After the grapes were picked, Lin Yulan couldn’t wait to start making wine. This was because the fresher the grapes were, the better the wine they made.
Lin Yuelan first picked out the ripe purple grapes. She cut off the stems and placed them aside so that the skin was not damaged.
As these grapes were grown without pesticides, they didn’t need to be washed at all. There was a layer of white mist on the skin of the grapes, which was a natural yeast. The wine made in this way was very delicious.
Lin Yulan ordered the men to wash the clay pots by the river, dry them, and bring them back. They would dry quickly on such a hot day.
Lin Yulan took the clay pot and crushed the selected grapes one by one. The skin, seeds, and pulp dropped into the clay pot. Then, she started to process them.
She used a 6 to 1 ratio of grapes to white sugar. She mixed them evenly. After the white sugar had fully melted, she poured the mixture into clean jars. The jars weren’t filled to the brim because the grapes would release gas during the fermentation process. If it was filled too much, the wine would overflow. In addition, in order to prevent the air from entering the jar, Lin Yuelan found a piece of airtight oilcloth to cover it.
Jiang Zhennan and the others did not say a word while Lin Yuelan was processing the grapes. They were all watching very seriously. Although they had many doubts and questions, no one asked anything.
They understood that this might involve Lin Yuelan’s secret wine-making technique.
After a long time, Lin Yuelan finally finished the first jar. She stretched lazily and shook her head. Then, she immediately realized that a few curious babies were staring at her.
Lin Yuelan asked in confusion, “What’s wrong? Why are you all looking at me?”
Lin Yuelan had never thought that her amazing act of brewing grape wine would shock these people. In fact, the soldiers didn’t expect Lin Yuelan to make the wine right before them. Wasn’t she worried that they would sell her secret formula? Of course, they would never do that. They would never betray her.
Guo Bing stared at Lin yuelan and asked in surprise, “Miss Lin, is this how wine is made?”
“What do you think?” Lin Yuelan asked instead of answering this oldest curious baby. She then immediately instructed the others, “I need each of you to take a clay pot and follow what I did. Put the skin and meat of the grapes into the pot. Then, I’ll teach you the grape to sugar ratio.”
When she saw the large grape field earlier, she had already thought of making wine, so she had prepared everything like sugar, jars, and so on.
She wanted to try out different ratios of grapes and sugars to see how each would taste. She would ultimately pick the best wine.
Therefore, she bought more than 20 clay pots. Each pot could hold about one catty of materials. As for the sugar, Lin Yuelan had collected more than 100 catties of it during the apocalypse.
She used her own store of white sugar because the quality of the sugar sold in town wasn’t that good. It would ruin the taste of her product.
When the men heard Lin Yuelan ask them to squat down and crush the grapes, they were dumbfounded.
They were all men who had fought bloody battles on the battlefield with knives and guns. It was fine for them to help out with clearing the land but asking them to use their tiny fingers to pinch grapes? That was rather preposterous.
None of the men moved.
Lin Yuelan raised her brows and looked at them with a faint smile. She asked indifferently, “what’s wrong? Is no one willing? Does that mean that no one is willing to drink the wine when it’s ready?”
That was a clear threat.