Chapter 24: Extracting Saltpeter and Making Ice

"This place is close to the mountain, and there are many minerals in the underground."

Jiang Wei explained while pouring the filtered liquid into a pot to steam: "And saltpeter generally exists in the soil in arid or semi-arid climates. That day, I discovered that the soil under this land was mixed with saltpeter earth."

The villagers in Yuhe Village didn't even know a few big characters, so naturally, they didn't understand this, and usually didn't notice it.

Jiang Xiaoxiao listened as if she understood, sighing that science and technology were indeed the primary productive forces, and at the same time, she thought her mother was really amazing, worthy of being the female lead!

Although the female lead usually has the female lead halo, doing things as if helped by God, her mother has real learning and ability, whether it is geological exploration and investigation, or a very good understanding of the characteristics of various ores.

The pot was steaming with a gurgling sound, the water was constantly evaporated, and gradually gray-white crystals were precipitated.

Jiang Xiaoxiao threw dry firewood into the stove again, increased the firepower, and couldn't help but ask: "Mother, what is the use of you extracting this saltpeter?"

Could it be to make gunpowder?

But making gunpowder privately in this era is afraid of causing trouble...

And making gunpowder also requires sulfur. There should be no sulfur in this place.

"You'll know in a while." Jiang Wei rarely sold the secret.

She moved a large bucket and a basin in.

When the water in the pot was completely boiled dry and enough crystals were precipitated, Jiang Wei took all these crystals out and left them to cool.

Most of these crystals were gray-white, and a small part were translucent crystal-like, although the appearance was slightly different, they were all saltpeter precipitated from the saltpeter earth solution.

After waiting for a period of time, Jiang Wei patted the wooden bucket beside her and said to Jiang Xiaoxiao: "Come, daughter, fill it with water."

Jiang Xiaoxiao: "..."

She felt like a tool person who knew nothing.

Except for helping her mother, she had no other use.

Jiang Xiaoxiao walked up with a stomach full of doubts and stretched out her fingers to release water into the wooden bucket.

The water flow from her fingertips was small and long, like a small stream, and the water quality was very clean and clear.

After releasing about half a bucket of water, her fingertips stopped producing water. She shook her head with sweat on her forehead: "It's not working, I feel like the strength in my body has been hollowed out."

This ability is too strenuous. Once it is exhausted, the body is as tired as if it were carrying dozens of pounds.

Jiang Wei looked at the water in the bucket with satisfaction: "Not bad, your ability hasn't been triggered for long, and it's not easy to be able to release so much water."

Getting praise from her mother, Jiang Xiaoxiao wiped her sweat with some embarrassment.

Jiang Wei poured half a basin of water into the wooden bucket again, and then slowly poured the cooled saltpeter into the wooden bucket.

After the saltpeter met the water in the wooden bucket, it began to react rapidly, absorbing a large amount of heat, and the water in the bucket gradually began to freeze.

Jiang Xiaoxiao looked suddenly enlightened. That's right, she almost forgot, saltpeter can also make ice!

Saltpeter dissolves in water and absorbs a large amount of heat, causing the water to cool down and freeze. Isn't this making a large amount of ice cubes!

And this is ancient times, there is no refrigerator, these ice cubes must be very precious.

"Mother, aren't you going to sell ice cubes to make money?" Jiang Xiaoxiao reached out and touched the ice cubes in the wooden bucket. They were quite freezing, no different from the ice in a modern refrigerator.

Jiang Wei shook her head: "Although saltpeter ice making is convenient and fast, this method has a great disadvantage. The amount of saltpeter used is not small. We are only two people, with little strength, and we can't produce so much saltpeter at all."

As she spoke, Jiang Wei stretched out her palm and directly collected the whole bucket of ice into the space. "But with these ice cubes, we can make some iced cold drinks to sell in the summer."

Her space is static, and the ice cubes won't melt when put in. These ice cubes can be used to make unlimited cold drinks or iced fruits.

Knowing Jiang Wei's idea, Jiang Xiaoxiao couldn't help but get excited. Iced cold drinks in the summer were already very popular in modern times, not to mention in this ancient world with no refrigerators and low living standards!

"Then let's make a simple ice cream and see." Jiang Wei thought about it. The materials in her space were all ready-made, and she could make anything.

So she took out eggs, white sugar, and milk from the space.

She first took four eggs, separated the egg whites and egg yolks, and put them in two porcelain bowls respectively.

Making ice cream only requires the egg yolk part. Take some white sugar and put it into the egg yolk, add a few drops of vinegar, stir evenly with chopsticks until the egg yolk liquid color becomes lighter.

Jiang Xiaoxiao was not idle either, starting to burn fire, pouring milk into the pot, and starting to heat it.

Until the milk was heated to the point where bubbles appeared on the surface, Jiang Wei poured the beaten egg liquid into the pot while it was hot and stirred it together, stirring while pouring.

This step is very important. If it is not stirred evenly, the egg yolk will clump, affecting the taste.

"Just heat it slightly with low heat." Jiang Wei warned on the side, "If the fire is too big, it will burn the pot."

"Mm, okay!" Jiang Xiaoxiao nodded, only throwing some small firewood into the stove to control the heat.

During this period, Jiang Wei added a few drops of vinegar to the egg liquid again.

Vinegar can remove the fishy smell in the eggs, making the ice cream taste more delicious.

After the liquid in the pot boiled, Jiang Wei took the pot down and left it to cool for later use.

As for the remaining bowl of egg white liquid, it shouldn't be wasted either. It can be made into cream and added to the ice cream to make the ice cream taste smoother and more delicate.

Jiang Wei added salt, sugar, and vinegar in turn, and began to beat the egg white liquid.

When the egg white liquid in the bowl became a bit thick, she added a little sugar and continued to beat until the egg white liquid in the bowl was as thick as dense bubbles, and the chopsticks could stand on it.

Jiang Wei poured the beaten cream into the cooled egg milk liquid and stirred it evenly. The ice cream was almost done.

Jiang Xiaoxiao looked at it in amazement on the side. Her mother was indeed an all-around big shot who could do everything.

"Xiaoxiao, what flavor do you want?" Jiang Wei suddenly looked up and asked.

You can also add fruits to the finished ice cream according to your taste, making the taste more unique.

"Strawberry flavored!" Jiang Xiaoxiao said without looking up, gazing with interest at the large pot of ice cream.

After speaking, she regretted it.

There shouldn't be strawberries in this world, right?!

Strawberries were only introduced from foreign countries during the Qing Dynasty. Although this world is a world in a book, the world framework should be similar to the world she stayed in before, right?

At this moment, Jiang Xiaoxiao couldn't help but feel a little nervous, fearing that her mother would discover her identity as a transmigrator.

But fortunately, Jiang Wei didn't seem to think much. She took out a jar of strawberry jam from the space, poured the finished ice cream into containers in several portions, and drizzled one of them with full strawberry jam.

"You can eat it tomorrow." Jiang Wei said, collecting all the ice cream into the space and freezing it in a wooden bucket full of ice cubes.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 25 =====