Space Farming: Traveling through Ancient Times to Do Business

Jiang Xue nodded slightly and asked softly, "How is the shop doing now?"

Manager Chen quickly replied, "To answer Miss, I saw that this shop would need to hire cooks in the future, so I went to the dental shop and picked a few of them myself."

Jiang Xue raised the corners of her mouth slightly, revealing a faint smile, and praised: "Manager Chen, you did a great job."

After hearing this, Manager Chen was delighted and smiled a little more, but he still bowed modestly and asked, "Does the young lady have any other instructions?"

Jiang Xue thought for a moment and said, "Take them to the kitchen."

After that, she reached out and took out a cloth bag from her bosom, handed it to the butler Chen standing beside her, and instructed: "Take this cloth bag to Jiang's Cloth Shop and ask them to make a thousand of them according to this pattern and see how much silver it will cost."

Manager Chen took the cloth bag, responded, and left.

On a quiet afternoon in Jiang's house, the sunlight shines through the sparse clouds and dapples onto the bluestone slabs in the back kitchen.

Half an hour ago, Manager Chen hurriedly but steadily selected several chefs with superb cooking skills and rich experience from among the many applicants.

At this moment, these lucky ones were standing upright in the spacious and bright kitchen of Jiang's house, and everyone's face showed a complex expression mixed with nervousness and curiosity.

Manager Chen coughed lightly, then pointed to the beautiful girl beside him who was as graceful and elegant as a lotus emerging from the water, and introduced her to everyone, "This is our young lady, and the owner of this mansion—Jiang Xue!"

Hearing this, the cooks lowered their heads and said respectfully in unison: "Greetings, Miss!"

Seeing this, Jiang Xue just nodded slightly to indicate her response. Her beautiful face was covered with a light smile, which made her look dignified and elegant.

Then, she slowly turned around and stared at the group of chefs in front of her with a firm gaze, her eyes flashing with determination and full of expectations, and said slowly: "I plan to officially open for business tomorrow, so we don't have much time to prepare. It can be said that it is quite urgent. Without further ado, let me teach you how to make ice jelly."

As soon as the words fell, the cooks looked at each other in astonishment. They knew almost nothing about ice jelly, but what they never expected was that this young and delicate lady actually knew how to make ice jelly and was even willing to demonstrate and teach them in person.

Jiang Xue said nothing more, she walked to the stone platform and began to demonstrate. She first took out the ingredients that had been prepared long ago, such as brown sugar, crushed peanuts, dried nuts, etc., and placed them one by one on the stone platform.

Next, Jiang Xue took out the soaked pith litchi seeds, which are the key ingredient for her ice jelly. Pith litchi seeds, also known as ice jelly seeds, are the main raw material for making traditional ice jelly. Jiang Xue placed the pith litchi seeds on a clean piece of gauze and rinsed them with clean water, making sure to remove all impurities and residues.

The cooks gathered around curiously, staring at the prickly ash seeds in Jiang Xue's hand with confusion and surprise on their faces. It was the first time for many of them to see this material, let alone use it to make ice jelly.

Jiang Xue smiled and began to explain: "These materials are the key to making ice jelly. We need to soak them in water, then wrap them with gauze, and keep rubbing them in the water to release the pectin substance in the seeds to form the basis of the ice jelly."

As she spoke, she demonstrated by placing the gauze-wrapped Ficus pumila seeds into a large bowl of water and rubbing them gently. As she moved, the clear water gradually became viscous, and a transparent gelatinous substance began to form.

Jiang Xue continued to explain to the chefs: "This process requires certain skills and patience. The strength of kneading should be moderate, neither too hard to damage the structure of the seeds, nor too light to cause insufficient release of pectin. At the same time, we must pay attention to controlling the water temperature to avoid too high or too low a temperature that affects the release of pectin."

The cooks listened with great interest. They came forward to try and began to rub the seeds of the Ficus pumila according to Jiang Xue's instructions. With their efforts, bowls of ice jelly's base liquid gradually took shape.

Next, Jiang Xue began to instruct the cooks on how to prepare the syrup and add ingredients. She first added brown sugar to water, boiled it into syrup, and then poured it into the bowl of ice jelly liquid. Then, she sprinkled peanuts, dried nuts and other ingredients on it, adding a rich taste and color to the ice jelly.

Under Jiang Xue's guidance, the cooks quickly mastered the skills of making ice jelly. They all expressed their willingness to study hard and prepare for the opening of Jiang's house. Jiang Xue also encouraged them with a smile, believing that with their efforts, the opening of Jiang's house would be a success.

Then, Jiang Xue began to prepare the syrup. She poured brown sugar into the pot, added an appropriate amount of water, and slowly boiled it over low heat. As the syrup boiled, a sweet fragrance spread, making people salivate. Jiang Xue stirred the syrup with chopsticks from time to time to ensure that the sugar was fully dissolved.

When the syrup was cooked to perfection, Jiang Xue began to instruct the chefs on how to prepare the syrup and add ingredients.

She first added brown sugar to water, boiled it into syrup, and then poured it into the bowl of ice jelly liquid. Then, she sprinkled peanuts, dried nuts and other ingredients on it, adding rich taste and color to the ice jelly.

The chefs were stunned. They had never thought that the process of making ice jelly could be so simple and yet so sophisticated. They gathered around and carefully observed Jiang Xue's techniques and steps, fearing that they would miss any details.

Jiang Xue patiently guided them, explaining every step in great detail, from selecting ingredients to making the dishes, and finally seasoning them. The chefs listened with great interest, nodding their heads in agreement from time to time.

Under Jiang Xue's guidance, the cooks began to make ice jelly by themselves. They followed Jiang Xue's steps and asked her for advice from time to time. Jiang Xue patiently answered their questions and gave timely suggestions.

After several attempts and adjustments, the chefs finally made ice jelly with good color, aroma and taste. They tasted their own achievements excitedly, with smiles of satisfaction and pride on their faces.

"There is another kind of food below, which will also be open tomorrow." Jiang Xue looked at the chefs in front of her with a smile.

The cooks nodded one after another, curiosity and anticipation flashing in their eyes.

"Next, I will show you how to make cold shrimps." Jiang Xue continued, her tone full of confidence and expectation.

She turned to the prepared ingredients and began to introduce the materials needed to make cold shrimps: "We need rice flour, lime water, brown sugar and some water. Rice flour is the main raw material for making cold shrimps, and lime water plays a role in coagulation."