family went to greet him.
"Xian'er, seven days have passed. Are the preserved eggs ready?" Zhao Youzhu asked cautiously.
"The jar can be opened now. I want to see how the preserved eggs turn out. If there are no problems, we can take them to the market to sell."
At this moment, Tie Niu took out the jar of preserved eggs and placed it on the table.
Zhao Xian walked over, first untied the rope tied to the mouth of the jar, removed the lotus leaf wrapped around the mouth of the jar, and then cleaned away the yellow mud sealing the mouth of the jar. The jar was now open.
The family was very nervous at this moment, staring intently at the jar.
Zhao Xian took a preserved egg out of the jar, cleaned off the lime coating, shook it a few times, and felt that the egg white and yolk inside had solidified, so it should be ready.
He cracked the eggshell and peeled it off, revealing a crystal-clear, translucent, yellowish-brown preserved egg.
The freshly made preserved eggs are almost identical in color and shape to the preserved eggs we ate that night, which means they were successfully made.
Zhao Tiezhu was overjoyed, and his hands were trembling slightly.
Zhao Xian cut the preserved egg into six pieces, one piece for each of the six people present.
Zhao Youzhu and Liu had eaten preserved eggs a few days ago and liked the taste very much, so they couldn't wait to put the preserved egg into their mouths.
It has a unique texture, similar to the preserved eggs I had that night.
The others were tasting preserved eggs for the first time. They savored them carefully, finding the flavor unique and the experience a true pleasure. They all thoroughly enjoyed them.
"The preserved eggs are successfully made and can now be sold in the market," Zhao Xian said excitedly.
"How do we sell it? We've never sold anything in the market before," Zhao Youzhu said, looking completely bewildered.
"Tomorrow, have Tiezhu take these preserved eggs and have Xiaoshan lead them to restaurants to sell them. Once the restaurants are willing to buy them, the demand will be quite large, so there will be no need to sell them retail in the market."
"How much would we charge for each one if we sold them to a hotel?" Liu asked.
"Let's set the price at four coins each for now. A higher price will affect sales."
Liu began to calculate quickly: at four copper coins per preserved egg, the net profit was close to three copper coins. If one hundred preserved eggs were sold a day, the monthly income would be close to ten taels of silver.
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