Capítulo 91: The Produce of a New Era
"Come princess there is more to see and taste." Ezra beckoned to another servant. The servant hurriedly came with her platter toward Ezra and the princess.
Ezra now caught Hestia's attention. He slowly tested the waters for Hestia. The gelatin was just the first cuisine to see how she would react to the new food. During that time, he was nervous as he still couldn't gauge Hestia's temperament. Her silence was an enigma, that was why Ezra didn't want to introduce new food to her for fear of rejection. That was why he served regular food instead of the things he ate normally.
Hestia's eyes ogled at the new platter that was served. It seemed monotonous compared to the platter she was served before. It only contained yellow and some brownish sort of food. To her, it looked odd. She assumed that it was some sort of bread or a derivative of it. But because of Ezra's prior coaxing, she was delighted to taste some of it since he was endorsing it.
She tasted one brittle looking yellow slice. She bit into it and was delighted as it was tangy and flavorful. It crunched in her mouth. The crunching sound and the tangy taste seemed to complement inside her mouth it was more of a feeling than taste and she could definitely get used to it.
"It's what I call a potato chip. It is deep fried in vegetable oil and salted. "
"What you mean this thing I'm eating right now is what you feed we feed to the pigs?" Hestia tried to refrain from eating the chips but was finding it hard to do so even if she was somewhat irked.
In this era potatoes were considered a root crop, that meant that it was only good for animal consumption plus it did not help the potato's reputation that it had an ugly exterior and small size. However, Ezra had been breeding the potatoes to yield better-looking tubers.
"Princess, look." Ezra was prepared for this reaction. He remembered his mother and father were also shocked when he first told them what they were eating. Ezra showed the princes the root crop that was produced in the farm. It was large and yellow. It didn't resemble the potatoes Hestia knew at all.
"Wow, these look so different. Are these really potatoes? If these are the ones I'm eating then I have no problems. How in the world did you do this?" Hestia was relieved and grabbed even more potato chips.
"I told you we bred them." Ezra smiled. "Try the other long ones. I call them fries."
"Okay." Hestia smiled happily and took a piece. The aroma of the food was appetizing. It was a different experience for Hestia, it was also delicious but it didn't have a crunch. She contemplated a bit but she decided that she liked the potato chips better.
"I know what you are thinking, princess. You like the chips more don't you?"
She blushed a little and nodded. "Yes, but I still really like it." She was quite pleased that Ezra was trying to make her happy and she didn't want to offend Ezra.
"That is because it is an incomplete dish." Ezra declared and beckoned to another servant. The servant carried a wooden bowl with a reddish looking sauce. Hestia looked at it curiously.
"That is because you need to dip it in this. Try it" Ezra coaxed her once more
She did as she was told. And to her surprise, the sauce complemented the tang of the potato fry perfectly as if it were a destined match. She couldn't help but get more and dip it into the red sauce.
She tried to dip the chip in the sauce but to her surprise, it wasn't as good as dipping the fries into the red mush. She now understood what Ezra meant.
"What do you call this sauce Ezra? It is the first time I have seen and tasted this."
"It doesn't go too well with the potato chip princess. It's called catsup. It's made from tomatoes." The catsup that Ezra produced didn't have a long shelf life but because he made a mock fridge using Aerwyna's freezing capabilities he could store some up to a month. He was thinking that he was the first person to make such a grand noble's powers into a common household appliance.
He chuckled at this when he did it the first time. However, Aerwyna caught on and she was actually quite surprised that she could use her powers for such a practical use. From then on, they remodelled a room and made it into what Ezra called a walk-in freezer. It contained meats and other foodstuff and a section was added for experimental materials that Ezra needed to be preserved. Aerwyna was quite happy at this discovery. Then again, she would never have done it if it were not for her son. She commended and kissed Ezra's cheeks thoroughly because of this.
"What isn't tomato a fruit?" asked a bewildered Hestia.
In the empire, the tomato was eaten raw and considered a fruit. Although it was sour the empire had a dish that dipped tomatoes in honey and eaten like a berry.
"Yes, but you could also make it into this way so that it could complement savoury food."
"This is actually quite delightful," Hestia said as her eyes beamed at Ezra.
"We are not done yet, princess. Try the brownish ones. They are not savoury though they are sweet."
Hestia had a sweet tooth so she hurriedly tried to taste what they were. They weren't very pleasing to the eye but she trusted Ezra's Judgement. She tasted it and it was starchy but it was quite sweet and the hardened liquid was sweet as well and she liked the taste of this bizarre dessert.
"That is a sweet potato princess and it was fried with vegetable oil and sugar."
"What's sugar?" Rex Imperia didn't have any knowledge of sugar cane plants and thus they didn't know about the substance.
"Oh, it's a sweet powder that we got from some exotic plants we grew. You can use it to sweeten food instead of honey."
Hestia marvelled at Ezra's grasp of nature. She wondered if her tutors actually taught her these things but she didn't pay attention to them. She didn't ask Ezra how he came to know these things because she was ashamed to admit out loud that his knowledge exceeded hers.
With this, all her preconceived notions about what the world was turned upside down even the very definition of food was in question. She tried hard to keep silent and think but she kept munching down the food served on the silver platters delivered by the servants.
Ezra kept on observing her but he was chuckling inside as she wolfed down more of the produce.
"May I go over there?" asked Hestia as she pointed at the flowery fields.
Ezra was taken aback, this was the second time today that Hestia asked for his permission to do something. Normally her tone was more authoritative, though it was commendable that she knew where to draw the line the bounds of her power. She never did overstep and demanded anything unreasonable. Ezra was impressed at how Hestia was brought up. She was truly a princess of the empire.
"Yes, but please don't stray on the fenced part of the farm. There are exotic plants there that we are trying to cultivate and breed. If you disturb them in a way they might wilt." Ezra warned.
"Okay, thank you. I will be careful"
Hestia ran toward the field of flowers excitedly just like the child that she was.
Ezra sat down slowly at a bench, he seemed to look like an old man sighing. It was obvious to his retinue that he was emotionally stressed and on edge. The knights were trying very hard not to laugh at Ezra because of other people around. If they were left alone together, they would probably burst out of laughter since this was one of the rare times Ezra was so worked up.
Hestia took some time exploring the vast territory of the farm. It was huge but since it was located in such a way that it was away from the gates it seemed to hide and blend at a distance. There were few who noticed this special place. After a while, Ezra accompanied Hestia and gave her a proper tour of the farm. He told her where the different crops were planted and how the everything was placed and divided.
Ezra was pretty proud of what he did over the years and it could be heard in his voice. Of course, the land didn't cost him anything since everything in Fulmen technically belonged to Castle Blackfyre. The money he spent was on the farm hands and manual labour he had to pay for, He was not thrifty with their payment and gave everyone a double a regular farmhand's wages.
The party went back to the chateau after a while, it was around mid-afternoon.
"Are we going anywhere else?" asked Hestia anticipating more places she could explore in Bren. "We couldn't even go everywhere in this farm of yours, it's so big. I'd like to visit again sometime. I know we have other places to go."
"Sure you can come back anytime but I'd like to request that you do not disturb the duties of the farm hands too much since we are cultivating more kinds of plants." Ezra was careful to no insinuate that she was a burden, "This is for the development of our domain so if you do visit please tell me first or mother, she will be happy to assist you herself or give you our personal butler to guide you here again." Ezra smiled.
Hestia nodded and smiled back." Of course."
"As for our itinerary, well I hope I could show you my lab if that is interesting enough for you."
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