The fire was reignited, and Xiaomi generously poured in four pounds of sugar.
Xiaocao was so shocked that her mouth could fit an egg. Her family wouldn’t even eat two ounces of sugar in a year, yet Xiaomi put in a full four pounds!
Xiaomi noticed and explained, "Adding more sugar makes it tastier, and the jam can last a few more days. Otherwise, it would spoil in just a day or two, and that’d be a complete waste."
"Xiaomi, let stir it. You go take a break." Wei Ziang took over Xiaomi’s task, handling a large pot nearly full to the brim, bubbling away.
The prickly pears had started to soften, but the sugar hadn’t fully dissolved. While stirring, it was necessary to press down with a spoon to help the prickly pears turn into a sauce more easily.
Stead by the hot vapors, Xiaomi was feeling a bit warm and wiped her forehead, "Little bro, keep an eye on it. We’re going to wash two small jars."
The family had small jars, each holding exactly two pounds. Xiaomi found a few, and she and Xiaocao cleaned them thoroughly and left them to dry in the sun.
The fire continued burning, and the steam quickly evaporated. In this short ti, the jam had beco much thicker, so Xiaomi promptly turned down the heat.
Xiaocao wanted to try stirring the jam too, so she took over from Wei Ziang.
Now it was simring over a low fla, to carefully avoid burning the jam at the bottom.
It had been boiling for about half an hour, nearly an hour. The once full pot was now reduced by a third.
What evaporated was all water, leaving behind the jam, very thick and honey-like. When picking up the spoon, it could already form threads.
The small jars were also dried and free of water and oil, ready to scoop the completed jam into. It filled four jars perfectly.
"Wow, it made eight pounds!" Xiaomi was surprised.
But after thinking it over, ten pounds of sugar was added, and with the prickly pears, there must have been at least twenty pounds in total. Eight pounds of jam wasn’t that exaggerated.
Turning around, spotting plenty on the spoon and in the pot, Xiaomi grabbed three chopsticks.
"It’s finished, and we haven’t even tasted it yet. Let’s try?"
Imdiately she scooped so with chopsticks from the spoon and put it into her mouth, her eyes lit up in an instant.
"Delicious! It’s both sour and sweet, with a rich fruit flavor!"
The other two nodded in agreent, even Wei Ziang had to admit that the result was a completely different experience from eating prickly pears directly.
Xiaomi then poured a pot of cooled boiled water and cleaned the remaining jam from the spoon and pot, turning it into half a pot of fruit juice.
Wei Ziang fetched three small bowls, and each of them tasted a small half bowl.
Refreshing!
Xiaomi imdiately cleaned two water bottles, dividing the juice. One bottle was kept at ho, and the other was for Xiaocao to take back and let her family taste.
"And for this, each of our families gets two jars. Xiaocao, why don’t you ask your parents if you should take them to town, or let my brother take them to the city tomorrow? Selling them to a restaurant, even just steeped in water, should be great."
Without much thought, Xiaocao quickly decided, "I’d trouble you to help, Xiaomi. Even if we went to the city, we might not sell them."
"Alright, you leave them here. When my brother cos back tomorrow afternoon, co to my house, and I’ll give you the money."
As for not selling it? Impossible!
Xiaocao was so happy and repeatedly thanked her because she had a feeling that this jam would definitely earn more than the previous fragrant dragon grass!
"As for ours, I want to keep a jar, only selling one. Xiaocao, what about you? Sell all of them, or keep a little too?"
This ti, Xiaocao hesitated but eventually shook her head, "Sell them. I’ll take this back ho and let my parents and siblings taste it."
She was referring to the bottle of fruit juice that Xiaomi offered to let her bring ho, sour and sweet, with a hint of prickly pear flavor.
"Alright, for the money made tomorrow, you take two-thirds, and I’ll take one-third."
"We also need to buy the salt and sugar. Those were provided by your family."
"Agreed, no problem."
The two girls agreed on how to split the profits while Wei Ziang quietly sipped his small bowl of fruit juice nearby.
Not to ntion, the white porcelain bowl with the pink fruit had a very strong fruity aroma, but the sweet and sour taste was neither greasy nor cloying, even a bit appetizing.
As he was pondering, his arm was suddenly tapped: "Little bro, for our jar, we’ll split the earnings half and half!"
After all, both of them had picked many prickly pears today, but only used half to make the jam, saving the other half to eat.
Wei Ziang was montarily stunned, then smiled slightly, "Sure."
They were really forthright, not holding back, and Xiaomi seed especially happy about it.
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