When Fourth Sister Su Tongtong saw her second sister entering the dining hall, she immediately ran over and hugged her.
“Second sister, are you a fairy? How did you make the red fruits so delicious? I want to save them and eat them slowly.”
Looking at her chubby little face, round figure, and watery big eyes staring at her, Su Lele felt her heart completely melted by her cuteness.
“You can’t save them to eat slowly, and you can’t eat too much either. If you can’t finish them, you can share them with your friends.”
Su Tongtong said generously, “Then after lunch, I’ll bring some back to school for Little Fatty, Xiao Yi, and Xiao Guo to eat!”
Wang Huilan said, “Daughter, those sugar-coated red fruits really taste good and help stimulate appetite. When I just entered the dining hall and smelled the food, I actually felt hungry—something that usually doesn’t happen to me.”
Sure enough, everyone ate more than usual that meal, and their appetites improved significantly. The happiest were the eldest brother and sister-in-law. After eating a full bowl, the sister-in-law didn’t vomit at all.
..
After Lunch Break
After the break, Su Lele went to the kitchen with her maid Qiu Yu and found her mother Wang Huilan already there.
“Daughter, you’re here. I came to see how you make that other snack from the red fruits.”
“Alright.”
Su Lele instructed the servants to remove the cores and stems of all the red fruits. Halfway through, she ordered Xia Zhi to boil a large pot of water. Once boiling, the red fruits were added and cooked for fifteen minutes. When they softened, they were removed from the pot, and the remaining hawthorn water was not discarded.
The softened hawthorn fruits were then placed onto a stone mill. She instructed servant Chen Chunsheng to start turning the mill while gradually adding small amounts of hawthorn water until the fruits were ground into a fine paste.
After repeated grinding, all 40 jin (about 20 kg) of red fruits were turned into fruit paste.
The hawthorn paste was then poured into a pot without oil or salt, and 13 jin of sugar was added. The ratio of fruit paste to sugar was 3:1. Then it was slowly stir-fried over low heat without stopping.
Hawthorn naturally contains pectin and sets easily. When the mixture became thick and dark red, and could be lifted with a spatula without easily falling off, it was ready.
The cooked hawthorn paste was spread evenly onto smooth oil paper. The 40 jin of fruit filled 20 large sheets of oil paper. Then they were placed under strong sunlight to dry. With such strong sun, it would dry quickly—even faster if it rained and the sun came out again later. After that, it could be sliced and finished.
Afternoon
After staying in the kitchen for so long, Su Lele was sweating. Once she finished, she returned to her courtyard and took a refreshing bath.
After bathing, she felt much more comfortable. Since it wasn’t dark yet, she picked up a book called Miscellaneous Records of the Great Yun Kingdom.
She discovered that sunflowers existed in the Great Yun Kingdom, but were mainly found in the north. Peanuts were common in both northern and southern regions. Chili peppers were also cultivated, though not widely eaten by common people.
Sweet potatoes were widely grown by farmers as a staple food. However, she did not see any mention of potatoes, and wondered whether the country even had them.
At that moment, Su Lele’s mind was filled with thoughts of five-spice sunflower seeds, caramel sunflower seeds, salted roasted peanuts, spicy peanuts, peanut brittle, dried sweet potatoes…
The book also recorded customs and eating habits.
Generally, official families and small wealthy households would serve tea, fruits, and plain sunflower seeds when guests arrived. They might also prepare common pastries like mung bean cake, red bean cake, jujube paste cake, “ruyi” cakes, and sometimes malt sugar candy.
In rural households, hospitality was simpler—often just a bowl of sugar water and wild fruits. The poorest families could only serve plain boiled water.
Ancient snacks were truly too limited. There was huge room for development!
In the modern world, snacks were everywhere with fierce competition. Su Lele had only managed to open three snack shops through relentless effort.
It seemed that spreading snack shops across the Great Yun Kingdom was just around the corner—at least in her imagination. Reality, however, was that she didn’t even have the money to open a store yet. The capital was prosperous and full of merchants. Even a small 20-square-meter shop cost 20 taels of silver per month.
Su Lele planned to develop snacks first, sell them in small batches, and later open a workshop. Once she had more varieties, she would consider opening shops. Otherwise, with only a few items, there was no appeal.
Probably because the original body was weak, Su Lele unknowingly fell asleep while reading.
Qiu Yu, seeing her young lady fall asleep while reading, felt a little heartache. She quietly took away the book and covered her with a blanket.
Evening
At dusk, Su Lele was awakened by a voice. Fourth Sister arrived before her voice even did.
Seeing her chubby little sister running in while calling “Second sister! Second sister!”, Su Lele couldn’t help but feel happy instead of annoyed.
“Second sister, is the other snack ready? Little Fatty and the others loved the sugar-coated red fruits so much. Luckily I saved a few for later, otherwise they would all be gone.”
“It’s ready. The fruit leather should have already set and dried. After dinner, we can cut it into slices for everyone to try.”
On the way to the dining hall, Fourth Sister chattered nonstop, saying that Grandfather had returned and praised the sugar-coated red fruits.
He even wanted to come personally to praise her, but Fourth Sister suspected he actually wanted to ask if there were any leftovers to take to his old friends. She knew his little scheme very well. When he heard she was sleeping, he didn’t come to disturb her. Since there were some left at home, Mother gave them to him, and he was overjoyed.
Dinner
“Grandfather, Second Sister already said you can’t eat too much of the red fruits at once,” someone reminded.
Su Dong stared longingly at the sugar-coated hawthorn. “Alright, I won’t eat.”
Su Lele couldn’t bear his pitiful expression and coaxed him.
“Grandfather, after dinner I’ll let you try the new snack. I’ll give you extra. It can be stored for a long time without spoiling.”
“Daughter, Butler Chen said you told him to collect 500 jin of red fruits from the estate tomorrow. Are you really going to be able to finish so many snacks?”
Before Su Lele could answer, her grandfather and Fourth Sister immediately responded:
“How could we not finish it? It’s still not enough!”
“Grandfather is right! I need to bring more for Little Fatty and the others. I also need to hide some so that when Young Lord Leng Haotian comes back from school vacation, I can let him try it too. He will definitely praise me!”
Su Lele could only laugh helplessly. Her grandfather and little sister were both total foodies.
“I’m planning it this way,” she said. “Our family only has a small estate and no shops. Father and eldest brother’s salaries only cover household expenses. Next year my third brother will take the imperial exam, and sister-in-law is pregnant, so expenses will increase. Now is the season for red fruits. I plan to buy them from farmers and make a batch of snacks to sell. What do you all think?”
“Daughter is right. Our family may look decent, but our foundation is not as strong as many merchant families. The estate’s harvest is mostly for our own use, and there isn’t much surplus to sell.”
“Grandfather agrees. These red fruits aren’t worth much anyway. I haven’t even tried your other snack yet. Even just selling sugar-coated hawthorn would already be profitable.”
The others had no objections.
Dinner was lively and cheerful. Although the dishes were the usual ones, everyone’s appetite improved greatly after eating the sugar-coated red fruits.
After dinner, Su Lele prepared to cut the 20 large sheets of fruit leather into slices and pack them in oil paper, half a jin per package—enough to make at least 70 packs.
The entire family, including the servants, watched closely as she sliced the bright red fruit leather piece by piece.