Chapter 36: Making Sugar
After leaving the farmland, Vaerik mysteriously leaned closer to Siv and lowered his voice: "Come, I'll take you to eat something good."
Siv looked at him puzzled but followed anyway.
They arrived at a small workshop where the air was filled with a faint sweet fragrance.
Inside, a middle-aged woman was focused on stirring a pot of syrup.
Her name was Doris, a migrant who had followed Vaerik to the Northern Province.
A few days ago, Vaerik learned through the Daily Intelligence System that she was skilled in sugar making. He specially arranged people to help her collect tree sap and attempt to make birch sugar.
Now the first batch of sugar had been made, and today was the preparation of the second batch.
Outside the workshop, workers were methodically collecting sap from the birch forest.
They drilled holes about a meter above the ground in the tree trunks, then carefully inserted tubes, allowing the clear sap to slowly flow into wooden buckets.
"You can't collect too much from each tree per day, no more than half a bucket, otherwise it will harm the tree," Doris instructed the workers while busy with her work. "Remember to seal the holes after collection, wooden plugs will do."
The boiling syrup bubbled, and the sweet scent in the air grew stronger.