Chapter 148

148. Chapter 148: Making Soap

Jiang Xiaoxiao carried the porcelain jar to the courtyard. There was a simple stove in the courtyard that everyone had built to boil ice cream and snow cakes last time, so she took advantage of the situation and placed the porcelain jar on the stove.

Gao Xiaoshuan also brought out a large basin of plant ash: "Little Sister Xiaoxiao, the plant ash you wanted is out."

Jiang Xiaoxiao drew a large bucket of clear water from the well and poured it all into the basin. She grasped it very well; there wasn't too much or too little water, just enough to submerge the plant ash a little bit.

She stuffed a wooden pestle into Gao Xiaoshuan's hand and said: "Brother Shuanzi, stir it evenly."

"Oh, okay." Although Gao Xiaoshuan didn't understand her strange operations, he did it honestly.

Stirring the plant ash water was a physical job. Gao Xiaoshuan worked very hard, but he was only a six-year-old child after all, and he was panting after a while.

Jiang Xiaoxiao had no choice but to take the pestle from his hand and stir it herself. When she was tired, she let Gao Xiaoshuan take over again.

This step was particularly important. Only by fully mixing the plant ash and water could the lye needed for the saponification reaction be made.

The two took turns stirring, and it took a long time to fully mix the plant ash and water.

Jiang Xiaoxiao wiped the sweat from her forehead and took out gauze to prepare to filter the plant ash water.

The two worked together to pour the filtered plant ash water into the previous porcelain jar. The plant ash water obtained now could not be considered lye in the true sense, and it needed further heating and concentration to remove the water in the lye and increase the concentration of the alkali.

Gao Xiaoshuan brought a pile of wood and began to burn fire to heat the plant ash water. This step had to be careful. The heated and concentrated plant ash was the real lye. One had to pay attention to protection during operation, and the container for storing lye must absolutely not be iron, which is why Jiang Xiaoxiao chose a porcelain jar to hold the lye.

While waiting for the lye to be heated and concentrated, Jiang Xiaoxiao went to the kitchen again.

Her mother had long since put pork in the kitchen. Unlike the pork belly with fat and lean meat from the previous two days, it was all fatty pork, which was most suitable for rendering lard.

At this moment, Qiulian Niang and Zhao Dasao were using the rendered oil dregs to stir-fry tofu, which was the lunch prepared for the workers today. The rendered lard was placed on the side, in a small porcelain jar, still carrying residual heat.

Jiang Xiaoxiao hurriedly hugged the oil jar and left the kitchen. She had to pour the lard into the lye while it was hot, otherwise, it would be difficult to stir and mix fully once the lard cooled down.

Gao Xiaoshuan was looking after the heat by the stove, not daring to be careless at all. Jiang Xiaoxiao saw that the lye was also heated and concentrated enough, and began to estimate how much lard needed to be added to the lye in the porcelain jar.

According to the formula, the ratio of alkali to oil is 1:3. This ratio must be grasped accurately. Whether there is too much oil or too much alkali, soap cannot be made.

She used a spoon to scoop up the lard and poured it into the lye spoon by spoon. She quietly put alcohol into this lard, because grease is not easy to dissolve in lye, and adding alcohol can increase the solubility of grease in lye and promote the saponification reaction.

This was a little trick Jiang Xiaoxiao kept.

Many people had come to work at her house these past few days, and with many people, there were many eyes. Even if she, a five-year-old child, fiddled with some things, it wouldn't attract the attention of the adults, but it was hard to guarantee that someone wouldn't peek in the dark and steal the method of making soap.

But there were some details, such as alcohol, which is indispensable in promoting the saponification reaction. This era did not have distillation technology, and even if there was wine, high-purity alcohol could not be purified, so even if someone stole the method of making soap, without alcohol and these things, they couldn't make real soap.

After pouring about the right amount of lard, Jiang Xiaoxiao stopped and let Gao Xiaoshuan continue to stir with the pestle to make the lye and lard react.

This process took a long time, and it had to be stirred constantly to make the grease fully saponify.

Jiang Xiaoxiao and Gao Xiaoshuan took turns stirring, but the two were small and weak, and still couldn't handle it. Fortunately, Jiang Wei drove the carriage back from town not long after.

The carriage stopped at the gate of the courtyard. Jiang Xiaoxiao looked over and saw that there were actually five goats tied to the back of the carriage, running home all the way behind their carriage.

She couldn't help but smile. It turned out that her mother went to town to buy goats. There was only one milk goat at home, and the goat milk squeezed was far from enough to make soap.

Jiang Wei jumped off the carriage, and Gao Xiaoyan and Chunmiao followed closely behind. The three came to the back of the carriage, and each led two goats into the courtyard.

The sheep pen at home was small and not enough for so many goats to live in, so they could only place the bought goats in the chicken coop.

Chunmiao, who was cleaning the chicken coop, saw this, picked up the back basket, and prepared to go outside to cut some more green grass to feed the goats.

Jiang Wei washed her hands clean and came over to help. Her strength was greater than that of two men combined, so she took the pestle and began to stir.

Jiang Xiaoxiao was able to free her hands. She didn't have time to rest, went to the kitchen to get some coarse salt, crushed it, and added it to the earthenware jar.

Salt can increase the hardness of soap and make it set better.

Jiang Wei had great strength, so the efficiency of work was much faster than that of the two children. She stirred along one direction, the water in the earthenware jar gradually evaporated, and not long after, the mixture became a sticky paste.

Jiang Xiaoxiao saw that it was about right, found the bamboo tubes prepared the day before, and asked her mother to help pour it into the bamboo tubes to set.

Five bamboo tubes were filled, and there was still a lot left in the earthenware jar. Jiang Xiaoxiao went to the room again to pour the goat milk squeezed by Gao Xiaoyan in the morning, stirred it evenly, and filled three more bamboo tubes.

Eight bamboo tubes were placed neatly under the window to dry in the shade for three days.

Jiang Xiaoxiao wiped her sweat. She had been busy all morning, and whether the soap made could be used would only be known after three days.

Jiang Wei patted her on the shoulder and comforted her: "I think it's good, it should be successful."

"Time to eat!"

Qiulian Niang over there had already begun to call everyone to eat.

The people at the construction site heard this sound and ran over like wolves and tigers, and the disciples brought by Master Zheng were no exception.

Having worked all morning, everyone was already hungry.

Today's staple food was porridge made of millet and pancakes, plus a large pot of stir-fried sauerkraut and tofu with oil dregs.

Eating dry rice every day wouldn't work either. It was okay for a day or two, but it would always arouse suspicion if it lasted for a long time.

However, the Jiang family was generous. The porridge was thick, and the pancakes were well-filled, with eggs and wild vegetables added, so everyone didn't feel that this meal was worse than dry rice at all.

Although there was only one dish of stir-fried sauerkraut and tofu with oil dregs today, it had both meat and vegetables, and the sauerkraut was appetizing, so everyone ate with relish and was very satisfied.

More than forty people sat on the ground in the Jiang family courtyard, forming several piles, eating and chatting about family affairs while eating.

The Jiang mother and daughter, Qiulian Niang, Zhao Dasao, and Chunmiao sisters and other women and children ate in the kitchen, and even the Gao family siblings were pulled to the dining table.

"Don't be polite, just eat as much as you want!" Jiang Xiaoxiao was afraid that the Gao family siblings would be shy, so she picked a lot of vegetables for the two.

Chunmiao and Chunya sitting opposite were eating and laughing. They had gradually become accustomed to it from the initial resistance and embarrassment. (End of chapter)