Flowers in full bloom

Pay attention to the peaches on the branches next to the flower buds. Most of the fruits are slightly green with yellow. When you squeeze them gently, they are still hard and not ripe yet. When they are ripe, the skin should be yellow with pink and slightly soft when you pinch them.

Walking slowly towards the southeast slope, the fruits on the branches gradually changed. The green color on the fruits became less and more of a light yellow with fine hairs. In the sunlight, they swayed among the green branches and leaves, which was pleasing to the eye.

When we got there, Uncle Zhao put down his basket, pointed to a small patch of peach trees and said, "Boss, look, aren't the fruits here bigger and riper than the ones we just came up from? Look at the ones on the top of the branches."

The flower bud changed direction in the direction of Uncle Zhao's finger, avoiding the direct sunlight. She squinted her eyes slightly and saw that the fruits hanging on the southward branches of the peach trees were indeed larger than those on the peach trees to the north, and the skin was yellow with a slight pink color, which looked very tempting.

Hualei nodded, "Brother Dahu, go up and pick a few and bring them down for me to see." Dahu chose a good spot and set up a wooden ladder. Uncle Zhao and Xiaoxiao stepped forward, each holding one side. He climbed up the ladder himself, carefully avoiding the low branches and fruits, and picked a few peaches in the general direction that Hualei pointed, then bent down and handed them to Uncle Zhao.

Hualei took a peach from Uncle Zhao and looked at it carefully. The skin was yellow with a little pink. It was a little soft when she pinched it gently. She sniffed it and found that the peach had a slight natural fruity fragrance. She picked a dozen peaches from the branches at the top of several peach trees and found that they were all in the same condition. If she sold them retail, they would still be a little less mature. However, if she wanted to make canned peaches, she should give it a try.

"Okay, Dahu, just pick the ripe ones and we'll take some back." Hualei handed a peach to Dahu and said. "Okay," Dahu carefully put the peaches into the straw-lined basket, turned around, moved the ladder to another place, climbed up, and started picking peaches.

Xiaoxiao still held the wooden ladder, while Uncle Zhao continued to put the picked peaches into the basket below, and Hualei pointed the direction to Dahu. After picking about two and a half baskets, Hualei called for a stop, and the four of them returned to the farm from the other side of the path. At this time, the people in the farm were already waiting for Hualei and the others to eat. Uncle Fu, Luo Xile and Sun Xiaoqun had also arrived at the farm.

After lunch, Hualei asked everyone to take a short break. She also went back to her room to take a nap. After resting, Hualei took Aunt Fu, Aunt Zheng, and Aunt Zhao to try to make canned peaches.

Hualei took a dozen peaches, washed them with clean water, peeled the peaches, removed the pits, cut them into small pieces, put them into an iron pot, put in a certain amount of yellow and white sugar, added water, brought to a boil over high heat, turned down the heat, and continued to cook. After a quarter of an hour, the water in the iron pot became less and less, and the flesh turned from its original yellow and white color to black. Hualei frowned and asked to turn off the heat.

She used a spatula to scoop the pulp into a bowl, picked up the spoon beside her, scooped a small spoonful into her mouth, and it tasted bitter. Hualei spat out the pulp and shook her head at the people who were looking at her. The people beside her tried it one by one and they all felt that the taste was not right.

Hualei poured out the blackened flesh, asked someone to clean the pot again, and took a dozen peaches again, repeating the above process, except that after cutting the flesh into pieces, he soaked it in light salt water for two cups of tea, took it out and put it back into the iron pot, added sugar and water, boiled it, and simmered it on low heat. However, the flesh still turned black, and Hualei took a spoon to try a bite, but it was still bitter and he couldn't swallow it. Is this method wrong?

Or is there something wrong with some step? Hualei frowned. The thumb and index finger of her left hand began to rub against each other unconsciously. People who are familiar with Hualei know that this is a small unconscious action that Hualei will make whenever she encounters a problem.

Aunt Zhao, who was standing nearby, looked at Hualei and said cautiously, "Boss, could it be because of the iron pot? I remember when I was cooking in the kitchen of a previous host, the chef once used an iron pot to stir-fry lotus root slices, and the lotus root slices turned black. Later, he changed to a clay pot, and it worked."

Hualei's eyes lit up. Yes, this was very possible. He took the peach again and began to wash and peel it. Then he replaced the iron pot with a ceramic pot and repeated the above steps. The water in the ceramic pot slowly decreased again, but the flesh did not turn black. Instead, it changed from its original yellow-white color to slightly transparent.

Hualei stopped the fire, put the peach into a bowl, took a spoon and took a bite. Hmm, not bad, this is the taste, but not sweet enough, need to add sugar. Hualei divided the pulp into several small bowls and gave them to Aunt Zhao and the others to taste. "Miss, this is quite delicious. It has the original fruity fragrance of peaches, and it has become soft and sticky. Elderly people with bad teeth can also eat it."

Aunt Fu spoke first. "Yes, I think it's delicious, but isn't it sweet enough? If it's sweeter, will it taste better?" Aunt Zhao put down the spoon in her hand and said. "Well, I think it's not sweet enough either. First, take out all the peaches in the pot, wash the pot again, and then we'll do it again. This time, weigh the peaches with a scale, let's weigh five pounds, and then I'll see how much sugar is needed." Hualei said.

So, I found a small scale, weighed five pounds of peaches, washed and peeled them again, and started a new round of experiments. I also weighed the sugar on the small scale, and used a fixed bowl to take water. Then I weighed the empty bowl first, and then weighed the full bowl. I estimated that the weight of a bowl of water was about eight taels, and then I added a few bowls of water to estimate the amount of water needed. Hualei called Xiaoxiao and asked her to record the amount.

After more than half an hour, the flower buds came to fruition. The ratio of one pound of peaches to two ounces of sugar and five bowls of water was about the right amount of flavor for everyone. The ratio of water can be adjusted based on the ripeness and sweetness of the peaches. Finally, a bowl of the finished canned peaches was given to everyone in the village to try. Everyone thought it was very delicious, mainly because this way of eating was very fresh, especially for children. The slightly transparent peach flesh floated in the slightly yellow sugar water, and the flesh tasted soft, glutinous, and fragrant, with a natural fruity aroma.

The syrup has the taste of peach juice, which is sweet and delicious, and the blend is perfect. Hualei is very happy. Although she has been squatting in the kitchen for the whole afternoon and her back and waist are sore, her hard work has paid off. She has made canned peaches. There is still one half of the peaches left in the half basket. With the other half basket, she will continue to try to make peach jam and peach preserves tomorrow.