With the tension gone, Eric grinned broadly and said:
"Luci, I recently made a new kind of food. You will definitely like it. Let me go get a jar for you."
With that, he ran like the wind back home. Luci didn’t even have time to call out from behind before he disappeared.
Although he said a jar, the Snow Wolves’ pottery jars were as big as water vats. It was quite heavy when filled.
Eric panted as he carried the large pottery jar back. Thomas hurried to take it from his hands.
"This child, running so fast. I was going to let your uncle go help you get it. Tired, aren’t you? Come inside and drink some sugar water," Luci scolded affectionately.
Eric eagerly opened the wooden lid on the jar, and a strong sour and spicy smell wafted out.
Snow Wolves had very sensitive noses. Suddenly smelling such a stimulating scent, the two couldn’t help but take a step back.
"This is pickled bamboo shoots with chili I just made. It has soaked in the flavor, sour and spicy, very appetizing." Eric patted the pottery jar boastfully.
Hearing it was bamboo shoots, Luci stepped forward to peek. She saw the pottery jar filled with green chilies and tender bamboo shoot slices, soaking in a slightly green liquid. Aside from the spicy kick, there was also the refreshing scent of bamboo shoots.
Luci loved all the bamboo shoot dishes the cafeteria had launched, whether it was stir-fried bamboo shoots, stewed soup, steamed buns, or dumplings with bamboo shoot filling. Several times she ate so engrossed that she forgot to bicker with Anna, making Anna feel a bit unaccustomed to it.
So hearing there were bamboo shoots inside, coupled with the fact that dishes made by Eric never failed, Luci no longer feared the pungent smell and was eager to try.
Eric was extremely confident in the pickled bamboo shoots with chili he made. The pickled pig skin with chili he made before was sour, spicy, crispy, and chewy, incredibly delicious, so the bamboo shoots certainly wouldn’t be inferior.
The chilies he grew were delicious no matter how they were prepared. The clansmen had accepted the chopped chilies made previously very well. The old jar was finished, and the new jar hadn’t finished pickling yet; everyone was craving it and complaining.
With good ingredients, the pickled chilies turned out both spicy and fragrant. The flavor of the chilies was rich, the skin thick yet soft, not like the thin-skinned and tough chilies bought in the supermarket in his previous life.
After finishing the pickled chilies, there were also several jars of chopped chilies. The ripe chilies on the plants were basically all picked, and the chilies picked later hadn’t turned red yet.
Eric saw that the chili plants had produced several batches of fruit and estimated that the remaining batch was the last one. He decided to dry them and keep them for seeds, temporarily stopping consumption.
The new chilies planted in the fields had just sprouted; it would be a long wait to eat them.
This batch of pickled chilies seemed very precious. If they wanted to eat more, they would have to wait one or two months.
He could certainly use natural magic to accelerate growth, but chilies forced to grow and fruit directly like that could only produce one batch of fruit, as seen when the Elf Funa gave him the breadfruit.
In short, magic was very useful, but it had to be used in moderation. It wasn’t good to keep forcing plants to grow vigorously. He could only provide energy like fertilizer, but he couldn’t be greedy and impatient.
This time he planned to trade for more spices with the Halun merchant group, including chilies. That way, not only would the tribe have chilies to eat, but there would also be more seeds to plant even more chilies.
"Then let me try. Just smelling it feels spicy." Luci smelled it and found it more and more fragrant. She no longer disliked the strong smell and happily found a pair of chopsticks and a bowl. She picked out some bamboo shoots and chilies into the bowl and hurriedly tasted a piece of bamboo shoot.
The pickled bamboo shoots with chili were soft yet spicy, extremely crisp and delicious. Luci was so spicy she panted, but she couldn’t stop. By the time she finished the bowl of bamboo shoots, her face was flushed red.
Thomas stood by, watching worriedly for a long time. Seeing his wife unwilling to put down the bowl despite the spiciness, eating piece after piece, he helplessly brought her a bowl of sugar water to relieve the heat.
"Hiss ha, you try some too." Luci accepted the bowl somewhat shyly. She had eaten so engrossed just now that she neglected her husband, so she urged Thomas to try too.
"Hiss ha..." Thomas couldn’t handle spicy food as well as Luci. One bite burned his tongue, causing him to hiss and gasp for air.
But although this piece of pickled bamboo shoot was very spicy, the flavor was truly delicious, especially refreshing. It was just that Thomas couldn’t handle it well; he set it aside after one bite.
"Tasty, tasty. Beastmen who like spicy food will definitely like it." Thomas gulped down a large bowl of sugar water, his face still flushed from the spice.
Luci looked at Eric as if looking at a treasure, turning on praise mode:
"Eric, how can you make so many flavors of food every time? The chopped chilies last time and the pickled chilies this time are completely different! I secretly hid a jar of that beef chili paste you gave to Max; it smells so good!"
Thomas gently poked her in the back.
Realizing she had misspoken, Luci coughed twice, pretending nothing had happened.
Eric almost burst out laughing. This was due to his lack of thorough consideration. He only thought of bringing more paste for Max, Michael, and Grass to eat on the road, but unexpectedly forgot Luci’s share.
After all, there were still too few chilies in the tribe. Planting more this year, there would be plenty of chilies then - chopped chilies, pickled chilies, there would be everything.
Seeing that they liked it, Eric left the large jar of pickled bamboo shoots with chili behind and pointed out several dishes that could be made with pickled chilies.
After eating the bamboo shoots, the pickled chilies could still be reused.
Back at his own home, Eric began dragging out items to trade with the humans, taking a few of each as samples.
Soap was also taken out. He hadn’t made much, but it was ready to use now. He would try testing the waters with this trade; if it sold well, he would make more scented varieties.
Toilet paper was a must-bring. The paper made initially, which was rough in texture and yellow in color, had been almost used up by the clansmen. What he brought out to trade was the newly made batch.
After being improved by the Dwarves, the newly made toilet paper was much softer, and the color was only a slightly pale yellow, looking very comfortable.
Presumably, this toilet paper would sell for a good price.
However, due to the lack of modern machinery, the toilet paper produced was dried on bamboo screens, then peeled off and cut into square pieces, like napkins; it couldn’t be made into rolls.
But this was only a minor flaw. Humans here hadn’t even used toilet paper, let alone knowing what roll paper was. Using it like this was also quite convenient.
He took out a few bundles of potato vermicelli and mung bean vermicelli. There wasn’t much left of these two items either. This time he could only trade a small amount, also as an introduction. Wait until a large harvest of potatoes and mung beans, then potato vermicelli and mung bean vermicelli could be sold in large quantities.
Right, there were also many hairpins carved by Evan, which possessed both offensive and defensive properties. He had carved quite a few while practicing his hand. After all, if he didn’t carve hairpins, the spirit wood would have long been used as firewood by the Snow Wolves.
Besides Evan’s wooden hairpins, looking more luxurious were the hairpins made of mithril and red copper sent by the Dwarves. Apart from exquisite patterns, there were small gemstones skillfully inlaid by the Dwarves.
These things would likely sell for quite a few gold coins.
As for the glassware Eric intended to sell to humans, because the tribe was too busy and Dwarves were needed everywhere, production was temporarily halted. They would discuss it next time.
After deciding on the goods, he ran to the Dwarves again, very embarrassed to pull a few more Dwarves, asking them to find some beastmen to build a small courtyard together.
"This is a bit urgent. Moreover, try to build it to be somewhat comfortable. Where to build it... next to my house. High safety factor."
Eric rested his chin on his hand and thought for a long time, finally deciding.