A Single Mother's Farm of the Gods
Chapter 294: The First Artisan Goods Recipes [I]

Chapter 294: The First Artisan Goods Recipes [I]

Artisan goods.

A product that people make from various ingredients that either takes time or resources to create and they are usually created via hand or through various machines that can ease the process of creating the product.

Because artisan goods vary due to the nature of the ingredients being used, some are good only if they sit for many years, while some need only a few days to be usable, and some are possible to be consumed the moment these goods are created. The possibilities are endless as long as the ingredients that are being used vary from one another.

And right now, Elaina is going to be learning to make some artisan goods from the Feys using the ingredients that Elaina just harvested for the first time. The Apples. According to the Feys, they will be teaching Elaina at night so that the other artisan goods they made will start their fermentation progress tomorrow.

"Hello boss, hope we are not disturbing you at this time," Poe arrived first followed by her two children carrying a crate of apples.

"Not at all. I should be grateful that you guys are sacrificing your time to teach me even though it was tiresome work earlier this morning," Elaina said smiling while carrying a few storage casks that she had asked Jacob to make not too long ago when she wanted to start a vineyard. According to the Feys, they needed some of these casks to create one of the artisan goods they needed to make. She still didn’t know what it was but she was excited to learn the recipe for this one.

Then, Bam arrived, carrying a small machine. Elaina immediately helped Bam carry and put the machine on the table. Based on how it looks, the machine Bam carried seems to resemble a pressing machine. She is not sure though, but it looks like one, just a little bit smaller.

"It’s been a while since we have used this bad boy here. Kinda sad at first that I might not be using it anymore but little did I know that we would have the chance to use it and give it a good work to do."

"Father, what is this?" Ram asked, pointing over at the machine that Bam carried.

"Ah, this was the pressing machine that would allow us to squeeze the juices of the apple so that we can use it for our apple wine. This will be a fine way of creating a delicacy that we have been doing back when we are still wandering around."

Apple wine. Elaina have tasted one before and it is a bit different from regular wine made from grapes. Although different, it is still quite strong and can make someone drunk if they drink a lot of it. She liked it but not to the point that she would like to keep on drinking it. For her, regular wine is still the best.

"We still have some leftover wine yeast we can use to make the apple wine so that it will turn into a wine and not a hard cider. We could make some hard cider as well, but with the amount of apples we have, this will not be enough to create another cask full so we shall just remain with the apple wine for now."

Elaina nodded from all the words that Bam was saying as she still has no idea what is going on. She is completely new to all of this but she wanted to follow and learn.

Poe divided the apples they have and separated the apples that they will be using for the apple wine. And the other apples that was not used seems to be used for another purpose.

"What about these apples? I thought that we would be making apple wine?"

"We will also be making some apple jams as well. Since we will be fermenting the apple wine for quite some time, something we can immediately consume and use for daily life would be a better deal. And I must say, we should create some apple jam with this. And since there would be some leftovers after these, we can create some apple pie tomorrow. With how much apples we have, an apple pie for snacks tomorrow would surely make everyone happy," Poe explained.

"Alright, time is wasting. Let’s get started! Boss! Follow my instructions and lets get into it!"

"I am looking forward to this! Take care of me!" Elaina is enthusiastic. Considering that the recipes she knows are something that is very simple, cooking something else that are not part of what she usually cooks makes her excited.

And so, the group started their job. Elaina’s task is to slice the apples into two so that it will be easier for the pressing machine to squeeze out the juices of the apple flesh. Bam would do the pressing task and his way of doing it is showing his experience with the machine. He wasn’t just exaggerating when he said he has used it for years, he was really efficient with it.

Elaina was about to throw away the apple mush that was left over after the squeezing process when Poe stopped her.

"Boss, don’t throw that away! We can still use that for something!"

"Eh? But there’s nothing much in here after it was juiced up," Elaina was surprised.

"Just gather it up here in this container, Boss. It’s a waste to throw this away, we can still cook something for it."

Elaina has no idea how it works but since she is not the one who knows the recipes, she followed the one who is more knowledgeable.

Since they are only making one cask of apple wine, it didn’t take long for them to fill the whole cask with the squeezed juice of apple inside it.

"Whew, that was a tough work. How about it boss, it looks great, yes?"

Elaina nodded as she looked at the squeezed juice on the cask. It is looking brown after the squeezing processed was done which is unlike most of the apple wine she have tasted before. They do still look brown, but they are clear, compared to what she was seeing right now which is a bit murky.

"Doesn’t look like the apple wine you usually see, yes? That’s because it wasn’t fermented yet. Once we ferment the apple wine, this will become clear and the murkiness we are seeing will disappear, and it will become the known Apple Wine that we know. But first, we should put some sugar. This will help in creating an apple wine instead of just regular hard cider. Without sugar, all we will be making would be a hard cider so you shouldn’t forget about it."

Elaina also prepared sugar so once they have sugar ready, Bam poured a lot of it.

"Since we are using a wine cask to store the apple wine, we will need a lot of sugar. It would have been fine if it wasn’t these much but since we are making a lot, we need a lot of sugar as well."

After the process, Bam pulled out the wine yeast he had with him and sprinkle it on top of the apple juice.

"This should help the fermentation a bit before we sift the sediments later to help this clear the wine and remove the impurities that are included in the wine. Now, let’s cover this and we will wait for a few days before we sift off the sediments and let it continue to ferment. And that should do it!"

Elaina was surprised. The process was a bit tedious but it didn’t take too long than she thought.

"Already?"

"The process is done. All we needed to do next just the waiting game. The longer we let this one sit, the better the taste."

After the process, Bam passed Elaina to his wife, Poe who is already preparing the apple mush that was leftovers after the process of squeezing the apple juice was done. They have squeezed a lot of apples but the apple mush that was left behind wasn’t that much after it has been dried with its liquids.

"What are we going to do with these?" Elaina asked.

"We could use it for baking purposes and making it a filling but since we won’t be doing that, we should instead make apple sauce. And considering that this is already a mushy apple, we don’t need to squash it to make the sauce mushy. We just needed to combine it with its components and let it do its work."

Poe prepared the saucepan while Elaina and the children gather the ingredients. Poe first put water on the saucepan, before she mixed the apple mush to the water. She then added some sugar and a little bit of cinnamon before she started mixing the whole thing. It doesn’t look that much and it was just the apple mush floating on the water with the sugar and the cinnamon being mixed in.

"Boss, you do the mixing. You don’t need to do anything, just mix the whole thing until everything gets mixed together. You will know it if it is done."

Elaina nodded and she started mixing the combination using the laddle while Poe controlled the fire.

"Although it won’t be as tasty as the unsqueezed apple, the apple sauce we are making would still be a good dish we made without wasting a single thing from the apple."

It didn’t take long for the mixture on the saucepan to mix together and become mushy. The smell of cinnamon and the faint smell of apple smells great as well and soon, Elaina is slowly seeing the apple sauce that she have seen most of the time. The dish was so simple and yet, she was not expecting to see it like this, especially since they used the squeezed apple flesh to make the apple sauce.