Chapter 663 Salted Kelp (1/2)

After the smuggling was busted, the smuggling wave that had been getting hotter in recent times was slightly stopped.

All the villagers also followed suit and started to do their work. Otherwise, seeing those who smuggled out could make so much money in a month, they could not concentrate at all.

Around the end of March.

Li Duoyu drove a small iron boat to inspect the kelp field. After almost four months of cultivation.

The kelp has grown to more than one meter long. It may be because of the intensive cultivation that the nutrients in the seawater cannot keep up.

This year's kelp is not as good as expected, but it is not particularly bad overall.

What really affects the quality of kelp is the weather, if there are more rainy and cloudy days in spring.

If the kelp does not get enough light, it will naturally not grow well, and there may even be holes and dissolved leaves.

Fortunately, the weather this year is still good, and the rainy weather is not as much as last year. As long as the weather continues to be good in the next one or two months.

This year, kelp can make farmers earn a lot of money, but Li Duoyu feels that the reality may not be as good as imagined.

The weather in Dandan Island in April and May is not very stable, and it is not uncommon for typhoons to come early.

Many kelp farmers on Dandan Island have been worshipping Mazu recently.

Praying for good weather and good harvest.

Since the kelp farming area on Dandan Island is really large this year, in order to prevent everyone from harvesting kelp at the same time.

Li Duoyu listed several time periods, namely early May and mid-May, late May and early June.

Let everyone harvest in batches to prevent them from all colliding together, otherwise the sampans used to transport kelp and the land for drying kelp on the island will definitely not be enough.

Most kelp farmers still choose the mid-May period. According to the weather on Dandan Island, the climate at this time has warmed up. As long as it is sunny and windy, the kelp can be dried in one day.

Some are more worried and plan to start harvesting in advance in early May.

There are relatively few people who sign up in June, because it is very easy to have heavy rains in June on Dandan Island, and it will be difficult to dry kelp at that time.

Because the kelp farming area is so large, the price of workers is very competitive. Lao Lu, who has also farmed several acres of kelp this year, directly put up a recruitment sign at his door:

[Kelp harvesting workers, starting from 8 yuan a day]

[Kelp drying workers, starting from 5 yuan a day]

Passing villagers occasionally stop to take a look, and some people directly ask: "Boss, how much is it starting from 8 yuan, when will you start to collect."

Lao Lu, who was sitting at the door: "In mid-May, it will not be less than 8 yuan. At that time, it depends on how well you do. I will pay according to the situation on the spot."

The villager who asked the question laughed and said: "This price in mid-May is not good. Wang Jinshan has already offered 9 yuan, and Director Li is likely to offer 10 yuan."

Old Lu snorted, "How much other people earn is none of my business. They earn so much, but I don't even see them share some with me."

The villagers shook their heads and said, "You can't recruit workers with your eight yuan, and you're already the boss. Can you stop being so stingy and be more generous?"

Old Lu looked at them unhappily, "Your wages are so high, and you've made all the money, and we've made nothing. By then, all of us who grow kelp will work for you."

The villagers laughed and said, "Who told you to grow kelp? Blame us for the lack of labor. If you think the labor on the island is expensive, you can go outside to find someone. Maybe you'll have to pay for their accommodation."

Li Duoyu, who was passing by, was also a little speechless. The labor price has indeed risen rapidly in the past two years.

Three years ago, earning two yuan a day was already a lot, but now ten yuan a day is considered too little.

The key reason is still the supply and demand relationship. Everyone knows that the kelp fishing time is just over a month.

Almost every family in the village has kelp farming to some extent. When the time comes, they will definitely give priority to helping their relatives. If they don’t find someone early, it will be very embarrassing.

To be honest, there are too many kelp farms. There are nearly 10,000 acres of kelp fields. If all the young men on Dandan Island go to salvage kelp, there will be a big gap in manpower.

It will take at least one month for Li Duoyu to salvage more than 3,000 acres of kelp fields.

And the entire Li family has nearly 6,000 acres in total, which is not something that can be done by dozens of workers.

And the people in the breeding base cannot be called at will. One carrot has one job. If they are asked to come to help, it will be a bit of a waste of time if the breeding project goes wrong.

Li Duoyu directly published an advertisement in Rongcheng Daily [Minlong Company recruits general workers for one and a half months, with a daily salary of 10 yuan, including food and accommodation].

As a result, in less than a week, nearly 300 people signed up, and Li Duoyu only selected 50 of them.

In addition to the labor problem, drying kelp is also a big problem. There are not many places on Dandan Island where kelp can be dried.

If he wants to dry the more than 3,000 acres of land, there is really no condition on the island. After thinking about it, Li Duoyu had to move the drying place to Qixing Bay.

During this period, the workers have been building simple bamboo racks on the beach. When the time comes, after the kelp is salvaged.

It can be directly transported to Qixing Bay and hung on the bamboo rack for drying. It is really good to have a piece of land of your own, otherwise it is really difficult to deal with.

In view of the fact that the leaders are always changing, Li Duoyu really wants to extend the lease of the land in Qixing Bay to thirty or forty years.

By the way, rent more land. For a large-scale breeding company, two thousand acres is still too little. You can rent all the surrounding areas.

Speaking of which, the cooperation between Rongcheng Aquatic Products Processing Factory and Dandan Island has come to an abrupt end since the change of leadership at Qingkou Wharf.

Li Duoyu did not know the other party, so he did not take the initiative to find the other party, and the new leader also acted as if nothing had happened.

Both parties tacitly did not contact each other, and this scene was also in line with Li Duoyu's inherent impression of the system.

The new leader will definitely reshuffle, overturn all the projects of the predecessor, and start his own projects again.

Of course, there are many things involved, such as oil and water, profit distribution, etc., because Li Duoyu is so familiar with Director Liu.

It is understandable that the new director did not intend to cooperate with him.

Li Duoyu fished up some kelp. The kelp at the end of March was not particularly fat, with a width of only more than ten centimeters and a thickness of only two or three millimeters.

According to Guozi, the kelp in his hand is not yet mature, but kelp can be eaten even if it is not mature.

Even the kelp seedlings can be eaten. The current kelp specifications are very suitable for making salted kelp.

Salted kelp is different from dried kelp. Salted kelp can preserve the freshness of kelp to the greatest extent.

Compared with dried kelp that is often used to make soup, salted kelp is more suitable for cold dishes.

Generally, the kelp used for salting does not really need to be particularly thick. Li Duoyu's hand is just right for these "immature" kelp.

Li Duoyu boiled a large pot of water and directly put the kelp in a large iron pot to boil.

Boiling is the key to kelp processing. The time and water temperature must be mastered. If the time is too long, the leaves will soften and fade and deteriorate easily.

If the time is too short, there will be a brown heart in the middle of the kelp leaves, and the color will be uneven, which will not look good.

Generally, it is best to control the water temperature of blanching kelp at around 90 degrees. If the temperature is too high.

It is easy to burn the kelp skin, and the boiling time is generally about one minute. The color of the kelp is mostly brown.

As long as the kelp is boiled, it will immediately turn emerald green.

In the past life, many tourists who came to Dandan Island were surprised when they saw the kelp: "Isn't the kelp green?"

Sometimes when Li Duoyu was in a good mood, he would explain to them: "Kelp is basically brown, and the green kelp must have been boiled."

After fishing for a while, seeing that the color had begun to turn green, Li Duoyu fished out the kelp and placed it in sea water with ice to cool it down.

After the kelp was cooled, it had to be put into a wooden box with mesh, and some stones were directly pressed on it to directly stack and press the water.

After the water was squeezed out, salt could be added to the kelp. Here Li Duoyu used edible salt.

This step reminded Li Duoyu of the era when industrial salt was used. The health of Chinese food is really hard to describe.

At that time, they didn't particularly understand the harm of industrial salt, and they just did whatever they could to save money.

After adding salt, they directly stirred and kneaded it with their hands, and then poured the salt water of the vegetable body into the brine pool to soak it. It took more than a day to pickle it.

The salted kelp was done.

And this process is relatively old. When Li Duoyu returned to Dandan Island in his previous life, it had been completely replaced by automated machinery.

You just need to clean the kelp and put it on the machine. When it comes out, it is already cut into salted kelp shreds.

Unlike dried kelp, every part of the salted kelp is a treasure, and there is no difference between good and bad.

The scraps that dried kelp dislikes the most, that is, the edge of the kelp, are the best-selling parts for salted kelp.

Because salted kelp pursues more taste, the edge of the kelp is thin and crispy, which is suitable for processing into kelp shreds and instant kelp.

The middle section of kelp is thicker, which is more suitable for making kelp rolls. As for the kelp head, it is hard and thick, so it is mostly used to make pickled products.

Another advantage of salted kelp is that it is not restricted by weather, and it can be made even in rainy weather.

In the previous life, if there was too much rainy weather, kelp farmers would pull all the kelp to the factory and let them make salted kelp.

After the salted kelp was produced, Li Duoyu came to the canteen of the Qixingwan breeding base with a bucket of kelp shreds.

The chef in the canteen smiled and said to Li Duoyu after seeing Li Duoyu: "Duoyu, why did you put the kelp away so quickly?"

The chef of the canteen here is also a relative of Li Duoyu. He is the third son of his uncle's family, named Zhang Ada.

In terms of seniority, he is still Li Duoyu's uncle, but Li Duoyu has forgotten how to call him.

The Li family is considered a big family in the village. Whenever he meets someone two years older than him, Li Duoyu calls him "uncle", and those one year older than him "brother".

"Uncle Da, I'll give you another dish today."

"Okay, just tell me how to make it, and I'll take care of it."

"It's my turn today, you can watch from the side first, if the response is good, this dish will be a permanent dish in our canteen in the future."

Li Duoyu also made kelp shreds at home two years ago, and the response was quite good, very good with rice.

Li Duoyu plans to try it out in the canteen today. If everyone thinks it tastes good, there is no need for any market research.

Directly discuss with Chen Yuansu and sell it directly.

Li Duoyu fiddled with it for a while, rolled up the kelp, and then cut it into strips on the spot. The chef's eyes widened.

He knew that Duoyu was a good cook for a long time. After seeing it today, he didn't expect that his knife skills were also amazing, even better than his.

After cutting the kelp strips, Li Duoyu picked up various seasonings, such as salt, MSG, soy sauce, sugar, minced ginger, chili, garlic, rice vinegar, sesame oil, and light soy sauce.

Li Duoyu thought about it, and then said: "Uncle Da, you might as well help me cut some cucumber strips."

The cold kelp strips are very particular about the taste of the sauce, but the ingredients are heavy, and the cucumber strips can just relieve the greasiness.

Of course, the soul side dish must be added at the end - coriander.

For Li Duoyu, if there is no coriander in the cold dish, it is equivalent to losing the soul.

Li Duoyu cut a bunch of coriander and couldn't help but put it in front of his nose to smell it. He felt that the coriander of this era was still more flavorful.

In his previous life, when he went to the vegetable market to buy coriander, he must grab the coriander and smell it. Maybe it was because he was quick, he always felt that the taste of coriander was much lighter.

There are also many vegetable stall owners who say that coriander has to be cut to have a taste, but the coriander of this era, even if it is not cut, just put it in the hand, it is full of fragrance.

Seeing that Li Duoyu used so many sauces to make a dish, Zhang Ada felt distressed.

He probably wouldn't need so many seasonings to make ten big pot dishes, and these seasonings are not cheap.

After Li Duoyu mixed it cold, he sprinkled some white sesame seeds and directly put the kelp shreds in a large iron basin.

The chef picked up some kelp shreds with chopsticks and tried a few bites. His eyes widened: "Duoyu, this tastes really good. Teach me the ingredients just now. I seem to have forgotten them a little. I'm afraid I can't make this taste."

"Don't worry, I'll write a recipe for you later."

After dinner time.

The employees in the factory came to the cafeteria one after another. After seeing the new dish in the big iron basin, they all became curious.

"Uncle Da, what kind of dish is this? How come you have time to develop new dishes today?"

The chef smiled and said: "This dish is not made by me. Our General Manager Li cooked it himself, and I just helped."

"Director Li made it himself, so we have to give him a favor and eat more."

The villagers all knew that Li Duoyu could cook. Someone once wanted to invite Director Li to be the chef when he got married.

After eating kelp shreds, the workers in the canteen all had very colorful expressions: "Fuck, it's a bit unreasonable if this kelp shreds are not paired with wine."

Zhang Ada said: "You can drink, but we have to charge for beer in our canteen."

"It's charged, we can still afford a bottle of wine."

"I want a bottle of beer too."

"Tomorrow, will there be any kelp shreds? If there are, I will apply to bring my granddaughter to eat together."

The food in Minlong Canteen is famous for its deliciousness. Now these workers are eager to spend money to bring their relatives to the canteen to eat.

Li Duoyu, who also eats in the canteen, sees that everyone has such a high evaluation of kelp shreds, and immediately has confidence.

And summer is coming soon. This thing is very suitable as a snack. As long as the taste is good, the sales will definitely be good.

By then, food stalls and restaurants will definitely need it. Li Duoyu feels that he can still make money.

After dinner, Li Duoyu said to Chen Xiaoyan: "Please contact Secretary Zhu later and tell her that we have new kelp products and ask her to pick a time to come and have a look."

"Got it, Mr. Li."

As he worked longer and longer at Minlong, everyone's way of addressing Li Duoyu began to change. Chen Xiaoyan no longer called him Director Li or Brother Yu.

Coastal fishermen are a little averse to the term "boss". When Chen Xiaoyan sees Li Duoyu now, she usually calls him Mr. Li.