When they arrived, Yu Xiaocao and sisters, and with the help of Zhuang Xiaomo, a free labor force, had already picked up a lot of seaweed.
Regarding Xiaocao's instructions, Fang Fangzhen and Yu Hang always follow without hesitation. The two put the picked seaweed into a basket, carried it home without any complaints, and then ran back to help pick the seaweed. Yu Xiaocao was so excited that she even forgot to eat lunch.
Today's harvest is really good! Yu Xiaocao looked at the bamboo baskets filled to the brim in the yard, and she was delighted. I hope that seaweed is not a one-off deal, if you can pick it up every day, then you will be prosperous!
While stuffing the crispy and delicious seaweed salad into his mouth, Fang Fangzhen looked at the baskets of seaweed and asked, "Girl, although these seaweed are delicious, you don't need so much! Let's eat it every day, every meal, so many seaweeds, we can't finish eating them for three or two months!"
Xiaocao had already started a fire in the stove in the kitchen. She poked her head out, smiled mysteriously at the house, and said, "Godfather, save some stomach. There will be something delicious later!"
Fang Fang touched his stomach and said with a smile: "Godfather's stomach can stretch and shrink, even if he is full, he can still eat two more bowls. Don't worry, I won't delay to taste the fresh food you made."
In fact, it is very simple to make sea jelly. Just keep the fire under the stove and simmer for more than two hours. After the seaweed is boiled in the juice, stop the fire and use gauze to filter out the dregs. After cooling, it will condense into a crystal clear jelly. up. Sea jelly is more crispy than jelly made from sweet potato and mung bean flour, like agar, and mixed with garlic, chili oil, mustard, sesame oil and other seasonings, it looks very appetizing.
Yu Xiaocao not only tried to make sea jelly, but while cooking seaweed, she used another pot to make jelly with sweet potato flour and mung bean flour.
Mung bean flour is more troublesome. First, soak the mung beans, then use a stone mill to grind them into thick mung bean milk, filter and precipitate the starch. This step is easy to say, but it is very complicated to sit up. It needs to be filtered and precipitated repeatedly, and finally the water is drained, leaving mung bean starch lumps, which are dried in the sun for later use.
When making jelly, take a certain proportion of starch and mix it with warm water until it becomes sticky. Boil a pot of water, pour the starch water into the boiling water, and stir quickly to prevent the pot from sticking. After the starch is cooked, pour the paste into a mold similar to making tofu, and let it cool down until it becomes frozen.
The complexity of making mung bean jelly is that the starch must be filtered first. And sweet potato jelly is much easier. After all, whether it is Xiaocao's family or Zhou's fan workshop, there are ready-made sweet potato noodles. With sweet potato flour, the steps to make jelly are similar to mung bean jelly.
The sweet potato jelly is dark red in color and crystal clear, just like the red jadeite of ice species. And mung bean cool pink luster is white, soft like jelly. No matter what kind of jelly, it is tender, smooth and refreshing. Cold food in summer has the effect of relieving heat and quenching thirst.
The translucent jelly, together with Xiaocao's secret seasoning, in the hot summer, after eating such a bowl, it is refreshing from the mouth to the stomach, making people want to stop. In the evening, in the slightly moist sea breeze, eating smooth and tender jelly, let alone how comfortable it is.
Xiao Lian made another bowl for herself, poured the sauce into it, and said with a smile, "Little girl, this jelly is perfect for summer! We'll sell it at the pier tomorrow, it's sure to be popular!"
The house didn't even eat dinner, so he kept rubbing his belly, and said, "Girl, how did you grow such a small head? How come there are so many ghost ideas? Sweet potato flour, seaweed picked up by the sea, how can you be so stupid?" You can make such delicious food! Haha, I must have accumulated blessings in my previous life to recognize you as a goddaughter! It makes me look good... Daughter-in-law, you go to town tomorrow, and give it to Princess Jing and the second son Bring some over and let them have a taste of our daughter's craft!"
Fang Fangzhen was a rough person in the first place, and after being influenced by his ears and eyes in Dongshan Village, he no longer called Mrs. Fang by a polite address, and just called her "daughter-in-law" just like Yu Hai and the others! Don't say it, it's quite kind when you're used to it.
The jelly is really delicious, Mrs. Fang restrained again and again, and still ate two big bowls. She put down the spoon with a lot of thought, and said with a soft smile: "You! Don't you just want to show that you have adopted a good daughter in front of Princess Jing? How can I not understand you?"
Fang Zizhen chuckled, not hiding his purpose at all. There is a capable girl, why are you hiding? Let them all know that the girl in his house town is ingenious and has extraordinary cooking skills!
Xiaocao gave her godfather a bright smile, and then continued to discuss with Xiaolian about the jelly business.
Since you plan to sell jelly, you must prepare utensils such as bowls and spoons, and of course you need to get a few tables and stools. You can't let the customers squat on the ground and eat with bowls! In this way, a shed must be built. There is no place for shade on the pier in summer. Who wants to be half dead in the sun while eating
Yu Hai, who was quietly listening to his daughters' discussion, spoke at this moment: "Tomorrow, I will bring the materials and build a grass shed first. As for the bowls, chopsticks and spoons, there are some for sale at the pier market. It's just tables, chairs, and benches for a while. It won't be easy for a while!"
Xiao Lian suddenly thought of something, slapped her hands, and said: "That's right! Grandpa Liu said that his son has made some money in business, and he wants to pick him up for the elderly! His noodle stall wants to be transferred, why don't we take it over, the table, the stool Isn't the problem solved?"
Xiaocao thought for a while, then nodded and said, "Okay! Besides selling jelly, we can also sell cold noodles. I know several recipes for cold noodles, and the taste should be good. Tomorrow, Dad will build the arbor first. Grandpa Liu's thatched shed is not It's windy, and it's okay to block the wind in winter, but it's a bit stuffy in summer."
"Okay! The sun is still quite high at the moment, I'll go and chop some bamboo." Yu Hai went ahead and stood up immediately.
Yu Hang also stood up behind him and said, "I'm going to cut some thatch!"
With another way to make money, Yu Xiaolian looked very energetic. She said happily: "Tomorrow we will bring all the things we need to bring, and try to open before noon!! Yes! Go to the pier early tomorrow, and I will buy bowls, chopsticks, spoons, etc. , you make jelly there! This business is a partnership between the two of us, and the money we earn is divided in half, do you think it’s okay?"
Of course Xiaocao would not disagree. However, she and Xiao Lian might not be able to make both jelly and cold noodles, so they wondered whether they should drag their aunt to do it together. Ever since the melon shop closed, my aunt has not been able to find a suitable job, she only cooks food occasionally and sells it on the wharf.
However, her family is much more relaxed now. She helped look after the melon shop for more than a month, but later realized that she was too busy, so she brought her eldest daughter to help. After it was over, Xiaocao insisted on giving her the hard-earned money of fifty taels of silver.
As a helper in the town, a man in his prime may not earn a tael of silver a month. Han felt that he was in the melon shop, and he didn't have any heavy work, just moving watermelons on the shelves, collecting money and so on. Xiaocao gave fifty taels of silver as soon as she made a move, which scared her very much, how could she want it
Besides, Xiaocao's uncle also made a lot of money selling watermelons in Fucheng. This is all because of the benevolence and righteousness of Xiaocao, who never forgets to help his uncles when his family is prosperous. The two Liu Pei brothers came to Fucheng no less than ten times once a month.
The first time I went to Fucheng, I was almost bullied by a bully. Fortunately, Fang Fangzhen arrived in time, turned the gang of bullies to the government, and brought the Liu Pei brothers to show their faces in front of the magistrate. After intentional or unintentional publicity, most of the powerful people in Fucheng knew about the Liu brothers who sold watermelons. It was covered by the imperial envoy General Fang, so naturally no one dared to bully others anymore.
There are more rich people in Fucheng than Tanggu Town! This season, watermelons are rare items everywhere, so naturally they don't have to worry about selling them. What the Liu family brothers worry about is that there are not enough watermelons to sell! The cart of watermelons that I brought over was snatched up by servants of rich and powerful merchants waiting at the city gate almost as soon as they arrived in Fucheng. Even if the price of watermelons was two cents higher than that of Tanggu Town, it did not affect its sales. .
After a month, each of the Liu family brothers will share seven or eight hundred taels of silver. In the past, even seven or eight taels of silver was difficult for the Liu family to come up with, let alone seven or eight hundred taels. The two brothers were at a loss as to what to do with their "huge" deposits.
Later, under Xiaocao's advice, the two brothers decided to invest all their money in shops in the newly built port. The daily passenger flow of the current Xiaosha Wharf is increasing day by day, not to mention the new port has been built. In the future, the port will definitely be worth every penny!
With Xiaocao's godfather here, I'm not afraid that I won't be able to buy a shop in a good location. Xiaocao originally planned to ask Zhou Zhou to help buy the shop, but withdrew all the money and handed it over to her godfather. Xiaocao thinks richly: With her current financial strength, it is absolutely no problem to buy a dozen or so shops!
Closer to home! Let's say that Xiaocao's family spent most of the night together, and the next morning Yu Hai took his two daughters and set off for the pier in two cars! House Town rode on the horse and followed leisurely behind. On the carriage driven by Yu Hai, the materials used to build the shed were piled high, so he could only sit on the handlebar of the carriage. On the donkey cart of Xiaocao and Sister Xiaocao, there were a lot of pots and pans, and baskets of seaweed.
Yes, they decided to make sea jelly first. After all, raw materials do not cost money, so when the seaweed is used up, then consider sweet potato jelly. As for mung bean jelly, it was too troublesome and costly, so the sisters gave it up!
Before leaving today, Xiaocao made a special trip to Zhou's house and asked Zhou Shanhu to help tell the children in the village. Let's just say that she has been collecting seaweed for a long time, and she wants as much as she has! Yesterday, where they were picking seaweed, they picked up a few large baskets in a short while, and there must be other places.
At this time, the children in the village are free and fine. If they are serious about picking, half-grown children can pick up at least a dozen catties a day. Now Dongshan Village is no longer the Dongshan Village where it used to be so poor that you can't wait to break it in half for a penny. Many people don't pay attention to the tens of pennies that the children spend in small troubles, and leave them for the children to make pocket money. In this way, the children's enthusiasm for picking seaweed is even higher!