Agriculture Idol

Chapter 152 Potato Stew ([-])

Brother Xiaoyong is very familiar with this scene. His family used to plant potatoes in rotation for a year or two.So he knew that when the stems and leaves of potatoes withered and turned khaki, it was the signal of harvest.

Potato plants use their leaves to photosynthesize and make nutrients.Potatoes in the ground will grow while storing nutrients, so when the potato stems and leaves wither, the production and storage of nutrients will be reduced.In this way, when the stems and leaves are all withered, photosynthesis cannot continue, and the growth of potatoes also stops.

In other words, this is evidence that potatoes are at their most nutritious and fully ripe.

Li Chengxin looked at Xiaoyong, who was breaking off the withered potato stalks, and said, "Suddenly discovered that potatoes still have a sense of philosophy in life-this is the stem and leaf dedicating all of themselves to the next generation of potatoes."

Brother Xiaoyong got up and teased: "What level of chicken soup is this?"

Unexpectedly, the farmers would actually eat this chicken soup, and Li Chengxin said with emotion: "My whole life is just for my children and grandchildren."

Having said that, the farmer squatted down and began to scratch the ridges of the field with his hands.The over-the-top live cameras even caught water dripping onto dry dirt.

【Zicheng made people cry...】

[Although I don’t think so, that sentence may really hit the pain points of other farmers. 】

[Don't say anything, support me with the next order! 】

The soil in the potato field was dry and loose, and the farmer scraped it away lightly. Li Chengxin and Brother Xiaoyong hurriedly knelt down to help.

Soon, several light-yellow potatoes were dug out. The oblong potatoes were a common variety around here—May Queen, which is also one of the potato varieties with a long history of cultivation in the world.

Brother Xiaoyong picked out the most well-proportioned potato and put it in front of the camera: "Look, does this shape have a luxurious feeling?"

In Li Chengxin's opinion, the light-colored and slender potatoes are indeed somewhat different from the elegance of round potatoes.

The May Queen, a potato variety, originated in the south of England, where a country celebration is held in May, and the most beautiful girl at the ceremony is chosen as the May Queen.

"Hey, I seem to know this story..."

"I seem to have seen it too..."

Brother Xiaoyong inexplicably thought of the movie "A Midsummer Night's Horror" that he and Lin Yi watched together in the middle of the night. This horror movie was about the May Queen's election celebration.As for Li Chengxin, of course, he heard Brother Xiaoyong describe the horror story afterwards.

[I have also seen...]

[Those who have watched this horror movie crawled silently, although there are indeed many evocative scenes in it, but it is really a horror movie]

[The painting style of the agricultural assistance program changes suddenly]

"Ahem," the farmer tried to bring the painting style back to the topic, "May Queen's potato is named for its beautiful shape..."

The farmer's wife who was watching the live broadcast also came out to the rescue: "Everyone, let's have some snacks!"

As he spoke, he brought a small pot.

"What is this? It smells so good!" Brother Xiaoyong betrayed the organization first, and greeted the farmer's wife.

"It's boiled potatoes in salt water." The farmer's wife replied.

"Boiled in salt water?" Li Chengxin also stepped over the ridge in a few steps.

The farmer's wife lifted the lid of the pot, and in the pot, several peeled potatoes were soaked in water.

"It's not baked potatoes, but boiled in salt water, isn't it? This is so novel, and the skins are still peeled!" Brother Xiaoyong habitually wanted to reach for it, but found that there was still dirt on his hands, so he had to Stop first.

"That's right, the most common way to cook potatoes here is to boil them." The farmer nodded.

"Hey, this is the first time I've eaten boiled potatoes." Li Chengxin recalled the potatoes he had eaten in the past, and confirmed, "Except for the broth."

In fact, he discovered yesterday that peeling potatoes and boiling them in salt water for half an hour is really the traditional way of cooking potatoes here.

The farmer's wife put the lid on the pot again, drained the water from the pot at the edge of the field, opened the lid, and put the pot on the extinguished briquette stove to keep the potatoes warm.

Brother Xiaoyong asked: "After cooking like this, won't the nutrition be lost?"

The farmer's wife replied: "But in theory, the starch layer of potatoes can maintain the nutrients in potatoes."

Potatoes are as rich in vitamin C as oranges, but because potatoes contain a lot of starch, even after cooking, the vitamin is not easy to lose.

The solanine contained in raw potatoes will make people feel astringent, but the solanine that is soluble in water will be eliminated after the potatoes are peeled and cooked. This is one of the theories of boiling potatoes in salt water here.

The farmer's wife scooped out the boiled potatoes with a wooden spoon and put them in a bowl. Brother Xiaoyong took the bowl first, took one chopstick, and put a piece of potato into his mouth.

"Delicious! Even though there is no butter, it has a creamy taste like butter!"

Li Chengxin took the next bowl of potatoes and tasted it carefully.

"This potato is very delicate and soft, and it really tastes like butter. And, is it really just boiled in salt water? It tastes so sweet."

The farmer's wife took out another jar and said, "Would you like to add some side dishes to the potatoes?"

Brother Xiaoyong nodded repeatedly, and handed over the empty bowl.

The farmer's wife added another potato to Brother Xiaoyong, then scooped out a spoonful of side dishes from the jar and put them on top of the potatoes, and then put side dishes on top of the half-eaten potatoes that Li Chengxin had eaten.

"This is... pickled squid!" Li Chengxin recognized the main dish at a glance.

With the pickled squid, Brother Xiaoyong put his head down and ate it.

Li Chengxin also ate most of the potatoes in one mouthful: "It's so delicious! It turns out that pickled squid can also be used with potatoes!"

Hongming Village naturally has pickled squid as a snack, but it has always been served with rice and steamed buns.

The main component of potatoes is starch, and starch will expand after heating, squeezing the cell wall from the inside out, which will make the plant cells separate from each other and become granular.

Among the varieties of May Queen, it also contains more pectin and dietary fiber.When the pectin combines with the water in the potatoes, it will become sticky like a slurry, making the cells feel as if they are about to separate.

This is what gives May Queen its creamy texture and, even when peeled and cooked, it does not fall apart like mashed potatoes, making it perfect for soups.

【Stop talking, just tell me when you can eat it...】

[But even if the hosts are cooking during the live broadcast, you won't be able to eat it]

[No, no, my girlfriend is also waiting to learn how to cook potatoes, so I will have something to eat when they finish cooking.]

【Administrator, come out!Fork out the dog food! 】

[Administrator Lin Yi, a beautiful woman, is waiting outside the camera to eat...]

[This world is really full of malice. 】

After talking about the planting situation and enjoying field snacks, the next step is to help farmers harvest potatoes.

Faced with such a vast field, it is absolutely impossible to manually dig potatoes from the field ridges like just now. At this time, it is time for large machinery to enter the field.

A few people walked along the edge of the potato field towards the tractor mentioned earlier. The so-called Wangshan ran a dead horse. After walking for nearly 10 minutes, they arrived at the tractor in "Skyline".

Looking at it from a distance, Li Chengxin found that this tractor was much bigger than all the tractors they had seen before. Judging from the experience of interviewing sweet potato farmers before, this tractor can obviously handle it. All processes involved in harvesting potatoes.

Zhou Hao stood in the distance and took pictures of several people visiting the tractor. In the picture, Xiao Yong and Li Chengxin, who are 1.8 meters tall, were set off by the tractor as a dwarf. The tractor was twice their height.

The farmer introduced: "This is a machine called 'reaper' specially used for potato harvesting."

The farmer's wife instructed Li Chengxin and Brother Xiaoyong to stand on the tractor bed. In the middle of the bed area is a wide conveyor belt, and there are many machines with unknown functions beside it.

The farmer got on the driver's seat of the tractor, gestured to his wife through the rearview mirror, and when he saw that everyone was ready, he drove off.

Because the tractor was moving slowly, Zhou Hao carried the camera and walked along the road while filming the working condition of the tractor.

The middle section of the tractor is an excavating device, which rotates as the tractor slowly advances to dig up the potatoes in the field ridges.

Netizens found that the two rows of wheels of the tractor happened to be stuck between several rows of field ridges, and they would not press on the field ridges at all.

The soil and potatoes dug up by the digging device are sent to the rear of the vehicle by the conveyor belt, where the soil and potatoes enter a rotating Ferris wheel-like device, and the soil, stems and leaves and other debris are scattered on the ground. And after that, the potatoes are sent back to the bucket by the conveyor belt.

What Li Chengxin and the others had to do was to pick out the remaining debris from the conveyor belt passing in front of them.

The rest of the potatoes go on the conveyor belt into the storage unit above the excavator, and during this time potatoes of different sizes are put into different storage compartments.

After running for a while, Brother Xiaoyong fully understood the working principle of this "reaper": "Dig out the soil, pick out the potatoes, sort the size, and sift out the sundries simultaneously. This machine is too powerful. Bar!"

In about 10 minutes, the tractor traveled slowly for 500 meters. Looking at the electronic scales in the storage area, more than two tons of potatoes had been harvested.

[This is too powerful! 】

[2 tons of potatoes, how many bags of potato chips can be made? 】

[The potato chip company tells you: 8000 bags]

[Catch a professional boss alive! 】

After the potatoes are harvested, the potatoes are transferred from the tractor to the truck and then stored in a special warehouse.The temperature of the warehouse is set at 3 degrees Celsius, under which the starch in the potatoes will be converted into sugar, which will make the potatoes more delicious.

This step is basically the same as that of the sweet potato farmers interviewed before.

After that, these potatoes will be shipped to all parts of the country around February next year and enter thousands of households.

【Huh?So, the potatoes that are ordered now are the potatoes that were harvested a few months ago. 】

[Indeed, the same is true for sweet potatoes, the freshest ones are not so delicious~]

[Amazing and amazing, I learned new useless knowledge! 】

(End of this chapter)