Culinary God in Wilderness

Chapter 270: Chapter 189: Joy of the Bountiful Harvest, Return to the Mangrove Forest

Large potatoes are usually used for making fries, cut into chunks for soup, or made into mashed potatoes. Those are the main ways to prepare them.

Every time they dug up the soil beneath a potato plant, they would unearth a dense cluster of potatoes.

The bamboo basket, already more than half full of chili peppers, was completely filled in just a few minutes, yet they had harvested less than a quarter of the potato patch.

"Just these potatoes alone will be enough to feed us for half a month, right?"

"That’s right." Andre nodded in agreement. "If we’re careful with them, they’ll last a month."

Erica raised her hand. "I don’t eat much. They’ll last me at least three weeks."

The growth cycle of a potato is between two and four months. This meant the remaining potatoes were enough for three more trips. Figuring on half a month’s worth of food per trip, that added up to two months in total.

By then, new, smaller potatoes would have surely grown to maturity.

Potatoes, being a root vegetable, are different from sweet potatoes. Their regenerative ability is weaker, and they are typically an annual crop.

After flowering, the potato tubers begin to swell, and during this process, the plant itself slowly withers and eventually dies completely.

The final harvest time for the potatoes is after the plant has completely withered. If they are left in the ground, some may rot, while the well-preserved ones will sprout and grow again the following year.

This meant that after they finished this harvest, only the small potatoes would be left in the patch. With their competition removed, all the nutrients would flow to these smaller potatoes, accelerating their growth.

However, during this process, the potato roots would not grow any new tubers, so the possibility of an infinite harvest didn’t exist.

Still, for this competition, it was like having a massive stockpile of carbohydrates.

Two months should be enough to basically decide the winner.

Including the smaller potatoes, lasting three months would definitely be no problem.

On the way back to the shelter, they also happened to pick a branch from a laurel tree.

The hundreds of leaves hanging from the branch, once air-dried, would become the bay leaves commonly used in daily cooking.

"Now we have a main course and seasonings, but we’re still lacking protein. Why don’t we go check out the Mangrove Forest? It’s not low tide anyway, so there probably isn’t much to find on the beach."

"I’m fine with that. What about you, Lin?"

"Alright, let’s do that."

It had indeed been two days since they’d last visited the Mangrove Forest. Lin Chen dumped the chili peppers and potatoes from the basket at the entrance of their shelter, shouldered the empty basket, and set off again.

"By the way, Andre, did you see any American Crocodiles when you first got here? I remember seeing a few over by the Mangrove Forest."

"Yeah, they’re always there during the day, sunbathing. I see them every day. As long as you don’t bother them, they’re not a problem."

"What?? American Crocodiles?!"

Erica exclaimed, "There are American Crocodiles around here? Where? I’ve never seen one before!"

"You’re not scared?"

Andre hadn’t expected the young woman to be unafraid of vicious crocodiles. Instead, she had an excited look on her face.

"What’s there to be scared of? I’m a woman who’s hunted brown bears. What’s an American Crocodile? Can it run faster than me?"

"Oh, really? I wouldn’t have guessed. Hunted them with a gun?"

"Of course. What else would I use? With these skinny arms and legs, it’s not like I could fight it hand-to-hand, right?"

Erica casually lifted her camouflage jacket, revealing a slender, well-rounded shoulder. She raised her arm to show off a miniature bicep.

"I’m a forest ranger’s daughter, you know. I participate in all kinds of hunts every year—wild boars, Black Bears, brown bears, white-tailed deer, and especially grouse. I hunt them often."

In the forests of North America, these animals have few natural predators and are normally protected by law from unregulated hunting, leaving them virtually unchallenged.

Every year, the government assesses the population of each species. If one shows signs of overpopulation, they open up hunting permits and organize Hunters to control the population’s growth. At the same time, it satisfies the Hunters’ itch to hunt—killing two birds with one stone.

Hunting with a rifle isn’t that difficult, though. You just need to practice your marksmanship. It’s of no help whatsoever to their current situation of hardcore, tool-less wilderness survival.

Among the three of them, it could be said that only Andre was a true wilderness expert, skilled in everything from climbing trees and diving into the sea to building shelters and digging pits.

Aside from his poor cooking skills, he really had no other weaknesses.

While they were chatting, they had already entered the Mangrove Forest area.

Since the tide was still coming in, the water here was almost knee-deep.

None of them bothered to take off their shoes or roll up their pant legs. They just waded right into the water, letting the seawater soak their shoes and pants.

There was no other choice. Compared to getting a random injury in the seawater, getting wet was the lesser evil. It would be uncomfortable for half a day at most. They could rinse off in the creek back at the shelter and dry out in the sun for a bit.

"What’s the target this time?"

Erica rubbed her hands together excitedly, her eyes scanning back and forth among the mangrove roots. She stared intently at the unknown fish swimming by, wishing she could just snatch them up right then and there.

"We’ll have to ask our head chef."

Facing their questioning gazes, Lin Chen stroked his chin, thought for a moment, and said,

"If possible, let’s catch some squid, cuttlefish, or octopus. Abalone and American Oysters would also be good, along with eels, groupers, big crabs, Lobsters, and so on."

"Probably no Lobsters," Andre immediately chimed in. "Lobsters like to live in shallow reef areas, and you can find them near coral, too. But in shallows like this Mangrove Forest, with no rocks for cover and the constant ebb and flow of the tide, they most likely wouldn’t choose to settle here."

"But you might find a lot of flat-bodied fish in these shallows. They’re very good at hiding, and some are venomous, so be careful of the sand and mud under your feet."

"Are there any Devil Fish?"

Erica asked, her large, glass-like eyes filled with anticipation.

"There should be, but I can’t guarantee we’ll find any in this area right now. If you do see one, absolutely do not try to catch it with your bare hands. The barb on its tail can be fatal!"