EBE Chapter 253 Camellia
Chapter 253 Camellia
The next morning, Zheng Sisi, Rose, Lily, and Master Ye, who was ostensibly a coachman but was actually a secret guard, left the yard and waited at the fork in the road at the foot of the mountain for the Third Prince and his companions to arrive.
She and the Third Prince had agreed to go to the mountains to have a look. Zheng Sisi wanted to see if there were any soapberry trees. She listed several recipes for making soap, including soapberry, mugwort, and various flowers. She wanted to go to the mountains to see if there were other ingredients that are common in modern times but were unknown or unrecognizable in ancient times.
As for why they came out secretly, it was because they were worried that the three little sisters would follow them. The three of them rarely even went out the door. It was okay for them to go with them to dig wild vegetables, but it was better not to go up the mountain. So yesterday they tricked them into staying in the restaurant to help.
Zheng Sisi did this for their own good. Zheng Zhiyuan and Zhong Ruiyu did not come with them. They will definitely regret it when they find out.
The third prince arrived with Qingfeng in a short while. He saw Zheng Sisi wearing a short coat and carrying her small cloth bag. He didn't know what was in it, but it was bulging. Master Ye carried a backpack with some dry food and biscuits in it.
The third prince came closer and asked, "It's tiring to go up the mountain. Are you sure you want to go?"
Zheng Sisi: "Don't worry, I've been running and exercising for so long, I can't have no effect at all. Let's go, it's early and it's not too hot to climb the mountain."
After Zheng Sisi finished speaking, she took the lead and walked up the mountain along the road. The Third Prince followed her, and Rose and the others followed after a few steps.
After climbing for more than ten minutes, they came to a fork in the road. Zheng Sisi had already found out that to the right was the bamboo forest. The bamboo forest was very large, and villagers went there to dig bamboo shoots and pick bamboo fungus every day. Zheng Sisi decisively gave up this road.
She led me to the left, where there were pine trees, fir trees, and many other trees and fruit trees. It was just the beginning of spring, and many fruit trees were just beginning to bloom.
As they walked along, Zheng Sisi found that the view ahead was widening. In front of her was a large area of short trees. From a distance, Zheng Sisi thought they looked like camellia trees, but she was not very sure.
She started walking quickly, and when she reached the bushes, she said happily, "Sheng Zhen, come quickly, these are camellia trees. We can harvest a lot of camellia seeds from this large area, and squeeze a lot of oil from them!"
The third prince didn't know what the tree was used for, so he walked closer and asked, "Is there anything special about this tree?"
Zheng Sisi pulled a leaf and looked closer, then replied, "There's nothing special about this tree. The main thing is that its fruit is very useful. When its fruit ripens in autumn, it can be used to extract oil. Camellia oil is a edible oil with high nutritional value. We can use it to cook, and it's much more fragrant than cooking with lard.
Eating more camellia oil is good for the human body, and it is considered a very precious oil."
The third prince also picked a leaf and said, "This fruit can be used to extract oil. I've never heard of it before."
Zheng Sisi bent down and searched on the ground. She saw a lot of rotten camellia seeds. Because the ground was damp, they had rotted and moldy. Zheng Sisi picked up a dry branch and dug it a few times. A few shelled tea seeds fell out.
Zheng Sisi pointed to a few seeds and said, "These are camellia seeds. Dry them, fry them, and use an oil press to squeeze out the oil inside. Then you can use it to cook. It can replace lard."
The third prince squatted down and looked at it carefully. There were several irregular particles, some black, some gray, and some brown. He looked up and asked Zheng Sisi: "Do you have a way to turn them into oil?"
Zheng Sisi nodded: "Of course, just like the rapeseed oil bought from the grain store, tea oil is more fragrant when cooking. Of course, there are also peanut oil and soybean oil, which can also be used for cooking."
The third prince pointed to the ground and said, "Look, there are tea seeds everywhere on the ground. I guess no one knows what they are used for. How about I wait until autumn and arrange for people to go out and collect camellia seeds. You can find a way to turn them into oil."
Zheng Sisi thought for a moment and said, "Sure. Camellia trees are very common and can be found in many places. If you can collect them, I will draw a picture of an oil press for you. Then you can extract a lot of oil and help people solve the problem of bland cooking soup."