Chapter 70: Scrambling to Push the Millstone
Afterward, Lin Guodong and his group went to greet Zhao Yanglin and the others.
The scene grew even more lively.
Zhao Yanglin smiled. "I didn’t expect it to be this lively today. This is getting more and more interesting."
The livelier the scene, the more excited everyone became.
Li You, of course, was also very excited.
Choosing to use a stone mill to grind soybeans was definitely the right decision.
’I wonder how the soybeans are soaking?’
He walked over to the large aluminum basin where the soybeans were soaking, grabbed a handful, and examined them closely.
They looked like they had reached their optimal state.
"Soaking them to this point is about right. Any longer and they’ll be over-soaked," Lin Guodong said, having come over to look at the soybeans.
Li You nodded. "Then let’s get started."
Hearing this, Xia Xiaoyue, Yu Wei, and the other young women’s eyes lit up.
It was finally starting.
Before beginning, the soaking water had to be drained, the soybeans rinsed twice, and finally, a suitable amount of fresh water had to be added.
With that, the preparations were complete.
He rinsed the stone mill one more time.
Now, it was officially time to begin.
"I’ll go first on the mill," Lin Guodong said.
Pushing the mill was hard work; doing it for too long would make one’s arms and back sore.
However, with so many people here today, everyone could take turns, which would make it very easy.
Since Lin Guodong was volunteering to go first, Li You quickly expressed his thanks.
One person was needed to push the mill, and another was needed to add the soybeans.
There was a hole in the top millstone.
The soybeans were added through this hole, falling between the upper and lower millstones.
As the top millstone turned, the soybeans were crushed and ground. The soy milk would then seep out from the gap between the two millstones and be collected through a stone trough.
The principle was very simple.
However, when adding the soybeans, a suitable amount of fresh water had to be added along with them.
The amount of water to add was very important.
Adding too much or too little water would affect the quality of the soy milk, which in turn would affect the final quality of the tofu.
Generally speaking, a water-to-soybean ratio of four or five to one by weight was suitable.
But the best method was to adjust the amount of water as needed throughout the process, and that required experience.
Li You decided to be in charge of adding the soybeans himself.
It wasn’t because he was experienced. It was because when he learned how to make Mapo Tofu, he had also mastered the technique of making tofu itself.
He could control the amount of water with great precision.
The same went for the amount of gypsum powder to be used later.
The amount of gypsum powder was also directly related to the quality of the tofu.
So, while the tofu-making process was simple, producing high-quality tofu was quite difficult.
Lin Guodong began to push the millstone, and Li You, using a ladle, added the first scoop of soybeans.
Of course, fresh water was added along with them.
Everyone watched the stone mill, waiting in anticipation for the first trickle of slurry to emerge.
After Li You added a few more scoops of soybeans, the first stream of milky-white liquid finally seeped out from the gap between the two millstones.
Soon, more and more of the slurry began to flow out steadily.
It was coming out!
At that moment, everyone looked overjoyed.
Ye Shengge took out her phone and began taking pictures and recording videos.
She was finally seeing a stone mill produce soy milk with her own eyes.
This was an incredibly meaningful moment that had to be properly documented.
Xia Xiaoyue, Yu Wei, and the other young women were also taking pictures and videos.
The stone-milled soy milk, which had only been a concept to them, something out of legend, was something they were finally seeing for themselves.
It was rare and magical.
Even Zhao Yanglin, He Xianfei, and Qu Feng found it extremely interesting and were very happy.
Even they had almost never experienced a scene like this.
In his excitement, Zhao Yanglin eagerly said to Lin Guodong, "Brother Lin, you take a break. Let me have a turn."
Lin Guodong had only pushed it a few times and wasn’t tired at all.
However, seeing Zhao Yanglin’s eager expression, he smiled and said, "Alright, you can take a turn."
With that, he stepped aside.
Zhao Yanglin walked up to the stone mill, grabbed the handle used for pushing, and gave it a test.
"It’s pretty heavy. You really need to put some muscle into it."
As he said this, Zhao Yanglin slowly began to push the millstone.
Li You smiled. "The top millstone weighs around a hundred pounds, so of course it takes some effort."
Zhao Yanglin nodded.
He continued pushing the mill.
Li You continued adding soybeans and fresh water.
More and more milky-white slurry flowed out, now streaming through the spout of the stone trough and into a large bucket below.
At the same time, the fragrant aroma of soybeans filled the air.
It gave people the urge to take a sip and taste it.
"Boss, can we drink the soy milk just like this?" one of the young women asked.
Li You shook his head. "No. You have to filter out the soy pulp and boil it before you can drink it."
The young woman nodded, indicating she understood.
"Mr. Zhao, you should take a break. Let me have a go at the mill, too."
After Zhao Yanglin had been pushing for a while, He Xianfei spoke up.
Zhao Yanglin laughed heartily and said, "Alright then. Let Chef He have a try."
And so, He Xianfei, Qu Feng, and a few villagers from Taoshan Village all took their turns.
Everyone only pushed for a short while. Not only were they not tired, but they actually felt they hadn’t had enough and wanted to go for a little longer.
Ye Shengge, Xia Xiaoyue, Yu Wei, and the other young women were also eager to try.
They wanted to experience it too.
If one person couldn’t push it, then two would do it together.
So, the young women began taking turns in pairs.
This was the first time in their lives they had ever pushed a mill. It was a novel experience and gave them a great sense of accomplishment.
While pushing the mill, they all handed their phones to others, asking them to record the process.
Pushing a mill for the first time in your life—such a meaningful event simply had to be well-documented, didn’t it?
Pushing a mill was supposed to be a tiring task.
But now, the more everyone pushed, the more excited they got, and they began to compete for their turn.
The more they competed, the higher their spirits soared.
An hour later, when all the soybeans had been ground, everyone still felt they hadn’t had enough.
"Are the beans all gone already? I haven’t had my fill yet."
"Boss, you didn’t prepare enough beans! You should have prepared another couple of pounds."
"With just this much slurry, I’m afraid you won’t get much tofu!"
"..."
The situation was a bit of a surprise to Li You.
Everyone’s enthusiasm and excitement were higher than he had imagined.
’I miscalculated.’
Li You smiled. "I might have bought a few too few soybeans this time. Next time, then. We’ll see when we can make tofu again."
"Alright! We’ll do it again next time."
"Boss, you have to buy more beans next time."
The young women all chimed in.
This left Lin Guodong and the other villagers from Taoshan Village a bit stunned.
Since when did a chore like pushing a mill become so popular?
But then again, pushing the stone mill today really had been a joyful experience.
Many hands make light work, after all!
With all the beans ground, the next step was to filter the slurry.
They would use the hanging bag filtering method.
Li You set up the hanging bag filtering device.
This device involved tying the four corners of a filter cloth to the four ends of a cross-shaped wooden frame, making the cloth form a deep, pot-like shape.
The filtering process began by pouring the soy slurry into the filter bag.
Then, one person would grab two ends of the cross-shaped wooden frame with both hands and continuously push, pull, and twist it back and forth.
This way, the soy milk would seep through the filter cloth and flow down, while the soy pulp remained inside.
It was actually quite fun to operate.
When Li You finished setting up the hanging bag filter, all the young women—with the exception of Xia Xiaoyue and Yu Wei—including Ye Shengge, were completely intrigued.
They had never seen such a contraption before.
As for the stone mill, even if they hadn’t seen one in real life before, they at least knew what it looked like.
But this thing was completely foreign to them.
So this was the contraption for filtering the soy milk.
It looked very interesting.
Once again, the young women were filled with anticipation!
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