Then Chunniang chopped up a golden ear and stewed it in a pot.
After stewing, he fed some to the chickens first. After observing for a while, and seeing that there was nothing unusual about the chicken, he tasted it himself.
Yingbao actually didn't want her mother to taste it. After all, she was still breastfeeding, and it would be terrible if her milk supply was affected.
But Chunniang insisted on tasting it herself, so she drank half a bowl. After waiting for a while until she felt no more discomfort, she allowed her daughter to eat.
Yingbao took a sip and found the golden ear soup soft, sticky and sticky, with a hint of osmanthus fragrance. It would be even better if some honey was added.
"It's delicious." Yingbao ate half a bowl in one breath, licked her lips and said, "Let Dad take it to the pharmacy in town tomorrow to have a look. If it doesn't work, we can go to the county town."
She was sure that this was the golden ear. The texture and appearance were the same as what Sister Wen had described, and even the taste was almost the same.
One of Sister Wen's ancestors once worked in the Imperial Medical Bureau. It is said that he specialized in treating royal nobles. Later, when he got old, he retired and returned home.
Therefore, most of the men in the Wen family studied medicine, opened many pharmacies, and were very famous in various places.
Sister Wen has been influenced by her family since she was a child. She not only understands medicine, but also knows how to identify medicines. She often tells Yingbao about her childhood experiences.
Of course, Yingbao also likes to listen to it.
"Yeah." Chun Niang smiled and said, "I'll tell your father when he comes back."
In the evening, Jiang Sanlang returned home barefoot from the fields, put down the sled on his shoulders, scooped water to rinse his feet, put on the cloth shoes brought by his daughter, and then sat down to eat dinner.
Seeing a bowl of bright yellow porridge on the table, I asked curiously, "What kind of porridge is this?"
Chun Niang smiled and said, "It's golden ears. Bao'er picked them. Try it and see if it tastes good."
Jiang Sanlang took a big sip, smacked his lips, and praised, "It tastes good, smooth, and warms my stomach when I drink it."
Chunniang smiled and said, "This thing is very valuable. Granny Xicun said that the county medicine store sells it for several dozen taels per box."
"Huh?" Jiang Sanlang's eyes widened. "Really? Which old lady in Nishimura said that?"
Yingbao on the side: …
So, it takes countless lies to cover up one lie.
The next day, Jiang Sanlang went to the town with a mulberry stick covered with golden ears and showed it to Doctor Li.
Doctor Li picked it up and smelled it. He was very surprised and said, "This is indeed golden ear, a top-quality tonic."
He raised his old eyes and asked, "Has your Erlang ever eaten this?" He was still wondering how Jiang Erlang's lung disease was cured.
Jiang Sanlang was stunned and shook his head quickly, "No, this thing is... I just found it recently. I cooked some to try last night and it tasted good. I also heard that this thing... well, can be sold for money, so I brought it to you to see if it's real."
Doctor Li stroked his beard and nodded, "It is indeed golden ear, but this is the first time I have seen fresh ones. I didn't expect that such a small place like ours could produce such a precious medicinal material. However, if you want to sell it, you need to bake it dry."
Jiang Sanlang was a little disappointed when he heard this.
When they were about to take the mulberry tree back, they heard Doctor Li say, "If the fresh golden ear is still attached to the tree trunk, it may not go bad in a day or two. We can take it to the county town for a look."
Chuanhe Town was too small and the purchasing power was limited, so even if golden ears were rare, they could not be sold. But if they were dried, he could buy some.
Jiang Sanlang's mind moved slightly, and he quickly thanked him: "Thank you, Mr. Li, for your guidance."
As he said this, he used a knife to cut off two large golden ears and gave them to Doctor Li.
Doctor Li laughed and said, "This thing is precious, I can't take it for nothing. Let me tell you, I have a method to quickly dry the herbs. You can go back and try it to see if you can use it to dry the golden ears."
Jiang Sanlang was delighted, "That's great." He bowed deeply to Doctor Li and said, "Thank you for your advice."
Doctor Li smiled and told Sanlang Jiang the method of drying golden ears without hiding anything.
“When I was young, I learned from my master how to dry snow fungus, which is probably similar to golden fungus.
First, clean the snow fungus and place it on a bamboo plate. Don’t place them too close together. Expose it to the sun for three or four days until it is completely dry.
Doctor Li took out a whole snow fungus and handed it to Jiang Sanlang to see: "Just dry it like this."
He pointed to the root of the snow fungus and said, "Be sure to dig out all the stalks at the back, otherwise it won't be exposed to the sun and will easily turn black and mold."
Jiang Sanlang nodded repeatedly.
"Another method is to build a drying furnace with a layer in the yard." Doctor Li picked up a pen and drew a rough outline on paper.
"That's it. Put the golden ears into the drying oven and bake them overnight. They will be dried quickly. But the temperature should not be too high or too low. Just twice as high as that of the dog days..."
Jiang Sanlang listened carefully to Doctor Li's explanation and asked for the sketch to study it carefully.
After leaving the pharmacy, he went straight home and told Chunniang what Doctor Li had said.
"Doctor Li also said that as long as we can find more golden ears, and if they are of good quality after drying, he will buy them at ten strings of cash per pound."
"Oh, really?" Chunniang was so excited that she turned to her daughter and asked, "Bao'er, where did you find it? I'll go look for it with you tomorrow."
Yingbao: "In the woods, but there shouldn't be any more there."
Chunniang felt slightly disappointed, and then she heard her daughter say, "But we can plant it."
Yingbao pointed at the golden ears on two mulberry trees and said, "Let's use these as seeds. Let's find some dead mulberry trees, dig a few holes in them, separate the roots of the golden ears, and plant them on the dead trees."
"Ah?" Is this possible
Not only Chunniang was stunned, but Jiang Sanlang was also shocked by the little girl's words.
They had never grown mushrooms before, let alone golden ears.
"Is this really feasible?" Chunniang asked.
Without waiting for his daughter's answer, Jiang Sanlang said without hesitation: "It should be feasible. Listen to your daughter, let's try it out."
In fact, no matter whether it works or not, Jiang Sanlang is going to give it a try.
A pound of dried golden ears can be sold for ten strings of cash. This is a great opportunity, how can we let it go easily
Just do it.
Jiang Sanlang immediately went up the mountain, picked up a lot of dead mulberry wood and carried it back. Then, according to the little girl's instructions, he got some rice husks, bran and wood chips, put them into the stone mortar and crushed them for later use.
Then they chiseled holes in the mulberry wood, poured sawdust and rice chaff into the holes, and poured water on it.
Then divide the golden ear root into several parts and plant them in the holes filled with debris.
After planting the golden ear, sprinkle water on it and place the mulberry wood in a newly built bamboo shed to wait for the fungus to grow.
Of course, Yingbao would sprinkle the pool water in the cave on Sangmu every day to keep it moist.
After ten days or so, small golden ears finally grew back on the mulberry tree, and the growth was very gratifying.
During this time, Jiang Sanlang also built a drying furnace with a sandwich layer in the yard. After trying several times, he finally found the right temperature and successfully dried the seventeen golden ears.
This is the first time I dried golden ears. Although it is not perfect, it is already very good and the color of the golden ears is also acceptable.
Jiang Sanlang was extremely happy and took it to show Doctor Li immediately.
Doctor Li was also very surprised. He didn't expect that in just ten days, Sanlang Jiang had been able to successfully dry out golden ears.
He weighed a dozen dried golden ears with a scale and found the total weight was 4.8 liang.
According to the original agreement that one jin was worth ten strings of coins, four liang and eight was equivalent to four strings and eight hundred coins.
Doctor Li handed the money to Jiang Sanlang and said with a smile, "Sanlang, if you have any more, you can sell them to me."