Chapter 354: Non-stop
At the end of noon, everyone came out of the woods carrying mountain products, and each of them held a bundle of jujubes in their hands.
I ate one from time to time on the way and didn’t feel hungry at all.
This thing has become the snack of the children these days. The wine is very expensive, not as cheap as in later generations, so we buy it to make jujube wine.
The jujubes brought back by the children were hung out to dry on the dam in front of the old house. The sour jujubes brought back by Su Ying, Zheng Niangzi, Zhou Wulang, Liu Lang, and Qin Tieniu were all brought to the Su family.
Seeing many wild fruits drying in the yard, no one thought much of it and just thought they were carried back by the men before.
"Sister!" Xiaotao and Atang had slept enough, and each of them sat there eating a piece of steamed cake.
Seeing her elder sister coming back, she went to the kitchen to get her a piece of cake and a bowl of warm water. The three sisters sat in a row on the steps.
"Thank you for your hard work!" Su Ying moved the two little girls' heads, and the sisters smiled happily.
"Sister, we can make a lot of sour jujube cakes with so many of these!" Xiaotao's eyes sparkled.
I only tasted a little bit of the sour jujube cake last year and gave it all away. I can't forget the sour and sweet taste.
"Well, it's done. Let's keep one jar and have Big Brother take the rest to Chang'an."
"Okay!" Xiaotao nodded like a chick pecking at rice.
Seeing Atang's confused face, "Atang, you haven't eaten sour jujube cake, um, it tastes better than winter melon candy..."
Before he could finish his words, his saliva was about to flow out, so he quickly covered his mouth.
"Yeah!" Atang nodded. Everything that her elder sister cooks is delicious. Whatever her second sister likes to eat must be delicious.
After feeding the silkworms in the afternoon, I started making sour jujube cake.
Su Ying boiled the sour dates and put them into a bucket of cold water. The children were divided into groups to peel the sour dates, then stir them with chopsticks to separate the pits.
I couldn't bear to throw away the jujube peels, so I dried them and ground them into powder, and made a sweet and sour drink. It's quite delicious, unlike last year when I had to mix it with staple food.
"Sir, is the sour jujube cake delicious?" Niu Xiaobao asked.
The children on the road all tasted it and it was extremely sour. When they thought about it, their mouths kept watering with sourness. They couldn’t understand how candy made from it be delicious?
"Of course it's delicious! Sour and sweet!" Xiaotao replied loudly, and Atang nodded in agreement.
There was a strong sour smell in the yard, and Yang Chunhua suddenly wanted to eat something sour.
"Second Aunt, don't worry, it will be ready in a moment!" Su Ying brought a jar of honey.
All the jujube paste was put together, there were nearly four buckets, nearly two buckets of jujube peels, and three buckets of jujube cores.
Pour the jujube paste into a large iron pot, add honey in proportion and mix well. Adjust the sourness and sweetness according to personal taste. Simmer on low heat for a while, and turn off the heat when it becomes thick.
The air was filled with a sweet and sour smell, and the children looked on eagerly.
Sprinkle fine cooked glutinous rice flour on the chopping board, scoop out the cooked sour jujube paste and roll it into thin slices of uniform thickness on the chopping board.
Cut into small pieces of even size, put into a winnowing basket covered with gauze, and sprinkle cooked rice flour on the surface to prevent sticking.
Cover with gauze and dry in the sun for two or three days to make a chewy sour jujube cake.
"Aunt, how does it taste?" Su Ying picked up a piece and gave it to Yang Chunhua.
"Kids, let them try it first!" Even though his mouth was full of sourness, he still endured it, feeling embarrassed to eat it alone.
"We have both, both. Try it first!" Su Ying fed the sour jujube cake to her second aunt's mouth.
"Sister, sister!" Xiao Tao stood on tiptoe, her neck was sore, but it was not her turn yet.
"Come on, little greedy cats! Line up! One piece each!" Su Ying distributed them to the children one by one.
"Wow, it's delicious!" The mice didn't expect that the sour jujube with sugar would be so delicious!
The sweet and sour taste is just right, which is what children love most. It is indeed better than winter melon candy and you will never forget it once you have tasted it.
"Mother, Third Aunt, come and try it. This year's has more honey than last year's! It's so sweet!" Su Ying fed Mrs. Du and Mrs. Wei.
"Aren't we going to take it to Chang'an? We won't eat it, don't waste it!" Mrs. Du and Mrs. Wei shook their heads.
"Oh, it doesn't matter if you give it a try!" Su Ying insisted.
Last year we were poor and could only eat leftovers, but they were all delicious.
Old Mrs. Su had been sitting there waiting early. Su Ying filled a bowl with some food, knowing that the old lady would take it to her mother-in-law, Qin Tieniu and others.
I made another version and asked the children to give it to the village elders and share it with the whole village.
Then I started to make the sour jujube cakes and dried them in more than twenty winnowing baskets.
"Oh, you're so quick! I thought you would take action tomorrow, but you've already finished it!" Madam Zheng came to return the utensils.
I didn’t get to eat the sour jujube cake last year, but I finally got to taste it this year.
"Aying, how about we go pick sour dates tomorrow?" Madam Zheng felt that this amount of sour date cakes was not enough.
After drying, they are gathered together and can only take up a large basin at most.
"No need, let's send the recipe over and they can make it themselves next year, so we can save the cost of turning tofu into meat!" Su Ying said, shaking her arms.
It was only with the help of a group of kids that I finished it so quickly. If I had done it alone, it would have taken me three or four days.
Next, you have to process the chestnuts, boil them, peel them, mash them into paste, and dry them into chestnut powder. When you have free time, make chestnut cakes.
Then walnuts, tea fruit...
This season's colored silkworms begin their third sleep, followed by feeding on pigments.
When the silkworms are spinning, the second crop of rice is harvested and winter wheat is planted! It's the busiest time of the year.
The most annoying people are the Li people who grow sugarcane. After planting winter wheat, they have to cut sugarcane for two or three months in a row.
After the Han people have finished sowing winter wheat, it is almost time for the slack season.
Starting from the second day, the children became child laborers and all the chestnuts were collected together.
Chop chestnuts, boil chestnuts, peel them, mash them into paste, and dry them in the sun.
The children began to find it fun and would eat a crispy and sweet raw chestnut from time to time. Only when they peeled the shells later did they realize how hard the work was.
Sitting there makes my back ache, my fingers hurt, and my nails split.
After two days of hard work, I mashed all the chestnuts into paste and dried them in the sun.
Then pick the walnuts and tea oil fruits, dry them in the sun for a few days, remove the outer green skin, and expose the walnut shells and tea oil seeds for drying.
Then it’s walnut shelling...
Half a month later, the colorful silkworms will spin cocoons, the second crop of rice will be harvested, and the children will go home on vacation.
In addition to the wages they earned from their labor, every child who returned home also brought a bag of chestnut powder, walnut and black sesame powder as a reward for their hard work these days.
When the second rice crop was harvested, all the men who were building roads outside returned to the village. They were all dusty but full of energy, and all of them were in charge.
Coincidentally, they started harvesting from the Su family first.
Su Ying still entertained the guests as she should and paid the wages as she should.
"Aying, we are members of the Qin family, why are you so interested in these things?" Qin Tieniu quickly pushed it away because it was too hot.
"Since we've been here, you've taken good care of us and helped us harvest our fair share. Why are you still asking for money? Isn't this bringing shame to our Qin family?"
"That's right! Several generations ago, we had the same ancestor!" Several other members of the Qin family also said.
"Okay, Uncle Tieniu, this is the rule of our Huanggou Village. Just take it and no one will say anything!" Su Ying stuffed the money into everyone's hands.
"Uncle Wang, wait a moment, I have something to discuss with you!" Su Ying called Wang Sanlang.
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