While it was still dark, everyone started to set up the stove. Because Qingyan said that cooking and refining salt requires a lot of firewood, so except for a few strong and healthy people who dug traps, everyone else went to collect dry branches.
Fortunately, because there is little rain, although the forest is a little dark, it is not very humid. The dead branches on the ground are very dry and can be used to make a fire.
The traps should also be dug deeper. They are to guard against those big beasts. If they are too shallow, they will be useless.
Fortunately, the sand and gravel there also contain salt, so the dug soil does not need to be wasted, which saves a process.
But after digging deeper, the color of the taxi below is different from the one above.
Qingyan thought that another layer of soil must have been dug, and the salt content was probably less, so she asked them to pile the taxis of another color on the other side so as not to mix them together.
After that, I will teach you how to filter, steam, remove impurities, and crystallize according to the steps from memory.
Of course, this was not something that could be accomplished in one go. She just explained all the steps first, and then asked half of the people to go back to rest, while the rest continued to work here.
Anyway, there are only two clay pots, and it is useless to leave so many people. The steps for refining salt are not complicated, and it is almost enough to read them once.
And I don’t know if I can succeed the first time. There is no need to spend all my time here. It will be the same when I come back tomorrow morning. I can also stop by and have breakfast here.
It wasn't dark yet, but it was starting to get gray, so I lit the torch I had made with suet fat to avoid getting dark halfway through.
The remaining eight people continued to set up the trap, and it should be almost done after digging for a few more hours.
This is also due to the shovel and pointed shovel that Chou Chou brought back. Those things are so convenient for digging holes. Otherwise, it would be impossible to dig a trap that deep even with branches.
Another thing is the geology here. Although there are some rocks on the surface, there is still more soil underneath. Even if you occasionally encounter a stone, it can be easily dug out with the pointed blade.
Qingyan kept thinking about whether there was anything missing in the refining. Why should we try to get the first batch of salt tonight? Even if it failed, we could continue the experiment.
Fortunately, no wild beasts came this night. Maybe they never stopped fighting here, and the few of them were having sex in full swing. The wild beasts probably ran away when they saw them from a distance.
At dawn, the first batch of salt was steamed out. Qingyan tasted it and found it had a bit of a bitter taste, but it was okay, at least it was very close.
As for how to get rid of the bitter taste, she really didn't know. Maybe she had some secret recipes.
Now this is wet refining salt, it is best to dry it, otherwise it will be difficult to store.
If the weather is very sunny tomorrow, it should only take half a day.
When it got daylight, another wave of people came over.
Because the pots are all here, it is difficult to cook. It is not convenient to cook over there, so I can only bring the washed wild vegetables and wheat grains here. There is still some mutton stewed before, which happens to be cooked in Together.
Qingyan accompanied Grandma Lanhua and Yang Dashan's family to go a few hundred meters to the left to wash out the two clay pots and cook the rice first.
People who have been busy all night are exhausted. After breakfast, they can go back there to rest, and they can continue working here.
The person who came to change the shift looked at the temporary wooden shelf set up next to it. There was a layer of straw mat on it and a thin layer of bark, with white and a little yellow crystals hanging on it.
"Is this...refined?"
Yang Shuanzhu said excitedly.
Yang Erzhuang pointed to a piece of bark with a proud look on his face and said: "Yes, Miss Xue is really amazing. She made this salt the first time. Well, this is what comes out of the first pot and is already dry."
"Yes, this is really refined. It looks the same as the salt I bought in the town!"
As he spoke, he pointed it with his finger and tasted it in his mouth. It was so salty!
Although there is a bit of bitterness, it is not very strong and can be ignored.
Qingyan was a little confused. She had added salt to the wild vegetable porridge they made before, but she didn't taste the bitter taste. She didn't know what this would taste like.
Especially when Grandma Lanhua and the others used the salt to make breakfast, she felt even more uneasy. If the cooked rice was bitter, it would be uncomfortable in the future.
If they are all the same, does it mean that salt tastes bitter only when eaten directly, but it is diluted when put in food? She has never eaten the salt here directly, so she really doesn't know if it is the same.
Of course not, Qingyan didn't know that when refining salt, there is another key step to remove the bitter taste, which is to use soy milk.
It’s just that they don’t even have beans now, let alone soy milk.
By the time breakfast was ready, the most dangerous night in the mountains had passed, so Qingyan and the others returned to the pool with peace of mind, taking along the meals of Liu Sanli Lanhua and Yang Dawang's family who were looking after their luggage.
Seeing the sleeping position they found later, Qingyan and the others nodded with satisfaction.
This place is between a mountain wall and a boulder, which can block the wind and block the sight lines on both sides.
As long as they don't make too much noise, even if someone comes over there, they won't be noticed immediately.
