“It’s home…”

He didn’t ask why he wanted a house. However, it was good that she also had a purpose.

This is because if you start work vaguely or without thinking, you get bored easily.

We couldn’t take a break even during lunch time. Hwang Yu-shin forced her to work hard from the first day. It was easy to see that he was doing this on purpose.

There were no complaints because it was the accelerated course I wanted.

“Dried persimmons are not just dried. You have to go through the maturation process.”

Hwang Yu-sin’s teaching continued even when he went to the drying plant with the dried persimmon hanger.

He said there was a golden ratio for making dried persimmons.

He said that persimmons on winter days freeze and thaw repeatedly to ripen.

‘The aging process determines the taste of dried persimmons.’

I hung the dried persimmon hanger on the pole and repeated it to myself.

Dried persimmon hangers were stacked from top to bottom. When they were all connected, it looked like a long stretched tree. The bare branches were waiting for the persimmons to run.

Right away, I wanted to give each hanger a fresh feeling. To do that, I had to cut the persimmons.

Yushin Hwang gave us gloves.

“If the body temperature is transmitted to the senses, it may hurt. You have to wear gloves and cut the persimmons.”

The reason for wearing gloves was other than hygiene. This is to prevent things from getting damaged by body temperature.

Persimmons were sensitive to weather and temperature.

“The upper limit affects other things as well. One can rot everything.”

He picked up a persimmon from the basket. It looked like he was going to put on a persimmon cutting test.

He used a machine, not a knife. Press the power button, and put the persimmon stem in and out of the machine.

The top was cut cleanly, leaving only the top part.

It was a persimmon piggyback I had only heard of.

The persimmon with the top side cut off was put back into the persimmon pit.

When the knife turned in all directions, the persimmon was peeled.

In a matter of seconds, I had a feeling of clean appearance.

“Slicing persimmons is not a traditional method.”

I liked that it was a machine, not a hand. It looked like fun.

It made me want to cut it right away.

“You have to cut by hand. This is a sample. It must be cut in the same shape as this one.”

“yes?”

“Why is it so difficult to cut by hand?”

“no. You just cut it with a machine. Is there any reason to shave by hand?”

“Because hands are slower than machines.”

I looked at Kahi’s face with a bewildered look. It was a face that she agreed with.

“Obviously the hand is slower than the machine. But the feeling remains in the hand. The feeling of slicing the persimmon remains in the hand. It is unacceptable to make dried persimmons without that sense.”

His words made sense in my head. But there were no hands left.

The gloved hand moved non-stop.

If you use a machine, you can cut up to 3,000 pieces a day. However, it was difficult to cut 500 pieces by hand.

We cut the persimmons until the sun went down.

When Yushin Hwang returned to the dried persimmon drying plant, peeled orange persimmons were neatly laid out on a tray.

“Now it’s time to wind the dried persimmons on the hanger.”

Yushin Hwang came to me.

“When you first came to me, did you ask how to make dried persimmons without sulfur fumigation?”

“you’re right.”

“When you hang all the persimmons on the dried persimmon hanger, they go through a sulfur fumigation process. In that state, they wait for it to become dried persimmons.”

“The color of the dried persimmons will remain beautiful, but sulfur dioxide, which acts as a preservative, will remain in the dried persimmons.”

“That’s right. In Korea, the sulfur dioxide residual standard is 100 times higher than in the West. Farmers in this area are doing sulfur fumigation according to that standard.”

“You don’t do sulfur fumigation.”

Hwang Yushin smiled and pulled out a large water bottle from the shelf. He then poured the liquid from the barrel into the bucket. A turbid liquid flowed out of the water tank.

“If you put this on and hang it, you don’t have to do sulfur fumigation.”

“What is this?”

I asked, looking at the liquid in the bucket.

“It’s a fermented liquid made in the traditional way. This is the secret to my dried persimmons.”

He sniffed the fermented liquid in the bucket with his nose. The sour smell was sucked into his nostrils. It was the first smell I had ever smelled.

He put on sanitary gloves and soaked the peeled persimmons in the fermentation broth. I followed him and applied fermented liquid.

When the fermentation broth was applied to the persimmon, a sticky liquid adhered to the surface like a coating.

We put a cloth-shaped hanger on the persimmon faucet and hung it on the dried persimmon hanger.

I followed Hwang Yu-sin’s work the same way.

He carefully walked through each persimmon.

Hwang Yushin said when he hung all the persimmons on the hook.

“Now take it all off to me.”

“yes?”

“They cannot turn into dried persimmons even if they hang up. It’s a feeling that frost doesn’t fit. They can’t even eat. In addition, dried persimmons should be dried during the season with a large daily temperature difference. There are few seasons when the night temperature drops below freezing. If you leave it as it is now, everything will rot or mold.”

“Then what will you do?”

I hung it up, but it was a pity that I couldn’t even see how the dried persimmons were peeling off.

“Put them all in a jar.”

Yushin Hwang pointed to the jar outside the warehouse.

“What happens when you put it in a jar?”

Jeong Ga-hee asked Hwang Yu-shin.

“I’m thinking of making it with persimmon vinegar.”

“Persimmon vinegar?”

“The persimmons you picked cannot become dried persimmons. But it can be vinegar. Originally, I made a small amount and used it. Next year, there will be enough to sell.”

We nodded. Once again, I realized that the uses of persimmons are diverse. I put the persimmons that had been laid out in the jar.

It was a moment to see the dried persimmon master Hwang Yu-shin again. He was showing us the process of making dried persimmons and working on persimmon vinegar at the same time.

Yushin Hwang never treated his belongings recklessly.

“Now go to dinner.”

The day was getting dark. When I heard that it was over, I was exhausted.

When I got home, the dinner table was well laid out.

Among the side dishes, pickles made with dried persimmons were also available. It was a dish made by mixing dried persimmons with red pepper paste and soy sauce.

The work of Hwang Jung-ah, Hwang Yu-shin’s sister, her workmanship was also unusual.

“it’s delicious.”

Gahee was amazed by eating dried persimmon pickles.

“Take a glass of this as well.”

Hwang Yushin lifted the kettle with a happy face. I thought it would be alcohol.

It didn’t smell like alcohol.

“It’s a persimmon plant. It will relieve your fatigue.”

The glass contained a dark brown liquid. As I looked at the vinegar with curious eyes, Ms. Hwang Jung-ah said with a smile.

“My brother has had asthma since childhood. I have very little asthma now. It’s all thanks to that persimmon vinegar.”

“There was a story like that.”

I drank the persimmon vinegar from the glass.

The sour taste was strong, but the feeling of passing through the throat was soft. The sweetness felt on the tip of the tongue seemed to relieve fatigue.

That night, as soon as I lay down, I fell asleep.

We did the same thing over and over again for a week.

Kahi and I picked and processed 500 persimmons every day.

It has become a daily routine to stretch out as it is when lying down.

* * *

Dried persimmons can be made only once during the frosty season.

Dried persimmons sold during Chuseok are leftovers sold during the Lunar New Year.

We picked persimmons, cut them, hung them, and peeled them again for a week.

A week had passed, but it felt like I had farmed dried persimmons for 7 years.

There have been some other changes in the week. Kahi was close to Hwang Jung-ah. Apparently, there was something in common with the women.

The relationship between me and Hwang Yu-shin was the same as in the beginning. Of course, it was true that his attitude and tone of speech became a little more fleshed out.

It was that evening.

Hwang Yushin came and sang Kahi. For some reason the table was set up.

he looked at us and said

“Now I will teach you how to make the fermented broth.”

He didn’t talk about how to make fermented broth all week. It was a sensitive part, so we stayed quiet.

Finally he opened his mouth.

to let u know that i been through a lot then i been going non stop with this practice for nothing

Master and disciple

Hwang Yu-shin said while looking at the dried persimmons on the table.

“Before I tell you the secret, I want to ask you one thing.”

The dried persimmons were covered with white powder. It is a dried persimmon that has been aged for 3 years with his own know-how.

“If you process persimmons other than dried persimmons, you can make semi-dried persimmons and dried persimmons. Which of the three is the most delicious?”

I chose half-dried, and Ka-hee chose dried persimmons.

“Shall we each tell you why?”

Hwang Yu-sin said kindly as if asking a grandson or granddaughter.

“I like the chewy taste of dried persimmons. The white powder is sweeter than honey. Sometimes I think of it because of the incomparable sweetness.”

Kahi said with a smile.

“Tell me about Deokmyung.”

“Semi-dried persimmons have more moisture than dried persimmons, so they are soft when eaten. The elderly and children can eat it without any burden. I love that soft taste. It is also good that it is a product that can be sold at the highest price.”

“Each one has their own tastes and reasons.”

Hwang Yu-shin picked up a dried persimmon on the table.

“Dried persimmons were my only winter snack. I liked dried persimmons, semi-dried persimmons, and dried persimmons. The reason I started making dried persimmons was because I wanted to revive the taste that my grandmother used to make. But people didn’t like the dried persimmons I made in the first place.”

“Why?”

Kahi asked with a curious expression.

I knew why. The first dried persimmons he put out were black as if they were burnt.

“The color and shape were not good. It wasn’t the dried persimmon that people wanted.”

The dried persimmons he is making now have a beautiful color and look delicious.

“People no longer consume dried persimmons as memories and taste. Don’t just dismiss it as something you put on a table on a holiday. That’s why I’m looking for things that have a nice color rather than taste.”

“You have found a way to preserve the taste and color with natural methods.”

I looked into Yushin Hwang’s eyes and said. It was eyes immersed in reminiscence.

“After trial and error, I found a way. Today I will show you how.”

Farming can also become a master by a small difference. Yushin Hwang found the taste he wanted and the shape people wanted.

It was possible because of his passion and hard work.

We followed him to the warehouse. There were a lot of jars in the warehouse. Each jar had notes attached to it.

The date and the ingredients and ratios that made the fermentation broth were written.

It looked like an old warehouse, but it was a secret laboratory of a master.

“These are things for this year.”

He said, pointing to one of the jars.

“After hearing the secret, you might think that it is too ordinary. Because the original secret is refreshing once you know it.”

He opened the jar lid. I felt the energy of harmony like a mint.

“If you add pine needles, chives, and plum juice and ferment for one month, it becomes a fermented liquid.”

“I heard that pine needles have an antiseptic effect. But what is the designation?”

It was the first name I had ever heard. Yushin Hwang looked at my face and said.

“It’s Sanyacho. Even in winter, I’m a bastard. It has antioxidant properties and prevents oxidation.”

“They are all plants with strong vitality.”

“The strong vitality of the plant meets the dried persimmon and maintains its beautiful light.”

Fermented broth using pine needles, chives and plum juice was the secret to making good dried persimmons without sulfur treatment.

* * *

The next day we climbed the mountain. It was to directly collect the materials to make the fermentation broth.

to let u know that i been through a lot then i been going non stop with this practice for nothing

Me and Kahi picked pine needles and pine needles. It seemed that he became a Simmani who climbed the mountain in search of wild ginseng.

The collected pine needles and pine needles were thoroughly washed and then placed in an onion net.

The plum juice was prepared by Hwang Yu-sin himself.

There was a one-to-one relationship between pine needles and chives, and the amount of plum juice was 0.8.

It had to be put in a jar in that proportion and fermented for a month.

A week passed, and the jars filled with fermented liquid filled the warehouse.

When there were no more jars to hold, Hwang Yushin called us.

He also taught me how to melt beeswax instead of fermentation broth. Beeswax was a natural substance made by melting honeycombs.

In some ways, it was said that it had a more excellent effect than the fermentation broth. The problem is that it’s not as easy to get as you want.

He made a fermented plum as an alternative, and said that the present fermented liquid came out.

That was my last education.

When he finished speaking, Yushin Hwang spoke as if to notify us.

“That’s all I can tell you so far. You will have to figure it out for the rest.”

“I still have a lot to learn.”

Kahi said with a sad face.

“The speed class ends here.”

“I was taught well.”

I bowed to my master. And he brought out the words he had saved up until now.

“Teacher. I have one last request.”

“what?”

“Please come to my house with me.”

“In your house?”

I brought out the story I had said when I left the house.

It was a promise that I would bring Hwang Yu-sin home with me. Through his mouth, he boasted that he would tell the story that the highest quality dried persimmons can be made with daebong persimmons.

“Do you really have to go and tell me?”

An uncomfortable expression was evident on Hwang Yu-shin’s face. I had already anticipated it. He considered the distance from Sangju to Hadong and his personality to be more shy than he looked as a factor to reject.

But I wanted to go home with him even by force.

The biggest reason was gratitude for him rather than promises.

Using the failures of the past as a mirror, he formed a bond between him and the priest.

After that, I just took it one-sidedly.

He gave us valuable time to teach and support us.

I wanted to give you even a small reward.

“I’ll do it later when I get a chance.”

It was at the moment when Hwang Yu-shin refused and was about to leave. Kahi grabbed his arm.

“Teacher.”

“Why are you again?”

“It’s sad to break up like this. Let’s go together. I’ll take you there and I’ll pick you up.”

Hwang Yu-shin was weak in aegyo toward Ka-hee. It was also the only weakness of a man who had been single all his life. I couldn’t easily turn away from the words of a woman like my granddaughter.

“Are you driving?”

“sure. You should visit our house.”

Kahi clings to Yushin Hwang like a koala and doesn’t know how to fall. There was a reason why she was clinging to Hwang Yu-shin like a water ghost.

He had already finished talking to me. I asked her when I was hunting for pine needles and herbs in the mountains.

If it was Hwang Yu-shin’s usual personality, it was obvious that he would reject it.

I had to borrow her power. But it wasn’t cheap.

She wanted to write a wish card. It must have been uncomfortable for me to hold the card in my hand.

I used the wish card cleanly.

However, if it fails, a condition is attached that the wish card will not be destroyed.

At Jeong Ga-hee’s desperate request, Hwang Yu-shin raised both hands and feet.

In the end, consent was obtained.

She looked at me with ferocious eyes.

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