Flowers in full bloom

Hua Lei found a small clay pot in the kitchen, took it to the well, washed it, then carefully put the flowers into the pot. After tidying it up a little, he placed it on the table in the main room. When he turned around, he saw Aunt Zhao hurriedly coming over from the hillside behind the house with a bamboo basket.

Hua Lei walked forward and saw fifteen or sixteen lemons in the bamboo basket. The peels were still green and yellow. He took one and put it to his nose and smelled a faint fruity fragrance. He took out a few lemons, washed them, and then cut them in half. He squeezed the lemons hard and the juice dripped into the small ceramic bowl.

When about half a bowl of juice had dripped out, Hua Lei asked Aunt Zhao to open the wooden lid on the ceramic jar, take a shovel, pour lemon juice in while stirring the fruit strips. After the lemon juice was fully blended into the juice of the dried peach strips, she put the wooden lid back on and let Aunt Zhao soak for another hour.

An hour later, Hualei opened the wooden lid again, scooped a small spoonful with a spoon, and tasted it. The flesh was sweet and sour, with a strong fruity flavor, much better than the simple sweetness just now. It was sweet with sourness, but the sourness felt like it was just floating on the surface. It was probably because the lemon juice was put in for too short a time and did not soak through the dried fruit.

Hualei nodded and said, "Aunt Zhao, divide these into three parts. Drain the water from one part, spread it out on a clean bamboo plate, and put it under the sun to dry. Make sure to shake the bamboo plate a few times after one side is dried to turn the flesh over so that it can be dried evenly.

Let the other two portions soak, and then check again in two hours." "Okay," Aunt Zhao found Aunt Zheng and others to start drying the peach candied fruits. In two hollow bamboo plates, the peach pulp was spread out in strips to be baptized by the sun.

Hualei came out from time to time to check the dryness of the preserved fruits. After tossing around for an afternoon, the preserved fruits finally wilted under the sun. Hualei tried them and found that they were okay. The dried fruits were very tough and sweet with a slight sourness. It might be better if the acidity was increased. I guess I have to dry them in the sun for half a day tomorrow.

Then the remaining preserved fruits and flower buds in the pottery jar were divided into two parts, one was placed in a bamboo plate to dry, and the other was continued to soak. After drying for a whole morning on the second day, the first batch of peach preserved fruits was finally completed. The taste was good except that it was not sour enough, which is suitable for people who don't like sour food.

Hualei asked Aunt Zhao to find a few small jars without water or oil, sealed the dried peach preserves, and marked the date on the bottom of the cans. She also wrote a circled Arabic numeral 1 next to the date and put it in the kitchen cupboard.

Hua Lei went to look at the remaining preserved fruits in the ceramic jar. After tasting them, she found that they had the right amount of sweetness and sourness. Then she put the pulp and juice directly into clean, oil-free and water-free cans, with the pulp as the main ingredient and about half a bottle of juice. She pressed it slightly, sealed it with a lid, and also marked the date on the bottom of the jar, and wrote a circled Arabic numeral 2 after the date.

This is the honey preserved fruit, which tastes completely different from the dried preserved fruit. One is very tough, sour and sweet, suitable for people with good teeth, and the other is soft, sour and sweet, smooth in the mouth, and can also be eaten by people with bad teeth.

By the evening, the second batch of sun-dried peaches were ready to be canned and sealed. They were more sour than the first batch, but not as sour as the honey peaches. The buds were also marked with the date, but this time the Arabic numeral 3 was written at the end.

At night, when everyone in the manor was present, Hualei took out three batches of peach preserves and asked everyone to taste them to see which one was more popular. The result was that the popularity of the three kinds of preserves was almost the same.

Hualei herself prefers honey preserved fruit. She prefers the ones with a little juice, which feel more moisturizing. She doesn't like the dry ones, which make her cheeks sore. After tasting, Hualei went back to her room and carefully recorded the production process of the three kinds of preserved fruit, including the soaking time of each kind of preserved fruit and their respective tastes, as well as everyone's comments. Then she reorganized the production points and proportions of sugar peaches, peach jam, and the three kinds of peach preserved fruit.

The next day, she and her female relatives strictly followed the ratio she had recorded and used the measured peaches to start making each dish. She wanted to see the weight of each finished product so that she could calculate the cost and the selling price. In the morning, the first batch of jars that were ordered were delivered, 20 of each, and the newly bought ceramic pots were also delivered.

After each product was completed, two days had passed. Hualei asked Aunt Zhao to bring Aunt Zheng and others to continue making some every day according to her recipe, while she took Aunt Fu and Xiaoxiao back to her house in Qingyun Lane with the finished products. When she showed the prepared candied peaches and jams to everyone for tasting, she received a lot of praise.

Seeing that the time was almost up, she asked Uncle Fu to take her to the back door of the mansion, called Qingying and a few others over, and put the candied peaches, preserved fruits and jams on the mule cart to the Qihua Courtyard first. She then divided them roughly according to the number of rooms and delivered them to each room in the mansion. She then took Qingying and Qinglian, the candied peaches, preserved fruits and jams to the Songhe Courtyard, and asked Old Madam Pei to try them and give her advice.

Old Madam Pei looked at the candied peach flesh in the bowl. The tender yellow pieces of peach flesh floated in the slightly yellow syrup. She took a spoon and scooped a mouthful. The slightly sweet syrup had a natural fruity aroma. The originally hard peaches were now very soft. It was sweet but not greasy and very delicious.

Madam Pei nodded. Because of her old age and bad teeth, she seldom ate peaches. The seeds of her own peaches were hard and difficult to digest. However, this candied peach was soft, fragrant and delicious. It was a new way to eat it. It was very unique. If the aristocratic family held a flower viewing banquet or something, it would be very good to use it to entertain guests.

I also tried the preserved fruits and jams. I felt the preserved fruits were just so-so. Nowadays, many wealthy families sometimes make their own candied fruits. Although Hualei’s peach preserved fruits have both sour and sweet, salty and sweet tastes, and are slightly different from what we usually eat, they are nothing new.

The jam has a strong flavor, sweet and slightly sour. It should be very good if it is spread on cakes or something. After trying several, Mrs. Pei's favorite is peach syrup.

Hualei listened carefully to Madam Pei's advice and had a rough idea in her mind. She took Qingying and the others back to Qihuayuan. After dinner, she checked Xiaoyuan's recent homework and found no mistakes. She let Xiaoyuan do the homework by herself, and asked Qingying and Qinglian to help.

I took a large bathtub to the room, washed my hair thoroughly and took a bath. I had been busy on the farm until very late these days and had only washed myself briefly. I always felt that it was not clean enough. Now that I came back to take a bath, all the fatigue of the past few days disappeared.

The next day, he sent a message to Uncle Fu, asking him to go to the farm and pass on a message. Then he would slowly make the recipe according to the ripeness of the peaches, making more candied peaches and jam, and less preserved fruits.