When Wu Fei came ashore, quicklime was just in luck. It was an old-fashioned tractor that was at least twenty years old. The whole vehicle was probably only about two tons when it was full, but it was enough to disinfect the reservoir.

After catching all the fish in the reservoir, Wu Fei had no intention of spreading lime to disinfect the reservoir himself. Dad had called someone yesterday to help spread lime.

After Wu Fei finished eating, he had other things to do later. A few days ago, his uncle called and asked Wu Fei to come over and get oranges and chestnuts, which was just in time to send Uncle Fish over.

My uncle has planted more than a dozen chestnut trees and a small orange orchard at his house. Now is the ripe season. Every year, Wu Fei’s family gets oranges and chestnuts from his uncle’s house. For many years, he rarely buys chestnuts and chestnuts outside.

orange.

After the oranges are picked every year, the oranges with good quality are sorted out and then wrapped in plastic bags. In this way, they can be stored until after the New Year even if they are placed in a room temperature environment.

Picking oranges is usually done on a sunny day. Cut the platycodon with scissors and make the cut as flat as possible.

When picking, be careful not to damage the skin of the oranges.

If the picked oranges need to be stored for a long time, they need to be preservative treated.

The storage time of oranges that have not been preserved is very short. The oranges we usually buy in the market that have just been picked from the trees have not been preserved.

After buying such oranges, if you don't eat them within a short period of time, the oranges will become shriveled over time. If the surface of the oranges is broken when you buy them, they will rot and become moldy.

To preservative treat oranges, you must first put the picked oranges in a ventilated place for a period of time, usually about a week, so that part of the moisture on the skin of the oranges can evaporate.

The next step is to preserve the oranges. In the past, the oranges at my grandma’s house were usually made from pine needles, which are the needles of pine trees. Fresh pine needles have a thick layer of oil on them, which can very well preserve freshness and moisturize.

effect.

Spread pine needles under a container, usually a cardboard box or bamboo basket. For each layer of pine needles, place a layer of oranges on top until the container is full. Then put the container filled with oranges in a cool and ventilated place. This way

The preserved oranges will look almost the same as when they were first put in after being stored for half a year.

However, you need to pay special attention when setting up the frame. Do not put oranges with broken skins in it. If there are rotten oranges put in, over time, the rotten oranges will rot and the good oranges will also follow.

Rot. As the saying goes, a mouse droppings spoils a pot of soup.

Another method is to mash garlic leaves or garlic cloves, then boil water to soak the oranges.

Oranges stored in this way can also be stored for four to five months.

First mash or slice the garlic leaves or garlic heads, place them in clean water, the ratio of garlic to water is 1:10, and soak them for 12 hours.

Then boil the water, and after the water cools down, put carefully selected fresh citrus fruits that are unbroken, free of diseases and insect pests into the garlic water and soak them for 10-15 seconds. After taking them out to dry, they can be stored according to conventional methods.

These two methods are the best ways to preserve oranges at room temperature. Anyway, this is how oranges have been stored at grandma's house since Wu Fei can remember.

Every year when oranges are ripe, the price of oranges is always very cheap.

The yield of oranges also varies from year to year. With the same care, some years there will be more oranges and some years there will be less.

However, a good year does not mean a good harvest. Generally, in years with high output, the price of oranges is particularly low.

Wu Fei remembers the year when orange production was the largest in the past few years. The price of oranges was so low that orange farmers could not afford to hire people to pick oranges. A pound of oranges only cost 20 or 30 cents.

Of course, that was the purchase price at the farm. Anyway, at that time, Wu Wen'an directly recruited a group of people in the village to pick oranges in other people's orange gardens. It only cost 20 cents a pound to pick them himself.

In the early years, my grandmother's house also had a large orange orchard, but later it was all cut down and planted with fir trees.

What used to be a huge orange orchard is now less than an acre. However, in a year with high yields, four to five thousand kilograms of oranges can be harvested.

Since the orange orchard only lasted less than one acre, my uncle's family no longer had to worry about the price of the oranges. Generally, they would not be sold in the same season. All would be preservative treated and would not be sold until the Chinese New Year.

During the orange picking season, the price purchased by buyers will always be very low. However, when the oranges are harvested and during the Chinese New Year, the price of oranges will rise a lot. Even if they are sold by the basket, the price will also increase.

About two yuan.

When Wu Fei arrived at his grandmother's house, his uncle was carrying oranges down from the cart.

"Uncle and aunt, are there many oranges this year? How many are left to be picked?"

Seeing his uncle and aunt, Wu Fei hurriedly said hello and went over to help his uncle move the bamboo basket filled with oranges from the cart.

"Xiao Fei, you're here! Have you eaten? Didn't your dad say that the reservoir will be disinfected today? I thought you wouldn't come until tomorrow."

Seeing Wu Fei, his uncle asked.

"I came over after catching the fish, and now it's time to spread the lime. My father and brother-in-law are here with the people they invited to help. Where are my grandpa and grandma?"

After moving several boxes of oranges in the yard, but no one from grandma or grandpa was seen, Wu Fei said to his uncle who was pouring oranges into the ground.

"They are all picking oranges in the orange garden at the back. You can rest at home and I will ask your grandma to come back and cook." After pouring out all the oranges, the uncle pulled the cart up the mountain and said to Wu Fei on the way up the mountain.

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"Uncle and aunt, wait a minute. There are fish on the car. Find a place to put the fish first, otherwise they will die in the bucket."

Although I was not worried about the fish dying at all, it was not enough to keep the fish in the car, so I still had to leave it to my uncle to handle.

This time when he came here, Wu Fei brought two soft-shelled turtles and a ten-pound bighead fish. The others were some carp, crucian carp, bream, and yellow stickleback. Anyway, he brought a lot of miscellaneous things.

"Why did you bring so much fish again? The fish we brought last time were also made into dried fish. I couldn't finish them all at once."

Only after seeing Wu Fei and his uncle took the fish bucket off the pickup truck, the fish in the bucket were densely packed, and his aunt said to Wu Fei.

"Take two fish and eat one fresh. It would be nice to sell the others for money."

"Auntie, I like your and grandma's dried fish the most. Make more and I will eat it again during the Chinese New Year."

Wu Fei and his uncle moved the bucket to the yard behind the house, where there was a small cement pond, perfect for raising fish.
Chapter completed!