Rebirth: Living in Wilderness with My Superpower
Chapter 372: Making Jam

Chapter 372: Chapter 372: Making Jam

"Eh???" The children looked at the sugar in their hands with surprise.

They had last tasted it during the Spring Festival three years ago.

Back then, the peddler uncle had come to the village to sell, everyone was happily scrambling for the candy, but ever since the peddler uncle was also conscripted, it had been a long time since anyone had brought anything to sell, and they hadn’t tasted candied sugar since.

"Brother... can we eat it?" The children blinked their eyes eagerly.

"Go ahead, it’s just a few pieces of candy," Li Wenli said generously, waving his hand.

The children then seriously bowed to thank Li Wenli and happily went out.

Xiao Shan and Bai Lingyu also had a piece of candy each, they ate it while following the children to the back of the village to look for wild vegetables. The laughter and chatter of the children lingered in this area for a long time.

At this moment, Li Wenli also took out the candy in his hand for the three people outside to share.

Candied sugar is first made by drying and grinding plant malt, then used to sweeten steamed rice and wheat, and finally, it is filtered and simmered into candy.

It is also known as malt sugar in later generations.

This type of sugar is soft when hot and hardens once cooled.

As for the cane sugar lump, its production method is simple as it’s made by squeezing juice out of sugar cane and directly boiling and drying it.

It is said that white sugar in later generations is also refined from sugar cane, but some chemicals need to be added during the process to turn it into granulated sugar.

In ancient times, this recipe wasn’t feasible, but having any form of sugar was already great.

Whether it was candied sugar or cane sugar lump, these techniques had been introduced more than a thousand years ago, and the methods of making them were no secret.

But knowing how to make them and having them are two different things.

After all, one needed years of abundant grain harvests to do this.

In these times, it was already good enough to just be able to make ends meet and pay taxes, let alone think about simmering and refining sugar.

This candied sugar and cane sugar lump must be the hoarded goods of Zhao Family Village, which shows that this place was quite wealthy.

In the Eastern Land, there were many villages like this, but now they were probably all nests of bandits.

Upon thinking this, Bai Junjun suddenly felt that becoming Village chivalrous knight was quite worth it. Although the bounty wasn’t much, they could raid the bandits’ homes.

This way, wouldn’t all the food and drink be hers to claim?

Then what would they have to worry about on their journey regarding hunger?

She might not even need to use her Special Ability to farm; instead, she could just live on the food provided by her neighbors... well, not exactly from robbery.

With a piece of cane sugar lump in her mouth, Bai Junjun felt more and more delighted by her thoughts.

Before Bai Junjun could daydream any longer, it was time to start making the watermelon fruit preserve.

This time, the lead chef changed from Bai Sasa to Li Wenli.

Li Wenli first started the stove, then put the watermelon in it to slowly stir-fry.

While stir-frying, he occasionally added a piece of cane sugar lump; the watermelon juice slowly permeated and melted the cane sugar lumps. Before long, the chunks of watermelon softened and gradually lost their shape, completely melting into a thick sauce.

Bai Junjun’s wooden jar was also ready. As soon as Li Wenli finished cooking and poured it in, she immediately sealed it.

The ordinary screw top could only fit relatively well, but Bai Junjun’s was different; it was controlled by her Special Ability to ensure growth, acting like a natural seal. Once sealed, barely any air could get in, allowing the contents to be preserved longer.

For ancient times without preservatives, this was equivalent to having a Divine Artifact.

At least Li Wenli was thoroughly impressed by this technique. If possible, he also wished he could develop a Wood-series Ability and become a happy, free carpenter.