Space Food Storage: Daily Travel

Yang Zhi, Yang Rong, Liu Guang, Liu Lu, Xiao Si and Xiao Wu have been in school for several days.

On the day of their interview, they were taken there by the two elders, Liu and Yang Nianhua.

Because they had a certain foundation, the interviews went smoothly and the village head and his son were very satisfied with them.

Yang Zhi was naturally assigned to Class A. Liu Guang, Liu Lu and Yang Rong had already memorized the enlightenment books and were assigned to Class B. Xiao Si and Xiao Wu were assigned to Class C.

The two elders, Yang Nianhua, and others prepared a tuition fee of two taels of silver a year, and they had to provide their own writing materials.

We ate lunch in the school hall, which cost eight wen a day. We had two days off every fifteenth day of the lunar month, and of course we also had days off for busy farming seasons and holidays.

Liu Mang also wanted to ask his own son Liu Liang and his brother's son Liu Shui to go to school. These two children had learned some enlightenment books from Liu Guang and others.

But if both of them go to school for a year, it will cost four taels, including the pens, ink, paper, inkstone and lunch, which would be at least five taels.

There was no other way, he had to wait until his family made some money. His uncle actually asked him if he wanted to send his two children to school, and he wanted to help lend them some money first.

Liu Mang was reluctant, saying, "Let's wait until the family finds a job and earns some money before we talk about it. Even if someone is close to you, you can't always rely on them, right? You have to work hard yourself."

Liu Yuhan still respects the village chief uncle very much.

My aunt and uncle were planning to reopen a noodle shop in town, so the village elder's family could also try other businesses, like making tofu. Soybeans in town were five cents a pound, so maybe they'd be even cheaper in the county.

Tofu contains numerous essential trace elements and high-quality protein, earning it the nickname "plant-based meat." Its digestibility is over 95%. According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, tofu is sweet and cooling, benefiting the spleen, stomach, and large intestine meridians. It has the benefits of clearing heat, moistening dryness, detoxifying, tonifying the middle, promoting salivation, and relaxing the intestines.

Traditional Chinese medicine often uses tofu's heat-clearing, detoxifying and body-stimulating effects to treat gastrointestinal heat and yin syndromes. Tofu is not only rich in protein, but also contains a variety of minerals, fat-soluble vitamins, etc., and is a nutritious food.

Tofu contains magnesium, which has the effect of dilating blood vessels and increasing vascular tension. Therefore, eating tofu can help lower blood pressure. The lecithin content in tofu is also considerable. Lecithin is a substance that can maintain the normal metabolism and operation of brain cells. Therefore, eating tofu can increase brain activity, enhance memory and intelligence, and effectively prevent Alzheimer's disease.

One pound of soybeans can produce 3-5 pounds of tofu. Making tofu is not difficult. All you need is the raw materials, a stone mill, and some brine.

The brine for tofu can be either brine or gypsum. Brine is commonly used in the north, while gypsum is more common in the south. Brine tofu is softer and more tender, while gypsum tofu is firmer.

Practice makes perfect. After a few experiments, you will know how much brine to use to make the best tofu. Tofu is delicious and nutritious, and it can also be made into dried tofu and sold, which keeps longer.

They started right away, taking advantage of the fact that the crops had just been planted and the rice seeds had just been sown, so they still had some spare time. If the tofu was good and sold well, the villagers could plant more soybeans in their sandy fields.

Liu Shinan drove a horse-drawn carriage to the county town, bought a stone mill, and went to the pharmacy to buy gypsum. He washed the 10 kilograms of soybeans in the space and soaked them overnight.

The next morning, Liu Mang and his wife were called in. They ground soybeans with water in a certain proportion using a stone mill. The stone mill they bought was medium-sized, but a bit heavy.

The Liu brothers took turns grinding the mill. They boiled water in advance and used a large wooden basin to thoroughly mix the ground soybeans with the hot water. They then diluted the slurry with boiling water at a ratio of 1:2. They poured the diluted slurry into a wide, fine cotton cloth and squeezed it vigorously. The resulting water was the soy milk.

The remaining residue is tofu dregs. Tofu dregs can be made into tofu dregs cakes, which are also very delicious, and can also be fed to pigs and chickens.

The filtered soy milk is put back into the stove and boiled. It should be noted that if you want to drink soy milk, the water must be boiled, otherwise it will be slightly toxic.

Soy milk can be cooked over low heat. Once a layer of soybean oil skin forms on the surface, you can remove the firewood and rice.

Let the mixture cool to 70-80 degrees Celsius. Add the appropriate amount of gypsum brine to the mixture with clean water, then pour in the soy milk and gently shake it. Mix the brine and soy milk thoroughly. After about 25 minutes, the tofu will solidify.

Put the solidified tofu into the wooden tofu trough while it is still hot, and scoop the tofu evenly into the mold box.

Place clean cotton cloth in the box in advance, scoop the tofu in, wrap it flat with the cotton cloth, and place a flat wooden board on top. Press two clean stones to squeeze out the moisture from the tofu. In about an hour, the tofu will be tender and refreshing.

The brine Liu Yuhan made was made from the raw gypsum that Liu Shinan bought from the pharmacy. The raw gypsum was fried over low heat until it lost water and turned into cooked gypsum. The cooked gypsum was then crushed into powder and mixed with clean water to make the gypsum brine.

Making tofu requires skill. Generally, 15 grams of gypsum is needed for one pound of tofu. The specific amount used should be determined based on factors such as weather changes, water quality, soy milk temperature and concentration, and the taste requirements of the tofu.

The Liu family watched the entire process, and Liu Mang and his wife also carefully observed each step. His uncle said that if it was feasible, it could be turned into a profitable business in the future.

It was noon, and Liu Yuhan had already cut some tender tofu and cooked tofu and vegetable soup, and braised tofu with lean meat. Everyone had a bowl of tofu and vegetable soup, and he asked everyone to taste it.

(⊙o⊙) Wow, this is so smooth, I accidentally swallowed it in one slurp! It literally melts in your mouth.

Lean meat braised tofu, lean meat and fragrant tofu are also delicious. Eat them with rice, it's delicious.

The two elders praised the tofu highly. Their teeth were a little loose, and the tofu was just what they wanted.

The eyes of Liu Mang and his wife lit up. This, this, this is too good to be true. It will definitely be a good business to make a living with it! The old man said that if they were asked to do this business, they could do it and they must do it!

After lunch, Yan asked Liu Yuhan in detail about the details of making tofu and the techniques of making brine, and planned to soak soybeans tonight and try it tomorrow morning.

Liu Mang decided on the spot to use all the remaining sandy fields in his home to grow soybeans!

He had heard from his eldest niece that tofu could be made into dried tofu and sold, and that it could be kept for a long time. This was a good business.

He plans to practice with his wife tomorrow morning, and then sell it in town after it's done. He'll see how the business goes before discussing the profit sharing with the old man's family.

The business must be done together. Even if the uncle's family doesn't participate, they must give their share. This tofu was invented by their family. This is the "secret recipe." The uncle's family just gave them the "secret recipe"! Liu Mang was grateful.

Through the repeated efforts of Liu Mang and Liu Zhuang, they finally made delicious tofu.

I plan to sell them in Yukou Town on market day tomorrow. Yukou Town has a market on the 25th and 28th day, so there will be a lot of people going to the market on this day.

Liu Yuhan gave them some small suggestions. They could cut the tofu into small pieces and fry them, and then give a taste to the onlookers first. Only after they have tasted the flavor can they talk about the benefits of eating tofu, and that would be more effective.

A pound of soybeans costs five cents, and can produce 3 to 5 pounds. The labor cost should be at least 10 cents per pound. Assuming that a pound of soybeans can produce 4 pounds, a pound of tofu should be sold for at least five cents per pound.

In addition, tofu dregs can be made into bean dreg cakes and sold at a price of about 3 wen per pound of bean dreg cakes. So a pound of soybeans can earn about wen.

10 catties is 130 wen. If you make 40 catties of soybeans a day, you will make a net profit of 520 wen. 160 catties of tofu can be consumed by an entire town.