60s: I have a store

Chapter 154 How much sugar was added?
In fact, there are still many places today that are learning how the ancients stored ice.

After all, if you want ice in a place without electricity, there are only two ways.

The most common method is to store ice in the winter and use it in the summer.

Generally speaking, it means building an ice cave.

Every year when winter comes to the coldest time, people will actively collect ice. The reason for choosing the coldest time is that the ice at this time is the hardest and least likely to melt.

After being collected, the ice will be transported to caves prepared in advance. These caves are generally built in a cool place and deep underground. Only in this way can the melting of the ice be slowed down.

Of course, the ice cubes are not put directly into the cave. Instead, a thick layer of fresh straw or reed mats is first laid at the bottom of the cave, and then the ice cubes are placed on it.

Moreover, after each layer of ice is placed, rice bran, leaves and other items need to be placed in the middle for isolation and insulation. In this way, after filling up the layers, the entrance of the cave is sealed, and then the cave can be opened to take ice in the summer of the following year.

This method of storing ice certainly cannot completely prevent the melting of ice, but it only slows it down. Therefore, in order to ensure that there is enough ice to enjoy in the coming year, people usually store more ice.

It is said that this method of storing ice has appeared since the Zhou Dynasty.

However, at that time, it was basically used exclusively by the royal family. There were icemen who were responsible for collecting, transporting and storing ice for the royal family, and a large number of "ice wells" were built near the palace.

Before traveling through time, Zhou Yimin had even seen the ancient people's "refrigerator" in a museum.

By the Tang Dynasty, storing ice in winter was no longer a royal privilege. People with the ability would dig their own cellars to store ice. In addition to enjoying it themselves, they would also sell the excess ice.

By the Qing Dynasty, there were places to store ice all over the country. Among them, around Daming Lake in Jinan, Shandong, "ice storage" had become an industry at that time.

As the imperial capital of the Ming and Qing dynasties, as well as the capital of New China, Sijiucheng naturally has many ice caves and ice cellars.

It’s not difficult to get ice cubes.

Another method of making ice is using saltpeter.

Everyone may be familiar with this method, which has almost become one of the necessary skills for ancient time travelers.

You can take two basins, large and small, fill the large basin with water first, and then place the small basin in the large basin.

Then, pour saltpeter into the large basin and shake it continuously. As the saltpeter continues to absorb the heat from the water in the basin, the water in the small basin will freeze into ice.

Saltpeter can also be reused. After making ice cubes, take out the ice cubes containing saltpeter and use distillation or natural evaporation to turn it back into saltpeter, which can be used next time.

Zhou Yimin felt that this method could also be tried, so he prepared some saltpeter at home.

In fact, the best thing is to have electricity. But it is a bit difficult to have electricity in Zhoujiazhuang in a short period of time.

"Grandma, how is it?"

The old lady nodded: "Yeah! It's delicious."

She thought to herself: How much sugar did my eldest grandson put in this?

Zhou Yimin also tried half a bowl, it was indeed OK, but it lacked shaved ice. Now this is almost the mung bean soup popular in Guangdong.

The mung bean soup in Guangdong and Guangxi may also contain kelp and the like. Some soups contain fruits or even Chinese medicine. People from other provinces probably won’t be used to it.

Zhou Yimin kept enough for his own family, and put the rest in buckets. He asked people to come and take them to give to the people who were building the road to cool down.

Also have someone send some over to the mushroom house.

With mung bean soup to eat, Zhang Lu and Lai Fang did not go out to play, but sat at home and ate. There was even a radio to listen to at home! Such a life made Zhang Lu not want to go back to the city at all.

"Brother Yimin, can I come here every weekend from now on?" she asked.

Zhou Yimin smiled and said, "As long as your parents agree, I have no objection."

Zhang Lu was discouraged for a while, because she knew that her parents would definitely not agree. Seeing her like this, Zhou Yimin said, "If you want to eat, you can come to the courtyard where I live in the future."

Isn't this much closer?
Zhang Lu thought about it and suddenly became happy.

"Then you're not here?" she asked again.

"If I'm not at the courtyard, you can find your brother Dapeng or brother Youde. Just tell them what you want to eat." Didn't we all know each other yesterday?

……

"Yi Min cooked the mung bean paste. Let's have some."

The people who were repairing the road stopped one after another and took turns using the bowls without having to wash them. For the villagers, it was no big deal to eat other people's saliva.

A few mouthfuls of mung bean soup can not only cool you down, but also fill your stomach a little and relieve your hunger.

"How much sugar did Uncle Sixteen put in it? It's so sweet."

The old Party secretary said: "Leave one bowl for Master Chen who drives the tractor."

When Master Chen once again pulled the coal slag into the village and unloaded the truck, the villagers brought him a bowl of mung bean soup.

Master Chen couldn't help swallowing.

As a driver, he earns a good income. In this era, being a driver is one of the professions that everyone envy.

Due to the small number of cars, the number of car drivers has increased, and naturally they have become national treasures or "panda"-level figures in various units.

Those who can be drivers are usually professional soldiers from the military, or have received driving training, usually retired car soldiers.

It is no exaggeration to say that being a driver in that era is much more difficult than becoming a civil servant in later generations.

Even if Master Chen is just a tractor driver, it is still amazing.

You have to know that there are usually no other cars in the commune, at most a few tractors. The larger communes have tens of thousands of people, but only a few tractor drivers, and the probability of becoming a driver is about one in ten thousand.

But even so, his family still couldn't get enough to eat.

"Thank you." He thanked me, picked up the bowl and started drinking.

Ok?
So sweet? A lot of sugar?
Master Chen was quite surprised.

Mung beans are fine, and adding sugar is normal, but who would add so much sugar? These days, sugar is also a scarce commodity.

After eating a bowl of mung bean soup, Master Chen felt much more comfortable all over.

To express his gratitude for the bowl of mung bean soup, Master Chen sped up the tractor.

In one afternoon, about 200 meters of road were paved. The paved road looked neat and flat. Regardless of whether it was easy to walk on or not, it was pleasing to the eye!

At this rate, the road paving in Zhoujiazhuang can be completed in three or four days.

"Master Chen, are you going back after dinner?"

Master Chen waved his hand: "No, you guys eat, I'll come early tomorrow."

He then added some more oil to the tractor's tank and drove away in style, which made the young people in the village envious.

What man doesn't like a car? Even a tractor or a bicycle.

Besides, whether it was a tractor or a bicycle, they were vehicles that were beyond their reach.

(End of this chapter)