Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 63. Plum Blossom Work – Part 2: It becomes delicious if you let it mature slowly over time.
※Note: This work contains spoilers for “Ro□Bin×n Crusoe”. If you haven’t read it yet and absolutely want to avoid spoilers, please refrain from reading further.
The plum jam turned out to be incredibly delicious. It has a refreshing plum scent and a slight sourness that makes it great.
“Yummy!”
Kirara is holding the container close, clearly enjoying the plum jam. It’s a bit of a cannibalistic situation, but she seems fine. Still, I don’t think eating too much is good. You can have this one for yourself, but once it’s gone, I won’t give you more for a while, okay?
After a while, the plum syrup I made also turned out to be sweet, tart, and very tasty. It’s rich in plum extract. It’s delicious when mixed with water, and even better with soda. Pouring it over shaved ice in summer is also really delicious.
“I like this.”
Mimi is so cute as she carefully sips the plum juice.
Yes, it’s really tasty.
After that, I also pickled some fully ripe plums for umeboshi. I made syrup from the ripe plums too. And then some jam from ripe plums. The smell of ripe plums is absolutely wonderful. I love both green and fully ripe plums.
Mimi, Kirara, and I all removed the stems with skillful bamboo skewers, washed the plums, wiped off the water, and prepared them thoroughly.
I ended up making so much that it looked like I was running a shop. After all, the plums were right there.
The variety of plum jams I made is truly diverse. Of course, I made plum jam from fresh plums, but I also reused the plums after making plum syrup and plum extract—those used-up plums. Each has a slightly different flavor, and everyone is unique and wonderful!
Removing the pits from the flesh is a bit of a hassle, but the deliciousness makes it worth the trouble. The recycled plum jams may look a bit dull in color, but they taste absolutely fantastic. Some have a bit of tartness or slight bitterness, but that’s part of its own unique characteristic, and I like that.
I didn’t hold back at all.
I love plum jam. I love spreading it generously on bread. It’s so satisfying. Plum jam goes well not only with white bread but also with sourdough rye bread, which has a bit of a sour taste.
I also enjoy adding it to yogurt, so I bought some yogurt with 1,000-yen repeat purchase, and mixed it in the jam—so good! Sweet and sour. Delicious. Pure bliss!
If I could get fresh milk, I wonder if I could make my own yogurt by using it as a starter? I’ve never tried it before, so I’m a bit unsure. Homemade yogurt maker gadgets became popular, but it’s tricky to keep them hygienic.
Once you get hooked on baking bread, you will start experimenting with yeast.
I’ve tried it myself using raisins, apples, strawberries, basil, and many other things, but sometimes I worry about whether the fermentation is safe. Is this fermenting stuff really filled with good bacteria?
In the end, I returned to using dried yeast. Dry yeast is amazing. I’m a bit of a cynic, so instead of the usual red, blue, or gold kind, I used the red, slightly gold-packaged dry yeast that was apparently developed by a Dutch company. But honestly, it’s pretty much the same as the usual red ones you can buy easily. It’s just a matter of mood.
Dry yeast lasts quite a long time if you freeze it. On the other hand, it weakens quickly if you store it at room temperature.
It’s interesting that slightly weakened yeast are better for making hard bread that needs to be aged for a long time.
I want to bake bread. Maybe if I make a pizza oven, could I bake bread in it too?
In that story I used to read enthusiastically as a child, about a solo sailor who gets stranded on a deserted island and survives for decades. I remember the part where he’d make a bonfire on a rock to warm it up, then put bread dough aside the bonfire, cover it with a bowl or something, and place embers around it to bake bread.
Oh, wait—bird feed. Grain from bird feed!
In that story, the bread was made because some grain accidentally sprouted from bits of bird feed that spilled out of a bag.
I thought I’d never bought grain seeds, but maybe I have?
Are grains mixed into chicken feed or hamster food?
Now that I think about it, sunflower seeds are expensive when bought as flower seeds, but very cheap as hamster feed. And cats grass—perhaps it’s just oatmeal or oats?
Is it possible to grow the grains used in mixed grain rice that is cooked by mixing them with regular rice?
Thinking along those lines, beans are also seeds, aren’t they?
I’ve heard that soybeans aren’t typically F1 varieties. If they’re not F1 hybrids—meaning they’re not crossbred to combine the best traits of their parents—then they must be original species. That means if you plant them as seeds, you should be able to harvest the same beans
I’ve bought soybeans, black beans, red kidney beans, azuki beans, chickpeas, lentils—around that much.
Once I’ve properly settled, I might try expanding the field and planting some of them.
—
And so, I threw myself into working the plums, and the finished products seem to have turned into something quite extraordinary.
But thanks to my adaptation skill, I was in good physical condition, and both Kirara the Sacred Tree and Mimi the Monster said it was delicious when they tried it. But there was no remarkable effect, or at least it didn’t seem like it…
Of course, it helped relieve fatigue, give me energy, and my skin became clearer.
I felt like I was rejuvenating even faster.
But honestly, it didn’t seem to have the dramatic effect I’d been worried about. It’s like I just drank a high-end nutritional drink like Yunnagurenpura, or something like that.
It’s pretty amazing and it does make me feel incredibly energized…
I felt relieved that this would be fine for family consumption, and since it tastes better aged, I stored away most of it—the plum wine and everything else.
Oh, I forgot. I was wondering where to put all the fruits of my plum labour when Mimi dug out some storage space under the floor for me.
Originally, there was a wooden board over the dirt floor of the hut, and when u removed the boards, under it was a sort of storage pit like a potato storage. A potato storage is a hole that you dig and store potatoes or other crops using rice husks or straw as insulation.
I remember visiting my friend’s grandma’s house where they had one! We would pick some from there, and my friend’s dad would roast them in an 18 liter can and eat them. They were delicious. From what I remember, the sweet potatoes that were sometimes mixed in were orange inside, like carrots, and they were the best.
Mimi dug out that potato storage and expanded it immensely to make a room. Now, our storage is amazing and spacious.
She even reinforced the walls and added more rooms using the soil she dug out. Mimi is incredible. Such a great builder.
I lined up all the storage containers inside this vast space. Freshly stored plum wine is nice, but aged plum wine is also delicious. Since it’s underground, it’ll stay cool and dark—perfect for slow aging.
While working on the plums, I also noticed the loquat fruits starting to ripe. Of course, I’ll eat those too, make jam with them, or soak them in alcohol. I’ll also make loquat leaf tea.
—
And so, I got busy with my plum work and stockpiled a hefty amount.
I never gave a thought to what might become of all those plums later on…
By the way, I almost forgot—this farm has loquat and persimmon trees growing on it.
Somehow, as I keep writing, characters who were supposed to appear in the second part started appearing without any real explanation, and key elements got created, and I don’t know how to structure it anymore. Now I’m going to write whatever I want.
Tl note:
“Younha Gul Emperor” is the news that the song “Event Horizon” by Korean female singer YOUNHA will be included in Korean high school language textbooks. Younha’s “Event Horizon” is a song that uses the concept of astrophysics to express the idea that a breakup is a new beginning, and after its release it rose up the charts and gained popularity.