Chapter 394: We Can Grow Our Own Mushrooms
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The table full of dishes all contained mushrooms.
Everyone’s gazes landed on the chicken soup. Zhao Sheng couldn’t help but ask, “Mother, what mushroom is this? Why is it so strange-looking? But it smells quite good.”
Auntie Yang smiled and said, “This is called Monkey Head Mushroom. The Great Empress gave it a name. Try it all. If you feel uncomfortable, quickly tell me. I’m even preparing to boil a pot of Monkey Head Mushroom for the Great Empress in the afternoon.”
She would definitely have to put in a lot of effort since the Great Empress was eating it.
It was their family’s supreme honor that Auntie Yang could cook chicken soup for the Great Empress. Village Chief Zhao could not help but ask, “Have you asked Doctor Gu? It’s definitely not poisonous?”
Auntie Yang nodded. “It’s not poisonous. The Great Empress even said that she had seen a description of the monkey head mushroom in a book. Anyone can eat it.”
In that case, everyone was relieved.
Auntie Yang filled a bowl for everyone. Even if there were adverse effects, there would not be a big problem with the amount in one bowl.
There was a beautiful layer of oil on the hot chicken soup. Little Peach blew on it and took a small sip eagerly.
Suddenly, she was stunned by the delicious taste of the chicken soup. She immediately narrowed her eyes and praised, “Grandma’s chicken soup is so delicious. The Great Empress will definitely like it. Little Peach likes it too!”
Little Peach smiled sweetly. It was so sweet that it touched Auntie Yang’s heart. Everyone quickly took a bite.
The soup was fresh and fragrant. The Monkey Head Mushroom tasted a little like chicken, but it was different from the dry texture of chicken. Instead, it was even softer, tender, and juicy. It was worthy of its praise of being a “vegetarian meat”.
Everyone was full of praises for the Monkey Head Mushroom.
Auntie Yang regretted not bringing back more Monkey Head Mushrooms.
The family finished eating happily. Auntie Yang paid close attention to everyone’s body conditions. After confirming that no one was feeling uncomfortable, she slaughtered another chicken and seriously stewed a second pot for Bai Wutong.
In this pot of chicken soup, Auntie Yang also added two nourishing wild ginseng and red dates. The taste was also mixed more carefully.
At night, when Bai Wutong was eating, she was shocked by Auntie Yang’s pot of nourishing chicken soup.
This was too rich.
Auntie Yang said in embarrassment, “Great Empress, try it while it’s hot. If you don’t like it, 1’11 change the cooking method next time.”
Bai Wutong shook her head. “It looks very appetizing. Auntie Yang, you’ve worked hard.”
Under Auntie Yang’s expectant gaze, Bai Wutong picked up the bowl and took a sip of soup with a spoon.
Suddenly, she looked up and said without exaggeration, “It’s a pity not to open a restaurant with Auntie’s chicken soup.”
When Auntie Yang heard Bai Wutong’s praise, she immediately said, “This Monkey Head Mushroom is the reason. Unfortunately, it’s rare to find in the forest.”
“If only there were more. If there were more, I really would like to open a chicken soup restaurant. It would definitely be passed down as an ancestral skill.”
In the modern era, no matter how precious the mushrooms were, humans had been successful in cultivating them. For example, the monkey head mushroom could be harvested at 250 kilograms per mu of land.
Bai Wutong suddenly had the idea of letting everyone build a greenhouse to raise mushrooms.
Previously, she had also thought of building a greenhouse, but building a greenhouse required a greenhouse membrane. The greenhouse membrane was made of plastic, so she had yet to create a machine to extract plastic. After all, no matter how smart Bai Wutong was, she was only an arts student. Even with the blueprint, she had to study hard to understand it.
Without plastic, there were actually other ways to build a greenhouse.
For example, the ancient courts or high-ranking officials and Noble Lady in China would specially build a greenhouse and order people to burn wood 24 hours a day to maintain the temperature of the greenhouse so that the plants planted in the greenhouse could grow.
There were also historical records of glass houses specially built using light to heat up and plant vegetables.
However, be it the greenhouse or the plants in the glass room, it was no different from a dream for ordinary people to eat.
Although the cost of glass had decreased with the technology provided by Bai Wutong, it was impossible to build a glass house. Firstly, the glass house was extremely easy to destroy, especially since this place was close to the sea. If there was a typhoon and the glass shattered, the entire glass house would be destroyed. Moreover, the cost was not low.
However, mushrooms and vegetables had different growth habits. They did not need much sunlight. They only needed to control the temperature and humidity. With good fungi packs and seedlings, even a simple mushroom shed without a greenhouse could grow mushrooms at high rates.
It was not a dream at all to eat a large number of fresh mushrooms in winter.
As Bai Wutong drank the soup, she searched for information about cultivating fungi in the space computer. After a bowl of soup, she understood the method.
As long as the edible fungi were isolated from the mixed living things and then purified and developed, one could obtain pure fungi.
By growing and reproducing pure fungi in controllable conditions, mushrooms could be cultivated.
The cultivation method of each mushroom was slightly different, but the basic principle was still the same.
Bai Wutong put down her chopsticks and smiled. She said to Auntie Yang, “We can plant mushrooms ourselves.”
Auntie Yang had also heard about the planting of mushrooms. One could cut down a tree with an axe and leave a mark. Before long, mushrooms would grow out of the bark.
This method was also known as the log-cutting method in China. It had a history of more than a thousand years and was specially used to cultivate mushrooms.
The principle was that the spores emitted by natural mushrooms would germinate on the axe marks and eventually form mycelium on the bark, producing a batch of mushrooms.
However, this method of cultivating mushrooms had a long growth cycle. It would take at least two years to cultivate mature mycelium and gradually grow into mushrooms. Especially because of the climate and environment, the yield was very unstable. Therefore, even if many people knew how to plant mushrooms, they were too lazy to plant them.
When Bai Wutong said that she could plant mushrooms, Auntie Yang thought that she wanted to plant them for herself. She immediately smiled and said, “If the Great Empress wants to plant mushrooms, I’ll get Third Brother to go to the mountains to cut a few wooden stakes later.”
The log-cutting method had an important role in the history of China’s agricultural culture, but in the modern era, it had long been replaced by advanced mushroom cultivation technology.
The production was advanced and the growth speed was fast. Not only could it quickly replenish stocks in the fresh market, but it could also be made into dry goods and sold to food processing factories to be made into various products.
If they planted it now, it would also be an industry chain suitable for everyone’s development.
Bai Wutong smiled and said, “I know a way to plant mushrooms. Moreover, an acre of land can produce hundreds of kilograms.”
Hundreds of kilograms!!!?
Auntie Yang was stunned and suspected that there was something wrong with her hearing.
The yield of an acre of rice was only a few hundred catties. How could an acre of mushrooms produce a few hundred cat ties!
Even if the Great Empress did not know how to plant mushrooms, it was too exaggerated.
Auntie Yang couldn’t rebut Bai Wutong, so she stammered, “R-really?”
When planting mushrooms in the mushroom shed, it could be divided into several layers. It was really simple to grow a few hundred catties.
Bai Wutong nodded confidently. “We can try this method. If it succeeds, we won’t lose anything.”
Auntie Yang could not believe it, but she asked, “What do you need to prepare?”
Bai Wutong smiled and said, “We need some fresh mushrooms for the time being. If we can successfully cultivate the fungi, we can build a mushroom shed and officially plant mushrooms..”
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