HLnovel Chapter 118 Is this what the emperor eats?
Chapter 118 Is this what the emperor eats?
When big bubbles appear in the pot, ask Sister Taohua to turn off the heat and simmer over low heat, stirring constantly, otherwise the pot may get burnt. By then, the kids standing nearby will have bubbles in their eyes instead of sparkling eyes.
This stuff needs to be stirred constantly. Shen Youyou had been making pine candy for a whole day, and her arms were so sore that she could hardly hold on any longer.
Old Mrs. Hua hurried over, took the spoon from Shen Youyou's hand and continued stirring: "My dear grandson, take a rest."
Shen Youyou smiled and said, "Grandma still loves me the most."
Old Lady Hua was also cheerful: "You are the only one who has a sweet mouth. Where did you get these candies? Why are they so old?"
Shen Youyou brought a small bamboo stool over and finally had a break: "This is pine candy, which can only be found on pine trees in winter or autumn when there is a severe drought. It is excreted from the sugar in the pine tree's body."
She tried her best to explain in words that her grandmother could understand.
Mrs. Hua said: "It's just like when we are hot we sweat and when the pine trees are hot they ooze sugar."
Shen Youyou laughed, and said that grandma's description was very apt.
Nodding: "That's about it."
The women and old people standing by felt that they had learned a lot after hearing this. Otherwise, why did they still need to study? Look at him, he knows everything. Even though he is a city kid, he is not like the village kids who always run into the woods.
But he knows everything. Who can say that studying is useless? I really need to let my children and Youyou learn more in the future.
When the sugar water in grandma's pot gradually became viscous and many tiny bubbles appeared, Shen Youyou called to Sister Taohua to stop and told grandma that it was ready and could be added to the kudzu root powder paste in the three pots.
The kids were so amused by Shen Youyou that they were almost drooling. No one wanted to leave, so they gathered around the big pot.
At this time Shen Zhiqiu and the others also came back. Shen Youyou told Li Jingshu and Old Lady Hua not to tell them that she had found the candy, so as to give their father a surprise. She also told the kids not to let it slip, as she would make syrup for them in the evening.
Shen Luming had a transparent liquid hanging from the corner of his mouth and raised his head: "What is syrup?"
“It’s just delicious and fun candy.”
Shen Youyou answered and stood up to walk towards her father.
It was a very cold day, and although everyone was wearing cotton-padded jackets, only a few people had real cotton-padded jackets, including the men in Shen Zhiqiu's family.
There was also Taiye's family, Gao the hunter's family, and other men's families. They were all covered in wild cotton and were so cold that their noses were running.
When Shen Zhiqiu saw his daughter, the first thing he said was, "Hurry up and prepare something hot to eat. The sudden drop in temperature in the evening is really unbearable."
"There is kudzu root powder paste, which is warm and nourishing to the stomach."
Shen Zhiqiu was very happy to hear what her daughter said. Her wife was very considerate. She knew he was cold but still made some hot porridge for him.
In fact, Pueraria root powder can also become a paste by drinking it with boiling water, but there were too many people, and in order to distribute the heat evenly, Li Jingshu thought of making it by the method of making porridge.
Everyone is finally here, and it's time to eat. Whenever I hear the word "eat", I feel inexplicably excited.
Each person gets a big bowl, and if there are not enough bowls, use bamboo bowls. The crystal clear flesh-pink paste looks very appetizing.
No one has ever eaten this thing, and everyone is looking at it with great curiosity. It's the first time I've seen such delicious porridge, and I'm a little reluctant to eat it.
Shen Zhiqiu held the bowl, blew it gently, and got a bamboo piece. The few bamboo spoons he had were all given to the kids.
In order to fill herself up, Li Jingshu made the porridge very thick. Moreover, the kudzu root powder porridge was very hot right out of the pot. Drinking it directly from the bowl would cause burns.
Shen Zhiqiu blew on it first, took a bite with a bamboo stick, and squinted his eyes in satisfaction.
It tastes smooth and sweet?
Shen Youyou suppressed his smile and looked at his father. At first he had a look of satisfaction, but then suddenly his eyes widened with disbelief.
"Why is it sweet?"
Li Jingshu didn't keep it a secret: "Your daughter found the sugar secreted by the pine trees, and brought a lot of it back today."
Shen Zhiqiu was pleasantly surprised. He kept looking at his daughter and greeted everyone while eating: "Try it, it's sweet, but be careful not to burn yourself when eating it.
If it's too thick, follow my example and eat it with bamboo sticks. We'll make a few more bamboo spoons later, and try to eat one a day. We'll have to eat this kudzu root paste for a long time in the future."
When everyone took their first bite of kudzu root powder, they really felt it was delicious. It was the first time for them to eat such fine porridge. In the past, they only ate corn porridge and grain porridge.
Sometimes corn is cooked without shelling. It's not that we don't know that we should shell corn before eating, but it can be eaten longer with the shell on.
To them, the porridge made from Pueraria root is like what immortals eat in the legend.
And with the addition of a pinch of white sugar, it is fragrant and sweet, delicate and smooth, and melts in your mouth.
The children blew on it for a long time before they successfully swallowed a spoonful of kudzu root powder. Their big, bright black eyes lit up.
Suddenly I felt as happy as if it was Chinese New Year. As I blew into the next bite, I shouted, "It's so delicious, so delicious, and it's sweet."
The old men and old ladies also took small sips to taste it. It was a little hot at first, and the moist paste melted on the tip of the tongue. Before they could taste it carefully, it was gone.
Only the sweet taste is left on the tip of the tongue.
Mr. Shen said happily: This is perfect for him to eat, he doesn't even need to chew it with his teeth. He also said that he will just eat this in the future and doesn't plan to eat cakes anymore.
"Third brother, this kudzu root powder can't be the food of gods!"
Shen Fugui asked out loud. He really couldn't understand how something that looked like a tree root and was hard could be made into such delicious, beautiful, and crystal clear paste.
Shen Zhiqiu didn't care about anything else at this moment. He ate kudzu root powder mouthful after mouthful. He was shivering all over because they were sweating from digging kudzu root.
As a result, the temperature suddenly dropped in the evening. On the way back, the cold wind kept blowing into my neck. The feeling is really hard to describe unless you experience it yourself.
After swallowing a bowl of kudzu root powder, he felt relieved. He stood up and served another bowl: "I don't know what the gods eat, but the emperor should eat this!"
This is really not nonsense. In ancient times, Pueraria root was a tribute and would be sent to the palace after being dug out.
This sentence really shocked everyone. What the hell! They, a bunch of peasants, were eating what the emperor ate.
"Then is it very valuable? It must be sold at a very high price!" Mr. Shen couldn't drink it anymore. This was eating money!
Shen Youyou was drinking by herself. In fact, she could understand what everyone was thinking. They wanted to sell the wine for money.
Shen Zhiqiu looked at everyone's reaction, even his parents didn't want to eat anymore, so he said:
"Don't worry about who eats it. If we don't eat it now, we will starve to death. There are a lot of them in the mountains. We can just keep digging for them. When we dig more, we can make them into powder, put them in bamboo tubes, and sell them in the north."
The men heard it and said, "Yes! There are too many of these things in the mountains. It's not good to dig them again. Otherwise, the men are open-minded. The main thing is that they also saw that there are many vines and they don't need to look for them carefully."
Li Jingshu also advised: "Eat it quickly, this kudzu root powder can beautify the skin and nourish the body, we women should eat more."
Shen Youyou was convinced. What I said hit the nail on the head. Which woman doesn't love beauty? It's just that they didn't have the conditions to be beautiful in the past, so how could they have the spare money?
This time it's right in front of me, it would be a waste not to eat it, and there's nothing else to eat. Yams are very expensive, and they're also medicinal herbs.