She Became A Downfall Noble Lady
Chapter 280 - 279: The Taste of Fermented Cheese

Chapter 280: Chapter 279: The Taste of Fermented Cheese

The early winter climate was clear and mild this year, nothing like the icy chill Ye Xinyan felt when she escaped from the Duke’s Mansion at the end of last year.

Because the fermentation workshop of the Dairy Products Store was built with a semi-underground structure, it still had a few strands of warmth even in this season. However, when the severe winter set in, the workshop probably wouldn’t be able to retain its warmth anymore. Fortunately, the workshop was equipped with a stove wall, so they could light a fire to keep warm during the cold winter season.

Ye Xinyan thought that they would have to go through a winter and a summer, combining the cheese fermented in the family cellar, before they could decide whether the fermentation workshop was more suitable for a cellar or a conventional workshop. If the cellar proved to be more appropriate for fermentation, they would build a larger one next year, specifically for fermenting cheese.

Ye Xinyan and Zhang Baokui chose three small pieces of test cheese, each marked with different dates. When Zhang Baokui picked up these pieces of cheese, his eyes were full of eagerness and reluctance, as if he was parting with a piece of his heart.

Two days earlier, they had selected two pieces of test cheese from both the family cellar and the fermentation workshop and tried their taste and quality.

For Ye Xinyan, whether it was fresh cheese or purely fermented cheese, it wasn’t something new. Even though fermented cheese was expensive, she had indeed tasted it many times. Aside from a few peculiarly pricey cheeses with odd flavors, she liked the rest.

But for the people of this era, consuming purely fermented cheese was quite a challenging endeavor. Ye Xinyan felt it could compete with eating durians or deep-fried stinky tofu. Of course, within such a short period, Ye Xinyan couldn’t produce cheese with an exceptionally unique taste, so the difficulty of this challenge was much reduced.

Cheese, to those who were just starting to eat it, was a rich and strong-flavored food, even if they liked it. Therefore, for the first time they tried it, Ye Xinyan introduced the cheese as part of a Chinese-style burger, one for each person, all in small portions, each burger less than three inches in diameter. The burger, with a patty, cheese, and thin roasted potato shreds sandwiched between two slices of bread, was served as part of the main meal on the dining table.

At dinner, in addition to this cheeseburger, the other dishes and main courses were the same as usual, all typical Chinese farmhouse meals.

The fermented cheese was the first experimental product that the Dairy Products Store focused on introducing, and with Ye Xinyan’s continuous promotion, everyone’s anticipation for the cheese was imaginable.

The first one to take a bite of the burger, naturally, was the head of the family, Qi Younian. Qi Younian bit into the burger full of expectation, carefully savored and chewed it, and then, unconsciously, he stopped chewing and looked at Ye Xinyan with confusion in his eyes.

Was this the fermented cheese that Ye Zi highly praised?

When the cheese was unwrapped and sliced, Ye Xinyan tasted a small piece. There was no problem; it was that taste. So, seeing Qi Younian’s confusion, she just smiled and said, "Grandfather, eat slowly. The taste is fine, it’s just that the habit of eating needs to be adapted to."

With that, she picked up her own burger and took a big bite, then slowly chewed it, savoring the rich and creamy taste with great enjoyment. Yes, that was the taste. The first time might feel unusual, but the second time you’d find it more acceptable, and after that, you’d find yourself liking and missing it, and eventually endorsing it.

Once accustomed to it, the affluent nobles of the Great Xia Dynasty would consider cheese an indispensable high-end ingredient in their kitchens, turning fermented cheese into a symbol of prestige for a family.

The delight of the flavor in her mouth combined with the anticipation of the future market made Ye Xinyan’s expression while eating the cheeseburger incredibly rich and intoxicated.

Qi Jiaer looked at his grandfather’s conflicted expression and then at his sister, who was indulging in pleasure. As the third person in the whole world to eat fermented cheese, he picked up the burger and took a big bite, chewing it with the same expression as Ye Xinyan’s.

Then, Qi Jiaer’s intoxicated expression gradually became natural. After swallowing, he immediately took another bite, eating it with evident relish, while at this time, Qi Younian and Ye Xinyan still hadn’t swallowed their first bites of the burger.

Ye Xinyan watched Qi Jiaer with a smile, indeed, children have a remarkable capacity for acceptance, always able to fall in love with these Western pastries on the first try.

The other people at the table also began eating, and while their expressions varied, the common sentiment was that the ingredient was nothing special.

Ye Xinyan made several of these burgers and also took the opportunity to send one to each of the stewards and the permanent junior workers while they were still hot.

After everyone at home had tried the burgers, they began their proper meal. While eating, Cheung Wusi asked Ye Xinyan, "Ye Zi, is this what you called a precious ingredient? It has a strange taste to me, not nearly as delicious as the previous cheese meatballs."

Ye Xinyan laughed and said, "Perhaps it’s because it’s your first time eating it and you’re not used to it after a long-standing dietary habit. After a few more tries, Grandfather Cheung will probably start to like this flavor. Just like Qi Jiaer, who’s the youngest and doesn’t have long-established food preferences, so he’s more receptive to this layered bread."

She asked Qi Jia, "Jiajia, do you think this cheese-stuffed bread is tasty?"

Qi Jiaer, with his cheeks still puffed out from chewing meat, hastily nodded, quickly swallowed the food in his mouth, and said, "Delicious, it’s very tasty. It’s different from the flavor of the cheese meatballs, but both are delicious in different ways."

Qi Younian continued, "I am also not accustomed to this cheese. However, as I ate more, it started to feel better than at first, with a rich taste that the meatball’s cheese doesn’t have."

Ye Xinyan replied, "Grandfather is impressive, as that rich taste is exactly what I was aiming for. Ah Qiao, what do you think?"

Wong Qiao smiled and said, "I also feel it’s not as tasty as the meatballs’ flavor. But since Ye Zi praises it so highly, it deserves a few more tries before settling on a verdict."

Overall, the first tasting of cheese was quite disappointing, especially for the stewards and the junior workers to whom it was sent, with reactions that could be described as abysmal. Some even opened the bread to discard the soft, slippery cheese inside before they started to enjoy their meal. In their words, it would be a shame to let such good bread and meat be spoiled by that stuff.

Ye Xinyan, hearing Zhang Baokui recount this with a red face, merely smiled triumphantly, pleased with the outcome. If the workers in her home could only watch enviously as the master and stewards enjoyed the delicacies from the store, Ye Xinyan would feel uneasy. But if they didn’t like it, that was another story altogether.

Well..., she seemed to have a bit of a darker side.

The key issue was..., Ye Xinyan asked Zhang Baokui, "Steward Zhang, do you also find this unpalatable, not as good as the cheese made from cheese powder residue?"

Zhang Baokui replied somewhat awkwardly but still managed to express his true feelings with a pained expression, "Chief Steward, I really don’t find this tasty at all. Making it not only wastes cow’s milk and time, but it’s also not as delicious as cheese made from cheese powder residue."

Ye Xinyan consoled, "With anything new, there has to be a process of getting used to it. Don’t worry about wasting cow’s milk and time, just focus on making the fermented cheese properly, and try to minimize spoilage—that’s the real way to avoid waste."

Joking aside, the price difference between cheese remade from cheese powder and pure fermented cheese is not even on the same scale; the profit margin is worlds apart.