Farmer's wife: My husband came back and the house was in chaos

Chapter 176: Sour Jujube, Honey-flavored Sour Jujube Cake

The failure of the egg tarts made Yao Qingnian lose interest in cooking.

After lunch, Yao Qingnian was bored and planned to go to the embroidery workshop. On the way, she met Erya's mother-in-law, who was carrying a basket. "Auntie, where have you been?"

"Qingnian, my Erya's taste has changed recently. She always says she wants to eat sour food. So I went to the foot of the mountain and picked some wild dates for her to satisfy her craving." Aunt Wu showed her basket of dates.

"It is a blessing for Erya to have such a good mother-in-law like you! You take care of her so meticulously and consider everything for her. You also keep the house neat and tidy, so that Erya has no worries at all. She is so happy!"

Aunt Wu is such a good mother-in-law who can notice such small details. Yao Qingnian couldn't help but praise her.

"Oh, girl, your mouth is so sweet, could it be that it has been soaked in sugar water?" When Aunt Wu heard her say that, the corners of her mouth were so happy that they almost stretched to the back of her ears.

It is normal to like sour food when you are pregnant. Yao Qingnian looked towards Aunt Wu's basket and saw some fresh and ripe wild dates, also known as wild sour dates, on it.

Yao Qingnian suddenly recalled the taste of sour dates in his mind and couldn't help swallowing.

Yao Qingnian had seen it when he went to the resort in his previous life. He picked one up and put it in his mouth. It tasted so sour and refreshing. The master's wife said it was a good thing. The two picked up a large bag of it on the roadside of the resort and went back to make sour jujube cakes. The taste was sour and sweet, appetizing and delicious.

After asking Aunt Wu where to pick sour dates, Yao Qingnian took out the cloth bag and walked towards the foot of the mountain.

When we arrived at the foot of the mountain and looked down, we saw the ground was covered with smooth, brightly colored yellow jujubes. The air was filled with the smell of jujubes, and when we looked up, we saw several tall jujube trees.

Yao Qingnian picked up one, peeled it and put it in her mouth. It was so sour that she closed her eyes and spit out the core after eating it.

It is also called the five-eyed fruit, and the core of the jujube is called the five-eyes and six-way, because there are five small holes on the top of the jujube core, which look like five eyes, and there is also a natural hole on the body of the core, making a total of six holes, so it is vividly called "five eyes and six-way".

Yao Qingnian bent down and started picking up the sour dates. In less than half an hour, he had filled a big bag. The wind blew over, and from time to time he could hear the sound of the sour dates falling.

After picking up almost all the jujubes, Yao Qingnian returned home with a large sack of sour dates.

"Qingnian, why are you picking so many sour dates? They are very sour. If you want to eat them, just pick a few to try." Liu Shuyue said puzzledly as she looked at the big bag of sour dates that Yao Qingnian brought back.

"I'm going to use it to make sour jujube cake. Mom, we still have a pumpkin at home. Can you help me peel it and steam it in a pot? I'll need it later!"

Then Yao Qingnian began to process the sour dates.

She first poured all the sour dates into a wooden basin and washed them, picking out the rotten and unripe ones, and washing away the weeds and dust.

After washing, boil water in a pot and pour all the sour dates in to cook until the skin cracks slightly. Yao Qingnian picked up a sour date and shook it in her hand. It was too hot, so she threw away the sour date and put her hands on her ears.

It is easier to peel the skin while it is still hot, but she didn't want to burn her hands, so she waited until the temperature dropped slightly before peeling.

After peeling the skin, the white jujube flesh will appear in the basin. The next step is to remove the core. The flesh is stuck to the core and needs to be rubbed repeatedly to separate the core from the flesh.

The workload was quite heavy, and it took Yao Qingnian and Liu Shuyue half a day to remove all the cores.

"The origin of sour jujubes is really unknown. There were so many of them, but in the end only this much is left." Liu Shuyue sighed as she looked at the fruit pulp in the basin after the pits were removed.

The core of wild jujube is large but the flesh is small. After removing the skin and core of more than 20 kilograms of jujube, only a little flesh is left in the basin.

"Mom, go and help me mash the steamed pumpkin into puree and add it in later."

Pumpkin with wild dates? It was the first time she had seen it, but the daughter-in-law here had so many strange things that she was used to it and did what she was told without saying anything.

Yao Qingnian brought some sugar and wanted to add it to the sour dates. But the sugar in ancient times was not the white sugar we are familiar with. It was a big piece and difficult to add, so she simply took out honey and made honey-flavored sour date cake.

Yao Qingnian separated half of it and made the original flavor.

Add steamed pumpkin puree to the remaining half, taste it and it’s still a bit sour, so add some honey and the pumpkin-flavored jujube cake is ready.

Yao Qingnian took a little and put it in Liu Shuyue's mouth: "How is it, is it delicious?"

"The wild dates with pumpkin are surprisingly delicious, sour and sweet, with a strong fruity flavor and a hint of honey." Liu Shuyue praised it highly.

"Of course I added a big jar of honey!" Jujubes are very sour, and you need a lot of honey to make them taste this way. Besides, wild honey is sweet but not greasy, so it's just right to add in.

"Delicious, I like this taste."

"Then we'll pick some more when we have time, and sell them in the shop. They will definitely be popular."

After the sour dates are made, spread the two flavors of sour dates flat on a winnowing basket, put them in the sun to dry the next day, and put them in jars. They can be eaten for a long time.

As the weather got cooler, the demand for ice jelly and ice milk tea decreased. Seeing that lobsters were almost out of season, the business in the shop gradually slowed down. Yao Qingnian asked Zhongxia and Yuanniang to discuss replacing milk tea with hot drinks. It was not a problem to maintain daily expenses. It was time to introduce some new products for autumn and winter.

What to put in the basket? When Yao Qingnian was using it to collect the sour dates, he caught a glimpse of the soybeans that had been dried on the rack but had not yet been put into the jar, and an idea came to his mind.

"Mom, have you ever eaten tofu?"

"What is that? Tofu? Never heard of it." Liu Shuyue shook her head.

Yao Qingnian did it right away. He took out three pounds of beans and soaked them in water overnight. He could make tofu the next day. One pound of beans could produce about three pounds of tofu. He made three pounds of tofu first and gave it a try.

"Are you going to mess with that tofu you mentioned?"

"Yes, mother, I will try to see if I can make it. If this tofu is made, we will rely on it this winter."

Tofu, soy milk, tofu pudding, bean curd sheets, fermented tofu... a series of products are made in this way. Yao Qingnian decided to start with the simplest ones, soy milk and tofu pudding, and then to tofu.

“Will it be delicious?”

"Of course! Mom, let me tell you, the tofu is white and tender, it's guaranteed to be delicious."