Chapter 57 - Making Dried Vegetables
Chapter 57: Making Dried Vegetables
Mother Xiao didn’t know what to do with the giant vegetables that had appeared in the backyard overnight. She didn’t dare to let others know about it, much less give them away.
However, the Xiao Family couldn’t finish the vegetables either.
In the end, the Xiao Family decided that they would eat as much as they could and preserve the rest. Those that couldn’t be preserved would be used as feed for the pigs and chickens. Thankfully, their family had raised some pigs, cows, chickens, and ducks.
The Xiao family had a very large breakfast. After breakfast, Xiao Lingye wiped his mouth, and he burped with satisfaction. “That is the best vegetables I’ve ever had. I have no idea cabbage can be so tasty!” That was rare from the kid who didn’t like to eat vegetables since he was young. However, the harvested giant vegetables were too delicious. They tasted better than meat.
The others agreed with Xiao Lingye.
“I have never eaten such delicious vegetables before too,” Father Xiao concurred.
Xiao Lingye joked, “Mom, is it possible that some immortal god passed by our backyard and sprinkled some magical water so our crops could grow so big and delicious?”
“Pfft!” Xiao Lingyu spat out the water when she heard that. Then, she started to cough as she had choked on the water.
Xiao Lingye immediately asked with concern, “Sis, are you alright?”
Xiao Lingyu waved her hand and said, “I’m fine, I’m fine!”
‘The rascal almost got it right!’
Even though the vegetables were not watered by any God, they were indeed given magical water. So basically, Xiao Lingyu was the God.
Mother Xiao looked at the big vegetables collected at the corner. She sighed. “It’ll be such a pity to feed these wonderful vegetables to the livestock.”
After all, this was probably a one-time miracle. It was unlikely that they’d have the chance to enjoy such delicacy again.
Father Xiao and Brother Xiao frowned hearing Mother Xiao. It was indeed a waste that such wonderful vegetables would be used as animal feed.
However, they couldn’t finish the vegetables. If they left them there, they would just rot.
A moment later, Xiao Lingye suggested, “Mom, how about we dry these vegetables? If they retain their deliciousness after being dried, I’m willing to eat steamed buns and pickled vegetables every day!”
The idea was feasible.
Mother Xiao nodded and said, “Alright!”
Xiao Lingyu wanted to stop her mother, but she held herself back at the last moment. This harvest was indeed one of a kind. In the future, she would experiment with different ratios of spring water and normal water. So future harvests might not be as delicious as the first one.
Unless, of course, she had a space where she could plant these vegetables in private…
At that moment, Xiao Lingyu had a flash of inspiration. She had a special farming space!
She could try planting vegetables there. Xiao Lingyu immediately asked her mother, “Mom, do we still have any vegetable seeds left?”
Mother Xiao asked doubtfully, “Yes, we do. Yu ‘Er, do you want to plant some?”
Xiao Lingyu nodded. “That’s right, Mom.” She wanted to try and see what would happen when she planted the seeds in the magical space.
Mother Xiao nodded. “Sure. What kind of seeds do you need? I’ll go look.”
“I’ll take some of everything.”
“Okay!” Mother Xiao obliged.
After Mother Xiao left, Xiao Lingye whispered, “Sis, you’re really planning to be a farmer?”
Xiao Lingyu nodded. “Yes.”
Xiao Lingye sighed with regret. “Sis, I thought you were joking.”
Xiao Lingyu tapped her younger brother’s head. “Why would you think that? You’d think I would joke about something like that?”
Xiao Lingye nodded. “Of course!”
Xiao Lingyu, “…”
Xiao Lingyu rolled her eyes at her brother and said nothing more. Soon, Mother Xiao returned with all the seeds she could find. She spread them before Xiao Lingyu. “These are all the seeds we have. See if you need anything else.”
Xiao Lingyu studied the seeds. There were spinach, eggplant, tomato, chili, and cabbage. They were in plantable season.
Xiao Lingyu said, “These are good.”
After that, Xiao Lingyu helped clean up the table. Mother Xiao grabbed the knife to prepare the vegetables into dried vegetables. Mother Xiao moved fast because if people came and saw the large vegetables, it would be hard to explain.
Father Xiao went to work in the field. Xiao Lingye returned to his room to study. He was in his third year of high school. It was the most crucial year.
After Xiao Lingyu washed the dishes, she grabbed the seeds and went to the backyard. She sowed some seeds. Then she took out the diluted spring water she prepared earlier. She selected a few plants and watered them.
Then she returned to the space to prepare another bottle of water. She used a different dilution ratio and chose another set of plants.
She repeated this until she was satisfied with the experimental setups.
After that, Xiao Lingyu went to the front yard to help Mother Xiao dry the vegetables. Xiao Lingyu chose two of each type of vegetable to water yesterday.
Therefore, there were two large cabbages, two large celeries, two large corianders, two large leeks, two large garlic, and two large chives.
Large corianders and large leeks weren’t that large in comparison to other vegetables so the Xiao Family could finish them. The large celeries had a long shelf life. The large garlic could be used to make dumplings.
When Xiao Lingyu arrived, Mother Xiao was breaking off the cabbage leaves one by one. She broke them off and left them on the bamboo pole to dry. After the water dried out, the vegetables would be chopped into smaller pieces.
The chopped vegetables would be placed on clean ground or bamboo nets. They would be exposed to the sun. They were ready to be stored when they made this rustling sound as one ran their hands through the leaves.
The dried vegetables were countryside delicacies. They were used in stir-fries and making pork cutlets.
When Mother Xiao saw Xiao Lingyu, she instructed, “Go and break up that other cabbage. Wash it and take it out to the sun.”
Xiao Lingyu nodded. The cabbage was large, but the leaves were fragile. They broke apart easily.
Xiao Lingyu helped out on the farm before she went to university, so the familiarity came back to her quickly.
Xiao Lingyu washed the vegetables, strung them up with straw, and put them on a bamboo pole to dry.