Chapter 234: Chapter 234: Harvest (Part 2)
The newly harvested corn still has some moisture, with a faint sweet taste when chewed raw.
Cui Du carried a bamboo basket of corn to the kitchen.
Jiang Shaohua was a bit reluctant, "We should keep it all for seed grain! Let’s not taste it!"
Cui Du chuckled, "This year, the field manor planted a full thousand acres of corn. The harvested corn, used as seed grain, is enough to be promoted in Nanyang County. Tonight, using only one basket of corn won’t affect the overall situation. The Commandery Princess can taste what food made from the new grain is like. Chief Historian Chen and Chief Historian Feng are here too, so it’s perfect for everyone to have a taste."
Jiang Shaohua also laughed, "Alright, let’s have everyone taste it. Just this one basket, the rest of the corn must not be touched."
Cui Du agreed readily.
Wait, why is the Commandery Princess following into the kitchen too?
"The kitchen is smoky and hot, Commandery Princess, you better not come in." Cui Du smiled, "You’ve been busy all day, take a rest first."
Jiang Shaohua, however, said, "I want to see how this corn is made into food."
Cui Du chuckled again.
The Commandery Princess is the most generous and magnanimous lord in the world, and all the civil and military officials, aides, and maids of the Nanyang Prince Mansion have deeply felt this. It was his first time seeing the usually unflappable Commandery Princess so anxiously concerned.
Since the Commandery Princess insisted on staying in the kitchen, Cui Du simply stopped persuading her. He called in a few cooks and had them strip the husks from the corn cobs and remove the kernels.
The cooks were quick with their hands, soon peeling a large basin of corn kernels.
Looking at Cui Du again, his movements were surprisingly fast as he single-handedly peeled a small half basin. Then, he washed the fresh corn kernels three times, making sure they were clean and fresh.
Then, he used a stone mill to grind the corn kernels.
There was someone specifically in charge of pulling the stone mill in the kitchen, but Jiang Shaohua, finding it lively and interesting, personally pushed the stone mill. Cui Du added corn to the mill’s eye with one hand and held a water scoop in the other, occasionally adding some water.
"After the corn is dried, storing it in a dry grain bin for a year or two is no problem. When ready to eat, take some and grind it into flour with the stone mill. From there, the process is similar to using flour."
As he busied himself, Cui Du continued, "Today, I’m adding water directly as I grind because the fresh corn has a lot of moisture, preventing it from being ground into powder, so we simply add water to make it into corn pulp."
Jiang Shaohua, with abundant strength, pushed the stone mill as effortlessly as a child playing with a wooden sword, "How do cornmeal cakes compare to wheat cakes?"
"The texture is definitely coarser," Cui Du admitted truthfully, "but they’re quite filling."
That was enough. In times of famine, people ate even tree leaves and grass; as long as there was grain to fill the stomach, fine or coarse textures were secondary.
Jiang Shaohua hummed in agreement and continued grinding.
Most of the corn was turned into corn pulp. Fish were stewing in a large iron pot, and when the fish was half-cooked and the pot boiling, they molded the corn pulp into small cakes and stuck them on the pot.
Another large pot boiled big bones, with some chopped corn put into the soup.
Finally, Cui Du also used fresh corn kernels to make a stir-fry and cooked a pot of corn pulp.
The kitchen was filled with a rich aroma.
Chen and Feng, the two Chief Historians, followed the scent into the kitchen.
They originally did not want to disturb Mr. Cui and the Commandery Princess during their time together, but their interest in how the new grain was made into food couldn’t be suppressed, so they came.
Upon seeing the two Chief Historians, Cui Du quickly smiled, "Chief Historian Chen, Chief Historian Feng, you came just in time. The cornbread is ready, have a taste."
A pot of cornbread, golden and shining, had been doused twice with fish soup, giving off an enticing fragrance. The Commandery Princess had already eaten one with great relish.
One bite, the texture was indeed rougher, especially chewy, and very tasty.
Chief Historian Chen ate half of a cornbread, his brow relaxing, "This new grain doesn’t taste bad at all."
"Not just not bad; I reckon it tastes great," Feng Wenming, more down-to-earth, mimicked the Commandery Princess’s way, dipping the cornbread in fish soup and praised as he ate, "Good, good, good, this corn is excellent!"
Cui Du said with a smile, "It’s inconvenient eating this way, let me serve the food so we can eat slowly in the dining hall. There’s also corn bone soup and stir-fried corn!"
Everyone nodded gladly.
In the dining hall, two round tables were set. Jiang Shaohua and the two Chief Historians took one table, and Cui Du, the hero of the achievement, sat openly at this one, while Song Yuan, the second hero in seeking seed grain, also sat confidently.
The rest of the officials and housekeepers all sat at the other table.
The crowd tasted the food made from the new grain, with various reactions.
Like Shen Mu, who felt the cornbread was chewy and filling. Chief Clerk Wen, whose teeth weren’t the best, found the hot corn pulp to be the finest.
Chen Jinyu and Ma Yaosong loved the corn boiled with big bones. Lu Cong preferred the corn kernels sautéed with vegetables.
Only Yang Shi, accustomed to fine foods, found eating corn somewhat unsuitable. After taking a few reluctant bites and echoing praises with the others, he quietly set down his chopsticks.
"This corn is really good," Jiang Shaohua was satisfied with each type of food, laughing and praising, "The method is simple too, easy to promote."
Chen Zhuo stroked his beard with a smile, "In a few more days, we will know the corn yield per acre."
...
The following days continued with fine weather.
In fact, Nanyang County hadn’t seen rain in a long time. The dry weather was perfect for drying grain. After three days, the corn changed color slightly from the sun, and moisture was dried out.
Next, it was time to shell the corn.
Cui Du had previously drawn a blueprint for Shen Mu, who took it back to the workshop and, with the craftsmen, made a bunch of corn shelling tools within three days.
Shelling corn is hard work.
Jiang Shaohua, though noble as the Commandery Princess, personally involved herself in everything. The officials and housekeepers followed her lead. The trusted aides also all joined in the labor. So many people worked for four or five days and finally got all the corn shelled.
Once the cobs were dried, they were sent to the kitchen to be used as fuel.
The kernels needed to continue drying; once they were fully dried, they could be stored in grain bins.
Before storing in the grain bins, they needed to measure the yield per acre. Cui Du had prepared by setting aside ten acres of corn, weighing each after measuring, and recording them one by one.
Jiang Shaohua concentrated on observing.
The yield of these ten acres varied. The most was 1,600 catties, and the least was only 1,200 catties. Averaging them, it was about 1,400 catties per acre.
"This is the first year of trial planting corn, and the yield is not up to expectations," Cui Du said with some regret, "I originally thought each acre could yield at least 2,000 catties."
His words drew attention from everyone present.
An acre planted with wheat or millet only yields about 400 catties of grain. Planting one acre of corn that yields over 1,000 catties of grain represents a fourfold increase in production.
Four times!
This means the same land planted with corn can feed four times the population.
What a magnificent achievement!