ALL NOVEL 19: Make Spices
I drink the slightly cooled herbal tea prepared for me.
The snack is, of course, white peaches. Whether they pair well or not is not something to consider.
“These are truly delicious! They melt in your mouth,” Martha said, placing her hand on her cheek and sighing.
“Yeah, they almost make your cheeks fall off,” I agreed. The overwhelming sweetness with just the right amount of tartness makes them incredibly tasty. Yum, yum.
“Aren’t you going to sell these peaches?” Martha asked casually.
I tilted my head and thought, “These peaches were made using my skills, right? There aren’t actual peach trees, so it would be strange to sell them, right? I plan to plant some saplings eventually, but fruit trees are a lot of work, especially peaches. Even if we plant them, I think they’ll only be for our consumption.”
“I see…,” Martha said, lowering her eyebrows in disappointment.
“Don’t be so sad. Next, I’ll grow melons, and we can sell those! Watermelons might be popular with the common folks, don’t you think?”
I believe melons can be marketed as a luxury item. The lower spirits wandering around Luke Village help with thinning and rotating the fruit. The net pattern on the skin is also beautifully formed.
“We should pack them individually in boxes to sell. Can you order boxes from the craftsmen using my melons as a sample? Of course, let them taste the sample first.”
When I placed the sample on the table, Martha’s eyes sparkled. Being a perceptive child, I also added samples for the village women and shared some with the female workers.
As for pricing, Burton handles it. He said that even if the price is set a bit high, they will sell considering the packaging materials, labor, and shipping costs. All the sales proceeds go to the family, and I don’t actually know the real profits.
Burton mentioned that the increased revenue from selling radberries is used for repairs in the village and the roads that couldn’t be attended to before. I think it’s better to use the money meaningfully rather than hoarding it. As long as my skills aren’t widely known, everything should be fine. Father and Burton will handle that discreetly.
“Summer is busy, isn’t it? It’s almost time to harvest the potatoes. Can we ask the villagers for help? I think it’s better for the village to eat the potatoes rather than selling them,” I suggested.
“Yes, I believe everyone will be delighted with your delicious potatoes. I’ll arrange it along with the melons,” Martha said with a smile.
I hope the villagers can grow storable crops like potatoes. It’s tough to clear land individually in this remote area, so hiring people to work on the Radcliffe family’s farmland to increase food production sounds good. Isn’t that what a manor is? It won’t happen all at once, but we can aim for a large farm.
After finishing the herbal tea, I made a request to Martha while she was tidying up.
“Martha, I need a favor. I need a lot of ceramic jars to store dried herbs.”
“If they don’t need to be new, I can prepare some right away. I’ll deliver them to your room later,” Martha said cheerfully, then returned to work with the tea set and melons on a cart.
I should head back to my room too.
Martha quickly prepared five ceramic jars. They were simple, sturdy jars of a size that an adult could hold with one hand. Glass jars are high-end items, so it’s easier to get thick ceramic jars coated with glaze.
I arranged the jars on my usual desk in my room. As for what goes in them, I had been asking the plant cultivation skill to recreate the plants from my memories. This brings us to a day a little while back.
Plant Creation Skill activated!
First, let’s create pepper.
By the way, pepper is a vine plant that produces grape-like fruits. Its native habitat is tropical highlands near the sea, so it’s impossible to grow in cold regions.
Maybe we could grow it in a greenhouse? How much would that cost?
Pepper comes in white, black, green, and red, right?
Since I don’t know the difference between making white and black pepper, let’s go with fully ripe for now.
After harvesting, dry them!
Including drying time, it took twenty hours to make.
That’s how I recreated the spices from my memory.
Clove, cardamom, cinnamon, and vanilla beans.
Did I also need lemon and brown sugar?
Well, it’s for making craft cola, a recipe I saw on a public broadcast cooking show.
I was amazed that it could be made with spices, and that memory is surprisingly vivid.
Since spices ultimately come from plants, I thought it could be done.
My reincarnation perk is plant specialization, after all.
However, there’s a catch with this reincarnation perk—I can’t remember the recipes for various dishes using these plants.
So, to make craft cola, I’d need to research the blend.
Also, I don’t have the crucial carbonated water.
Haha~
I impulsively created plants, but I don’t have a use for them yet.
What a letdown.
But pepper is definitely something we need, so I don’t regret making it!
In this other world, just like in many stories, pepper is a super luxury item that’s hard to come by.
Being a tropical plant, it’s naturally an imported product.
In my previous life, I saw on TV that the great voyages in search of spices were perilous. Spices were as valuable as gold, right?
The Radcliffe family can only get a small amount from the Margrave.
Really, how much are we sponging off them?
We can’t sleep with our feet pointing east!