In 1983, a small island started from a large farmer

After this smuggling operation was disrupted, the smuggling wave that had been growing increasingly intense in recent times was put on hold.

All the villagers also followed suit and started to work hard. Otherwise, seeing those who smuggled out could make so much money in a month, they would not be able to concentrate.

Around the end of March.

Li Duoyu drove a small iron boat to inspect the kelp fields after almost four months of cultivation.

The kelp has grown to more than one meter long. This may be due to the fact that the cultivation is too intensive and the seawater cannot provide enough nutrients.

The kelp this year is not as good as expected, but overall it is not particularly bad.

What really affects the quality of kelp is the weather, if there is a lot of rain and cloudy days in spring.

If kelp does not get enough light, it will not grow well and may even have holes or dissolving leaves.

Fortunately, the weather this year is pretty good, and there is not as much rainy weather as last year. As long as the good weather continues in the next one or two months.

This year, kelp farmers can make a lot of money, but Li Duoyu feels that the reality may not be as good as he imagined.

The weather in Dandan Island in April and May is not very stable, and it is not uncommon for typhoons to come early.

Many kelp farmers on Dandan Island have been worshipping Mazu recently.

Pray for good weather.

Since the area of ​​kelp cultivation on Dandan Island is really large this year, in order to prevent everyone from harvesting kelp at the same time.

Li Duoyu listed several time periods, namely early May, mid-May, late May and early June.

Let everyone harvest in batches to prevent them from all colliding with each other, otherwise there will definitely not be enough sampans to transport the kelp and space to dry the kelp on the island.

However, most kelp farmers choose the mid-May period. According to the weather on Dandan Island, the climate has warmed up by then, and as long as it is sunny and windy, the kelp can be dried in one day.

Some are more worried and plan to start harvesting early in May.

There are relatively few people who sign up in June because it is very easy to have heavy rains in June on Dandan Island, which makes it difficult to dry kelp at that time.

Because the kelp farming area is so large, the price of workers is very competitive. Lao Lu, who has cultivated several acres of kelp this year, directly put up a recruitment sign at his door:

[Kelp picker, starting from 8 yuan a day]

[Kelp drying workers, starting from 5 yuan a day]

Villagers passing by would occasionally stop to take a look, and some would even come up to ask, "Big Boss, how much is your starting price of eight yuan, and when do you start collecting?"

Lao Lu, who was sitting at the door, said: "The price will be collected in mid-May. Anyway, it won't be less than eight yuan. By then, it depends on how well you do. I will pay you based on the situation on site."

The villager who asked the question laughed and said, "This price is not good in mid-May. Wang Jinshan has already offered it at nine yuan, and Director Li is likely to offer it at ten yuan."

Old Lu snorted, "How much money others make is none of my business. They make so much money, but I don't even see them share some with me."

The villagers shook their heads and said, "You can't recruit workers with your eight yuan. You're already a big boss. Can you stop being so stingy and be more generous?"

Old Lu looked at them unhappily: "Your wages are so high, you will make all the money, and we will make nothing. By then, all of us who grow kelp will work for you."

The villagers laughed and said, "Who told you to go raise kelp? You can blame us for the lack of labor. If you think the labor cost on the island is too high, you can go out and find someone else. You may even have to pay for their accommodation."

Li Duoyu, who was passing by, was also a little speechless. The labor price has indeed increased rapidly in the past two years.

Three years ago, earning two dollars a day was considered a lot. Now, some people think ten dollars a day is too little.

The key reason is still the supply and demand relationship. Everyone knows that the time for harvesting kelp is only more than a month.

Almost every family in the village grows kelp to some extent. When the time comes, they will definitely give priority to helping their own relatives. If they don’t find someone early, it will be very embarrassing when the time comes.

It’s because there are too many kelp farms. With nearly 10,000 acres of kelp fields, if all the young men on Dandan Island were to go out and harvest kelp, there would still be a huge manpower gap.

It would take at least a month to salvage all of Li Duoyu's more than 3,000 acres of kelp fields.

Moreover, the entire Li family owns nearly 6,000 acres in total, which is not something that can be handled by just a few dozen workers.

Moreover, people at the breeding base cannot be called upon at will. Each person has his own job. If they are asked to come and help, and then problems arise in the breeding project, it would be a bit of a waste of time.

Li Duoyu directly published an advertisement in Rongcheng Daily [Minlong Company is recruiting general workers for one and a half months, with a daily salary of ten yuan, and food and accommodation are provided].

As a result, in less than a week, nearly three hundred people signed up, and Li Duoyu only selected fifty from them.

In addition to labor issues, drying kelp is also a big problem. There are not many places on Dandan Island where kelp can be dried.

If he wanted to dry his more than 3,000 acres of crops, there was really no condition to do so on the island. After much deliberation, Li Duoyu had no choice but to move the drying location to Qixing Bay.

During this period, workers have been building simple bamboo racks on the beach, and when the time comes, the kelp will be salvaged.

Just transport it to Qixing Bay and hang it on a bamboo rack to dry. It’s really good to have your own land, otherwise it would be really difficult.

In view of the fact that leaders are always changing, Li Duoyu really wants to extend the lease of the Qixing Bay land to thirty or forty years.

By the way, you can rent more land. For a large-scale breeding company, two thousand acres is still too little. You can rent all the surrounding areas.

Speaking of which, since the Rongcheng Aquatic Products Processing Factory at Qingkou Wharf changed its leadership, its cooperation with Dandan Island came to an abrupt end.

Li Duoyu didn't know the other party, so he didn't take the initiative to go to the other party's house, and the new leader acted as if nothing had happened.

Both parties tacitly agreed not to contact each other, and this scene was consistent with Li Duoyu's inherent impression of the system.

The new leader will definitely do a major reshuffle, overturn all the projects of his predecessor, and start anew with his own projects.

Of course, there are a lot of things involved here, including benefits, profit distribution, etc., since Li Duoyu is so familiar with Director Liu.

It's understandable that the new factory manager has no intention of cooperating with him.

Li Duoyu fished up some kelp. The kelp at the end of March was not particularly fat. It was only about ten centimeters wide and two or three millimeters thick.

According to Fruit, the kelp in his hand is not yet ripe, but kelp can be eaten even if it is unripe.

Even the kelp seedlings can be eaten. The current specifications of kelp are very suitable for making salted kelp.

However, salted kelp is different from dried kelp. Salted kelp can preserve the freshness of kelp to the greatest extent.

Compared to dried kelp which is often used to make soup, salted kelp is more suitable for making cold dishes.

The kelp generally used for salting does not need to be particularly thick. The "immature" kelp in Li Duoyu's hand is just right.

Li Duoyu boiled a large pot of water and put the kelp directly into the large iron pot to boil it.

Boiling is the key to kelp processing. The time and water temperature must be controlled well. If the time is too long, the leaves will soften and easily fade and deteriorate.

If the time is too short, the middle of the kelp leaf will have a brown core and the color will be uneven, which will not look good.

Generally, it is best to control the water temperature for blanching kelp at around 90 degrees. If the temperature is too high.

It is easy to damage the skin of kelp by scalding, and the boiling time is generally about one minute. The color of the kelp that is picked up is mostly brown.

Once kelp is boiled, it will immediately turn into emerald green.

In the past, many tourists who visited Dandan Island were surprised when they saw the kelp: "Isn't kelp green?" Sometimes when Li Duoyu was in a good mood, he would explain to them: "Kelp is basically brown, and the green kelp must have been boiled."

After scooping for a while, seeing that the color had begun to turn green, Li Duoyu took out the kelp and placed it in sea water with ice to cool it down.

After the kelp has cooled, it has to be put into a wooden box with mesh, and some stones have to be placed on top to stack it up and press out the water.

After squeezing out all the water, you can add salt to the kelp. Here Li Duoyu uses edible salt.

This step reminded Li Duoyu of the era when industrial salt was used. The health of food in China is really hard to describe.

At that time, they didn’t particularly understand the harm of industrial salt, they just did whatever they could to save money.

After adding salt, stir and knead it directly with your hands, then pour the brine from the vegetables into the brine pool and soak them for about a day.

The salted kelp is ready.

This kind of process is considered relatively old. When Li Duoyu returned to Dandan Island in his previous life, it had already been completely replaced by automated machinery.

You just need to clean the kelp and put it on the machine. When it comes out, it will be cut salted kelp shreds.

Unlike dried kelp, every part of salted kelp is a treasure, and there is no distinction between good and bad.

The most despised scraps of dried kelp, that is, the edges of the kelp, are actually the best-selling part of salted kelp.

Because salted kelp pursues more for taste, the edges of the kelp are thin and crispy, making it suitable for processing into kelp shreds and instant kelp.

The middle section of kelp is thicker and more suitable for making kelp rolls. As for the kelp head, it is hard and thick and is mostly used to make pickled products.

Another advantage of salted kelp is that it is not restricted by weather and can be made even in rainy weather.

In the past, if there was too much rainy weather, kelp farmers would take all the kelp to the factory to be made into salted kelp.

After the salted kelp was produced, Li Duoyu came to the canteen of the Qixingwan breeding base carrying a bucket of kelp shreds.

When the chef in the cafeteria saw Li Duoyu, he smiled and said, "Duoyu, why did you put away the kelp so quickly?"

The chef of the canteen here is also a relative of Li Duoyu. He is the third son of his great uncle, named Zhang Ada.

In terms of seniority, he is Li Duoyu's uncle, but Li Duoyu has forgotten how to address him.

The Li family is considered a big family in the village. Whenever Li Duoyu meets someone two years older than him, he calls him "uncle", and anyone one year older than him he calls "brother".

"Uncle Da, I'll add another dish for you today."

"Okay, just tell me what to do and I'll take care of it."

"It's my turn today. You can just watch from the side. If the response is good, this dish will become a permanent dish in our cafeteria in the future."

Li Duoyu also made kelp shreds at home two years ago, and the response was quite good. It was very delicious and went well with rice.

Li Duoyu plans to conduct a trial in the cafeteria today. If everyone thinks it tastes good, then there will be no need for any market research.

Discuss it directly with Chen Yuansu and put the product on the market for sale right away.

Li Duoyu fiddled with it for a while, rolled up the kelp, and then cut it into shreds on the spot. The chef next to him stared with eyes wide open.

He had known for a long time that Duoyu was a good cook. After seeing her today, he did not expect that her knife skills were also amazing, even better than his.

After cutting the kelp shreds, Li Duoyu picked up various seasonings, such as salt, MSG, soy sauce, sugar, minced ginger, chili, garlic, rice vinegar, sesame oil, and light soy sauce, and added them all at once.

Li Duoyu thought for a while, then said, "Uncle Da, why don't you just help me cut some cucumber shreds."

The dish of cold shredded kelp is very particular about the taste of the sauce. The ingredients are heavy, and the shredded cucumber is just the right amount to relieve the greasiness.

Of course, the soul dish must be added at the end - coriander.

For Li Duoyu, a cold dish without coriander is like losing its soul.

Li Duoyu cut a large handful of coriander and couldn't help but put it in front of his nose and smelled it. He felt that the coriander of this era was still the best.

In his previous life, when he went to the market to buy coriander, he would always grab some and smell it. Perhaps because he bought it so quickly, he always felt that the taste of the coriander was much lighter.

Many vegetable stall owners also say that coriander only tastes good when it is cut, but the coriander of this era is very fragrant even if it is not cut and just placed in the hand.

Seeing that Li Duoyu used so many sauces to cook one dish, Zhang Ada felt so distressed.

He probably wouldn't need so many seasonings even if he made ten big dishes, and these seasonings are not cheap.

After Li Duoyu was mixed with cold water, he sprinkled some white sesame seeds on it and put the kelp shreds directly into a large iron basin.

The chef picked up some kelp shreds with chopsticks and tried a few bites. His eyes widened and he said, "Duoyu, this tastes really good. Please teach me the ingredients again. I seem to have forgotten them a little bit. I'm afraid I can't make this taste."

"Don't worry, I'll write a recipe for you later."

Wait until after dinner.

The employees in the factory came to the cafeteria one after another, and when they saw the new dish in the big iron basin, they all became curious.

"Uncle Da, what kind of dish is this? How come you have time to develop new dishes today?"

The chef smiled and said, "I didn't make this dish. Our CEO Li cooked it himself, and I just helped him."

"Director Li made this himself, so we should give him some thanks."

Everyone in the village knew that Li Duoyu could cook, and someone even wanted to invite Director Li to be the chef when they got married.

After eating the shredded kelp, the workers in the cafeteria all had very different expressions: "Fuck, it's a bit unreasonable if this shredded kelp is not paired with wine."

Zhang Ada said, "You can drink, but we have to charge for beer in our cafeteria."

"We charge, we can still afford the price of a bottle of wine."

"I'll have a beer, too."

"Tomorrow, are there any kelp shreds left? If there are, I will apply to bring my granddaughter over to eat with us."

The food in Minlong Canteen is famous for its deliciousness. Now these workers are willing to spend money to bring their relatives to the canteen to eat.

Li Duoyu, who was also eating in the cafeteria, gained confidence when he saw everyone spoke so highly of the kelp shreds.

And summer is coming soon. This thing is very suitable as a side dish for drinking. As long as the taste is good, the sales will definitely be good.

By then, food stalls and restaurants will definitely be needed, and Li Duoyu feels that he can still make money.

After finishing the meal, Li Duoyu said to Chen Xiaoyan, "Please contact Secretary Zhu later and tell her that we have a new kelp product and ask her to pick a time to come and take a look."

"I understand, Mr. Li."

As he worked at Minlong for longer periods of time, people's way of addressing Li Duoyu began to change. Chen Xiaoyan no longer called him Director Li or Brother Yu.

However, coastal fishermen are a bit taboo about the word "boss". When Chen Xiaoyan sees Li Duoyu now, she usually calls him Mr. Li.

(End of this chapter)