HBWnovel Chapter 83 Oranges grown south of the Huai River are sweet oranges, while those grown north of the H
Chapter 83 Oranges grown south of the Huai River are sweet oranges, while those grown north of the H
Liu Xuewen looked at the yellow, fragrant steamed buns smeared on his hands, wondering what Song Jiaojiao meant. Although the food in front of him looked very appetizing, he, being cautious as always, did not taste it immediately.
Song Jiaojiao ignored Liu Xuewen, who was lost in thought, spread the jam on her, handed it to Manager Liu, and then spread a piece on herself. She had been craving this jam for a long time since she was making it yesterday.
Taking a bite, the rich jam paired with the wheat-scented steamed bun stimulated Song Jiaojiao's taste buds. It was so delicious! She had been here for almost half a year, and finally she could eat the breakfast she had been craving for so long. That's right, breakfast. In her previous life, in order to sleep in a little longer and because of her low salary, she could only buy toast with jam to quickly solve her breakfast problem.
The food she was tired of in her previous life had unexpectedly become Song Jiaojiao's long-cherished obsession.
Song Jiaojiao had almost finished half of her steamed bun, while Manager Liu and Liu Xuewen were still staring blankly at the bun in their hands.
"Eat up! Why aren't you eating? You'll only know if it's good or not after you've tried it," Song Jiaojiao urged, biting into a steamed bun.
Liu Xuewen glanced at Manager Liu, who immediately understood. He then started eating the steamed bun with jam. As soon as he took a bite, he was amazed. He never expected that an ordinary steamed bun would taste so good with this unknown ingredient. However, he believed that this flavor would be more popular with children and women.
Liu Xuewen's eyes lit up when he saw Manager Liu take a bite, which further piqued his curiosity. Seeing that everyone else had eaten and nothing had happened, he took a small bite himself.
Song Jiaojiao looked at his bite, which was smaller than what a child would take. If Song Jiaojiao hadn't spread so much jam on it, he might not have even gotten any jam at all.
Liu Xuewen was unaware of Song Jiaojiao's speechlessness, completely absorbed in the jam. The sweet and sour jam, paired with steamed buns, was incredibly delicious. Steamed buns, which usually felt dry when eaten alone, didn't feel that way at this moment.
Everyone in the capital knew that the owner of Huichuntang was not to be offended, as it was said that his backer was the Empress Dowager. Next to Huichuntang, there was an inconspicuous shop with only the simple words "Pastry Shop" on it, which was also owned by Huichuntang. However, no one knew that the owner of Huichuntang was a person with a sweet tooth, and opened a pastry shop simply to satisfy his own cravings. Perhaps because he was so picky, every pastry in Huichuntang was exceptionally delicious, and gradually its fame spread, inadvertently opening shops all over the Jin Dynasty.
Coming to his senses, Liu Xuewen looked at the smiling Song Jiaojiao across from him and realized that he was probably going to lose his wallet today.
"Ahem! Madam Song, what is in this bamboo jar?" Liu Xuewen coughed twice before voicing his question.
"This is jam, made from apricot pulp. Oh, it's what people here call 'yellow fruit'," Song Jiaojiao kindly explained, though she didn't know the name in other places.
No wonder it tasted familiar; it was apricots! They were cooked until they were so finely chopped; I really hadn't noticed. Liu Xuewen thought to himself.
"I'm sure Madam Song came here today for more than just to let us try this jam." Liu Xuewen couldn't bring himself to eat while talking, so he put the half-eaten steamed bun on the plate in front of him.
"Mr. Liu guessed right. I'm here today to promote my jam. I originally wanted to ask Uncle Liu to introduce me to the owner of the pastry shop next door, but I didn't expect Mr. Liu to be in town." Song Jiaojiao calmly stated the purpose of her visit.
"How much jam does Madam Song have, and how do you plan to sell it?" Liu Xuewen opened his fan and slowly waved it in front of him, a gentle breeze causing his hair to flutter.
"That depends on what Mr. Liu thinks it's worth. My stuff has a really high cost; this jar of jam alone uses a lot of sugar." Song Jiaojiao didn't set a price, passing the buck back to the company, while also mentioning that her costs were quite high.
Liu Xuewen knew that Madam Song was a smart woman, and that her question was just a test. It seemed that he would have to offer a high price today.
"Is this the only way to eat this jam?" If it's only eaten this way, it's not worth much.
"How could that be? There are so many ways to eat it! Take making pastries, for example. You can wrap it inside as a filling, or add jam and steam it to make new flavors of pastries. And so on. If you don't want to eat pastries, you can also use it to make a sweet and sour fruit drink. Especially in the hot summer, just thinking about drinking a glass of iced fruit drink makes you feel refreshed. You can also use it in cooking." Song Jiaojiao listed a whole bunch of ways to use and eat it.
"Cooking? This can be used for cooking?" I can think of making pastries and drinks, but cooking? How do you do it? What kind of dishes?"
"Yes, when it comes to cooking, has Mr. Liu never eaten any sweet dishes?" Song Jiaojiao asked in surprise.
"I have eaten them, but most of them were too sweet and cloying." Liu Xuewen shook his head as he thought of the sweet dishes he had eaten over the years. Even he, a person who loves sweets, couldn't stand the sweetness.
"Doesn't the Great Jin Kingdom have any sour things? Like vinegar, sour fruits or something?" Song Jiaojiao guessed that because they only used sugar, without any sourness to balance it, no decent person could eat it.
"There is a fruit called 'zhi' in the north, which tastes sour and is mostly used as a Chinese medicine." Liu Xuewen thought of a fruit he had seen in the north.
Song Jiaojiao thought to herself, "Isn't this the saying 'oranges grown south of the Huai River are oranges, while those grown north of the Huai River are trifoliate oranges'? So this is also true here. It's a pity that if I planted it in my space, it would probably only grow into an orange."
“Host, not necessarily. As long as the host doesn’t want to change, it generally won’t change.” Flying Tiger’s voice suddenly came out at this moment.
"Really? That's good news," Song Jiaojiao thought to herself.
Liu Xuewen saw Song Jiaojiao looking distressed one moment and beaming the next, and wondered what she was thinking. Could there be something wrong with her?
"Has something come to mind, Madam Song?"
Upon hearing Liu Xuewen's words, Song Jiaojiao quickly regained her composure. "Oh, no, no, I just wanted to ask if Mr. Liu could bring me some trifoliate orange seedlings or seeds next time he goes to the north."
"That's nothing serious, I'll take note. But let's get down to business. After hearing so many ways of eating jam from Madam Song, I won't beat around the bush with you. Here's the deal: no matter how much you have, I'll buy it for 600 coins." Liu Xuewen thought that once this stuff entered the capital, the price would at least increase tenfold.
"Since Mr. Liu is so straightforward, I'll be straightforward too. I have an idea. Soak glutinous rice for an hour, steam it until cooked, add lard and knead until smooth, then wrap jam in the middle like making a bun. I've given it a nice name, Snow Mochi." Song Jiaojiao told Liu Xuedong how to make Snow Mochi, which was all the rage in her previous life.
Liu Xuedong never expected that just by buying Song Jiaojiao's jam, he would get a pastry recipe. Although he had never seen the Snow Mochi that Song Jiaojiao had mentioned, he had a feeling that the pastry shop's reputation would rise even higher this time.