Chapter 593: Peeling Potatoes
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“We can pour away the water on top, and dry the starch on the bottom.” Jiang Yue continued, “It’s a bit like the washing process of making liangpi. It has to settle before doing anything, and only the starch at the bottom is needed.” “I see.”
“Let’s wash it ourselves first and let our family see it. Next time, we won’t do it ourselves and will hire someone to do it.”
“Sure.”
As soon as Xue Yan responded, they arrived at the door of their house. However, they didn’t enter the house. Instead, they went to the river through the small path beside the house and washed the basket of potatoes before entering the house.
It was best to peel the potatoes, cut them into small pieces, and crush them. So, when they got home, Xue Yan and Jiang Yue peeled the potatoes in the basket.
After peeling the skin, they cut it into small pieces and mashed it.
When Li Hehua was free, she would also come to help.
Yu Hongyan stood by the side and watched. When she felt uncomfortable standing, she sat by the side and watched. She was about to give birth in a few days, so she didn’t dare to go anywhere. Her family didn’t allow her to go out either as they were afraid of anything happening. At most, she would walk around the courtyard.
The whole basket of potatoes had been mashed, and there was not even a full pot. Jiang Yue added some water into the pot, stirred it, and then filtered it.
The mix was poured into a clean bucket of water, and the filtered residue was wrapped in gauze.
She twisted the gauze hard, and white water could be seen coming out of the residue.
After that, Jiang Yue put the residue in the gauze back into the basin.
Xue Yan picked up the ladle and poured some water into it. He washed the residue and filtered it. The solution was poured into the bucket again.
She then twisted the filter dregs wrapped in the gauze, and some water came out.
The residue naturally contained starch. Then, Jiang Yue poured the residue of the mix back into the basin. Xue Yan poured more water, washed it, and filtered it again.
After he squeezed the potato dregs that were wrapped in gauze again, there was no more water coming out. He only crushed a basket of potatoes today, which was not much, so he did not need to wash it so many times.
After that, Jiang Yue didn’t wash the potato dregs anymore. She put the potato dregs aside so that when fed the pigs later, she could give them this.
The remaining solution was left in the same bucket, which filled only half a bucket.
Li Hehua helped to carry the bucket into the central room and let it settle there.
In fact, it would have settled down by night time, but there was no sun at night, so they had to wait until the next day to continue. Jiang Yue and Xue Yan poured away the water on the top, leaving only the white sediment at the bottom, which was the potato starch.
This starch still contained water, so it had to be dried before it could be stored.
Xue Yan had taken a clean cloth and laid it on a wide wooden board. The wooden board was placed on two long benches and was drying in the courtyard.
Jiang Yue used a spoon to scoop out the starch from the bottom of the bucket and placed it on a cloth to dry. When it was a little dry, she pinched it with her hands. The starch would usually spread into powder when fully dried. Now, because it contained a little water, it was stuck together.
There was some starch, but it still had to be dried for a few days.
Besides, it was not summer now, and the sun was not very hot sometimes.
While Xue Yan and Jiang Yue were drying starch in their yard, Liu Guixia was holding a clay pot under the cooking shed, soaking duck eggs in salt water. She bought the duck eggs from the town yesterday and planned to soak them all. After a while, they would have salted duck eggs to eat at home..