Chapter 1765 - 1767: Are We Really Going to Open a Shop?
There are so many ways to prepare hazelnuts!
Just for side dishes or pastries, you can make many kinds, but Xiaoxiao hasn’t considered these.
No point in considering, because she doesn’t know how.
In the past, their family just wholesaled raw hazelnuts from Hazelnut Mountain, she doesn’t know any other methods.
Even roasting hazelnuts, she doesn’t know.
However, she can imitate what she has seen, after all, her family used to keep some for eating. She’s seen family members stir-fry hazelnuts, which should really be roasted, but without the equipment here, they can only use a big pan to fry them.
Haven’t you heard the saying? Sunflower seeds fried in a big pan smell fantastic.
Hazelnuts fried in a big pan also smell fantastic!
The most important thing for stir-frying hazelnuts is controlling the heat; too much heat will burn them, too little heat takes too much time. But for novices like them, slow is better than burnt!
The second key is constantly stirring, otherwise, the hazelnuts will heat unevenly, some are cooked, some are burnt, and that’s a failed product.
When the hazelnuts’ surface turns oily and dark, and you can smell a woody aroma, it means they’re almost ready.
Now you can taste it, hazelnuts will have a unique fragrant taste, but they’re not fully cooked yet, if they are cooked, it’s too late.
Take them out of the pan before they’re fully cooked, and let the residual heat finish cooking them.
Just like frying sunflower seeds, frying peanuts is similar.
Though it seems simple, when you actually do it, it’s not easy to perfect.
You could also try frying with sand, but that’s even more cumbersome, so Xiaoxiao decides to go with direct pan frying.
After describing, the two set to action.
Yang Dong’s strong enough and very diligent in stirring, and their first attempt went quite well, not a failure.
The shell of the fried hazelnuts cracked open, making them easier to eat.
"Didn’t expect us to succeed on the first try." Xiaoxiao said while munching, "Later we’ll share some with relatives, and perhaps we’ll set up a canopy in the yard one day, with big pans dedicated to this, can’t do it indoors. If we fry all day, my bed would be burnt to a crisp."
If they really fried all day, their arms would be exhausted, manual labor is truly tiring. Luckily, there aren’t many hazelnuts, only about ten thousand pounds, so we’ll fry them slowly.
The hazelnut yield from that mountain was quite low, but Xiaoxiao isn’t worried, as hazelnut trees can be cultivated, though it takes several years. Fortunately, she’s still young, with many days ahead.
As Yang Dong distributed hazelnuts to relatives, he asked, "Third sister-in-law, are we really going to open a shop?"
"Let’s talk after we process all the hazelnuts."
Xiaoxiao hasn’t quite decided yet. Initially, she thought opening a shop specializing in dried fruits might be nice, but later she realized it could be troublesome.
They only have so few hazelnuts on hand, they might sell out without needing a shop.
If they did open a shop, they’d need to sell other dried fruits too, can’t have just one type.
Sunflower seeds and peanuts are easy to get, but what about others, from where? She hasn’t thoroughly explored the mountain, there might be walnuts, but just those few would be too few. Making dried fruits manually is a bothersome affair.
It’s so troublesome yet might not be worthwhile, might as well leverage Yuelai Restaurant’s resources, let them take the hazelnuts back and create some dishes, which seems more reliable, saves time and effort. For Yuelai Restaurant, it’s a win-win, she’s not just taking advantage.