Chapter 31: Queen of Fruits
Guangxi is a well-known fruit-producing province in China. In Bobai County, May and June of the lunar calendar are the peak seasons for fruits, with lychees, longans, jackfruits, carambolas, mangoes, guavas, and other fruits ripening and coming to market one after another.
At this time, Deng Shirong was using a knife to cut a jackfruit weighing over ten kilograms.
Jackfruit, also known as jackfruit, is the largest and heaviest fruit in the world and is known as the "Queen of Tropical Fruits."
There are two types of jackfruit: dry and wet. The taste of wet jackfruit is similar to durian, but in terms of flavor, the dry variety is far superior.
Moreover, even among dry jackfruits, the taste can vary greatly.
Poor-quality dry jackfruits taste bland, while high-quality ones are sweet and crispy, earning praise from anyone who tries them.
However, jackfruit is delicious, but its sticky sap is a nuisance. If someone unfamiliar with it gets the sap on their hands or knife, they'll have a headache trying to clean it.
As a southerner who grew up eating jackfruit, Deng Shirong knew how to avoid the sap. Simply coating his hands and knife with oil before cutting the jackfruit solved the problem.
Deng Shirong neatly cut the jackfruit in half horizontally, revealing the bright yellow flesh and releasing an enticing aroma.
Deng Yunzhu's eyes lit up. "The jackfruit is fully ripe. It must be very sweet."
Deng Yunzhen smiled. "The jackfruit tree at our home is a good variety. The fruits it bears are always delicious."
Deng Shirong continued cutting the jackfruit and said, "When your grandfather was carrying firewood to Dragon Lake to sell, he was lucky enough to eat such a sweet and delicious jackfruit. He brought the seeds back to plant, and that's how we got this jackfruit tree."
The children had never known the history of the jackfruit tree they had grown up with.
Jackfruit seeds can be planted or cooked and eaten. There are two textures: soft and sticky, which tastes better, and raw, which is less appealing.
The seeds are rich in starch and are known as the "rice tree" in Sri Lanka, where they can serve as a food substitute.
Deng Shirong cut the jackfruit into eight pieces, removed the core, and then saw the sticky sap oozing from the flesh. In later times, he could have used plastic bags to wipe it off, but in this era, he had to use clean rags.
After wiping off the sap, Deng Shirong said, "Time to eat!"
At his words, the children eagerly picked up pieces of jackfruit and dug into the flesh.
Though Guangxi is a major fruit-producing province, there weren't many fruit trees in Thatchfield Village at that time. Fruits like jackfruit were still rare, far from being as common as they would become in later generations.
"This jackfruit is so sweet!" Deng Yunzhu praised.
Deng Yunsong added, "The jackfruit is even sweeter. It's really delicious!"
Deng Yunhua, enjoying the sweet and delicious flesh, suggested, "Grandpa brought back the seeds to plant. Why don't we plant a few more trees? When they grow up and bear fruit, we'll never have to worry about not having jackfruit to eat."
Deng Shirong nodded. "If you want to plant more jackfruit trees, go ahead. Plant them in our private plots first. After the production team distributes the fields and hillside land, we can turn the allocated hillside land into an orchard. Then we can transplant the jackfruit seedlings there and plant lychee, longan, kumquat, and other fruit trees. This way, not only will we have fruit freedom, but we can also sell the fruit to make money. It's a way to get rich."
Deng Yunzhu pinched a piece of yellow flesh and asked curiously, "Dad, what does fruit freedom mean?"
Deng Shirong smiled. "It means you can eat as much fruit as you want."
Hearing this, the children's eyes sparkled with longing. Everyone loves fruit, and it's always popular, no matter the era.
If one day they could achieve fruit freedom as their father described, how happy they would be!
"Dad, are you serious about the orchard?" Deng Yuntai asked after swallowing a piece of jackfruit.
Deng Shirong replied, "Of course. We'll definitely build an orchard. We'll decide how to proceed after the production team distributes the hillside land. We don't know how much land our family will get yet."
In fact, Deng Shirong knew that, barring any unexpected events, his family would be allocated a moderately sized hill where they could plant about 1,300 fruit trees.
In his previous life, after the hills were divided, no one thought of planting fruit trees in the first few years. It wasn't until someone tried it that everyone followed suit. Within three years, every household had planted fruit trees on their hills, mostly lychee trees.
At that time, Deng Shirong's family had also followed the trend. He and his sons worked hard for over half a year to plant more than a thousand lychee seedlings.
Unfortunately, they hadn't known much about lychee varieties then and chose less profitable ones. In the end, the lychee hill, which had cost so much effort and resources, didn't make much money. It was a pity.
Now that Deng Shirong had been reborn, everything had changed. He knew which varieties to choose and wouldn't repeat the mistakes of his previous life.
Deng Yuntai didn't ask further. As his father said, the fields hadn't been divided yet, and it was too early to discuss the orchard.
Next, the father and son ate jackfruit and chatted, with Deng Yuntai reporting on the progress of the first batch of goods from the tile factory.
There were now over a dozen workers at the tile factory. If the weather was good, the first batch of goods would be ready to leave the kiln around the beginning of the seventh lunar month.
Whether the contracted tile factory would be profitable would be revealed then.
Deng Yuntai, a master tile maker and small boss at the factory, was eagerly looking forward to it.
Deng Shirong, however, was calmer. Having experienced this in his previous life, he had a rough idea of how much money they could make from a batch of goods.
With the profits from the tile factory, his eldest son's wages, and the matchmaker's gift from Deng Changfu and Guan Yongying's marriage, they could start planning to build a new house.
This was what Deng Shirong looked forward to.