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Making Forest Strawberry Jam
「By the what did Arc-sama come here for?」
Perhaps it’s to hide her embarrassment, Lila asked me, trying to change the topic. www.ihavesinnedtranslation.com
Ah, the topic of familiar’s food was so fun I had completely forgotten about my original, important business in coming here.
「I went to take a walk with Fuku earlier. And we collected forest strawberries」
「Uohh! It’s really forest strawberries! Moreover, such an amount!」
When I placed the forest strawberries on the kitchen table to show her, Lila cried out in surprise.
「Fuku found a cluster of them」
「Wafun」
Fuku threw out its chest as if saying ‘Aren’t I amazing?’, so I stroked his fluffy fur from the base of his throat to his chest. www.ihavesinnedtranslation.com
「I thoughtーI want to make a jam out of them!」
「That’s a great idea! I’ll make them now!」
「I will also help!」
When also offered to help, Lila - who was about to start doing the preparation, stopped moving and her eyes widened.
「Can Arc-sama do it?」
「When Fuku eats outside I at least peel and cut the fruit, you know!」
「Well, I guess it’s fine if it’s just to peel the skin….then you can cut their stem」
「Okay」
I washed the forest strawberries on the sink and was about to cut the stems on the kitchen table, but I wasn’t high enough.
As I was troubled by this, Lila brought me a small stool.
Apparently, it was something Chloe used when she was cutting fruits in the kitchen.
It wasn’t because Chloe was becoming interested in cooking, rather Ziruol ordered her to be a Tamer and able to at least prepare food for her familiars.
It makes me smile to think that I have a similar experience to Chloe.
I stood on the stool and the height was just right for me so I once again began to cut the forest strawberries with a knife.
When making a jam, having stems or the core at the base ruins the texture.
Lila also looked over me from the side, worried for me.
When someone stared at me like that, it bothered me so much I might cut my finger.
「Can I cut larger fruit vertically?」
「A, ahh」
Cutting strawberries in half will make it easier for the juice to come out. And we can leave the small ones without cutting them. www.ihavesinnedtranslation.com
If you want to enjoy the freshness of the fruit pulp, you can leave it whole but it would be the safest choice to cut it in half to save time.
I remove the stems and cut the larger ones in half vertically.
「......aren’t you better than your aneki?」
「I, is that so?」
「Yeah, you seem strangely skilled as if you have a good intuition or something」
I lived alone and basically cooked for myself in my previous life.
There was a time when I was really into cooking so I was confident I could cook as well - or even better - as the average person, but maybe my knife skills weren’t exactly what a three-year-old should be demonstrating.
「Isn’t Arc-sama have the talent to be a chef?」
「Really? Then maybe I should run a fluffy cafe in the future?」
I’m not particularly interested in being a chef, but I don’t think it’s a bad thing to run a fluffy cafe while making snacks.
「……what is this ‘fluffy cafe’?」
「A cafe where you can come in contact with my Tamed familiars! It’s a healing space where people you can pet them, communicate while feeding them, and deepen your interactions with people who also love fluffy things」
「Arc-sama is thinking about strange things, huh?」
「Eh? Is it strange? But there are pretty much other Tamers besides us in the empire, right?」
The Kontract house is able to form a deep bond with their familiars using Contract magic, but I’ve heard from Ziruol that there are people in this world who make a connection and Tame animals and monsters using their unique magic different from our Contract magic as well as those who are born with a natural disposition to be liked by animals and monsters and accompany them.
If there are Tamers like us then surely there must be one or two cafes out there, right?
「They do exist but I’ve never heard of anyone opening a cafe like that」
Apparently, most Tamers other than us are adventurers, merchants, or soldiers serving the country but none of them, ran a fluffy cafe like what I mentioned earlier. How lamentable. www.ihavesinnedtranslation.com
If, I have the time in the future, I think it’s going to be interesting to try running a fluffy cafe.
「Yosh, put the cut fruits in the bowl once you’re done!」
I put the sliced strawberries into the bowl Lila brought over, added a lot of sugar, and also added squeezed lemon juice.
The squeezed juice from the lemon is to prevent discoloration. With regular strawberry jam, this process is often added at the finishing stage after they’re cooked, but adding sugar before that will bring out the strawberry’s color more beautifully.
I mix the forest strawberries with a spatula, sprinkle some sugar, and finally put a slime sheet over it before putting it in the refrigerator.
「The rest of the process will be done overnight」
There is nothing more we can do until the sugar blends in and the forest strawberries release their moisture.
「I want to see it until it’s made, can I come here again tomorrow morning?」
「Yeah, it’s fine」
I promised to make the jam with Lila again tomorrow and left the kitchen for today.
****
The next morning. I was woken up cheerfully by Fuku again today and I decided to head straight to the kitchen.
The servants had already started their morning tasks and light was spilling out from the kitchen.
「Morning!」
「Ah, Arc-sama!」
When I called out from the entrance, the maid Aletta looked at me with surprise.
They said that they have the maids helping out when preparations get busy.
It seems that today Aletta is the one helping.
「Ooh, you’re here already」
「It’s the long-awaited jam so I thought I wanted to try it for breakfast! Can I?」
「Sure. That’s why I told Aletta to work hard」
「I thought the work was faster than usual, so that’s what it was about, eh~?」
Aletta frantically dissects the meat while looking a little reproachful.
Well, I feel a little sorry about that.
「This is the forest strawberries that had been left alone for one night」
As I wryly smiled at her, Lila took out the frozen bowl from the refrigerator. www.ihavesinnedtranslation.com
After taking off the slime sheet, you can see that a lot of moisture has come out from the forest strawberries.
「First, sorting them」
Use a strainer to separate the strawberries and the liquid and then put them in a bowl.
Lila then lit up the stove, placed a pot on top of the stove, then added the liquid into the pot.
「This magic tool, it’s really convenient」
「It is called a magic stove and it came from the Kingdom of Misphilt. The fire can be lit with just the push of a single button and if you adjust the lever, you can easily control the heat. For a chef, this is like a magic tool from God」
This is just like the stove in my previous life. Maybe this - just like the refrigerator - was being developed due to a common concern with the previous world, or maybe there was a reincarnator like me in the past.
I can’t judge the fact at the moment, but since I’ve been reincarnated into this world from Japan, it might not be strange for it to be the latter.
「Arc-sama, please let me know if the liquid turns thick like melted candy. Also, if any scum comes to the surface, skim it off with a ladle, okay? 」
「Okay」
Lila returned to her own preparation work when I nodded.
It seems to be busy as it’s just before breakfast.
As I stand on the stool and stare at the pot, the forest strawberry liquid heats up and makes a bubbling noise.
When it boiled and bubbled, scum gradually began to come out so I pushed them to the side and removed it with a ladle.
As I continued to stare at the pot like that, the bubbles gradually began to change to be larger.
As I tried moving the ladle, I found out the liquid had turned thick like melted candy.
「Lila! It turned into melted candy!」
「Ou! Then toss in the separated strawberry pulp earlier!」
It seems that it’s just at the same time as Lila putting some eggs into a frying pan and she can’t take her hands off them.
It wasn’t a particularly difficult task so I threw the strawberry pulp into the pot as I was told.
As I operated the magic stove and lowered the fire to medium heat, I continued to boil the mixture while taking out the scum
15 minutes later. The forest strawberries turned transparent and thickened so I turned off the heat.
There’s the image that a jam needs to be boiled slowly over low heat, but that’s a mistaken belief as the key is to finish it up in a short time with high heat. This will retain the fresh feeling of the strawberries and have better color and shine.
「How is it? Did you make it without burning it?」
「Un! How about this?」
「Ooh! It came out pretty, isn’t it!」
Looking at the inside of the pot, Lila grinned and patted me on the head. www.ihavesinnedtranslation.com
I usually pet Fuku like this, but it doesn’t feel bad to be patted like this too.
「Since we’re here, let us give it a taste」
「Un!」
She took a spoon and scooped some of it, blew it to cool it down, before bringing it to my mouth.
「Sweet!」
「It has a great forest flavor!」
With just one bite, the fragrance of the forest spreads inside my mouth.
It retains just the right amount of fresh pulp and the original sweetness from the fruit and sugar perfectly mixes together.
The refreshing sourness improves the sweetness even more and it is extremely crisp, not too overpowering.
This would probably go well with toast, yogurt, pancakes, cookies, and anything...
Including in my previous life, this is the most delicious jam I’ve ever eaten.
「Kuuun」
As I was immersed in the flavor of the forest strawberry jam, Fuku - who had been staying quiet until now - suddenly stood up on his hind legs and started patting me with his forelegs.
Apparently, Fuku also wants to try.
I scooped some jam with a spoon and blew on it to cool it down, then dripped it on Fuku’s tongue - as he looked upward and opened his mouth.
「Is it tasty?」
「Wan!」
He apparently likes it.
I usually eat forest strawberries outside, but when it comes to jam it contains quite an amount of sugar.
I think Fuku will be fine, but I’m not sure how much sweet stuff he can take so I think I’m going to have him try it a little at a time and see how it goes.
「Yosh, let’s put them in jars」
Lila takes out jars of various sizes from the cupboard.
Just as we were about to fill them up with the jam, she gave me a serious look.
「Before we fill it up inside, I need to ask you something......」
「Of course I will share them with you」
「As expected from Arc-sama. You understand what I’m talking about」
Lila raised her voice in happiness when I promised her share as a reward, besides the portion for me and the others for the Kontract family members.
When it comes to the delicious forest strawberry jam, you would normally want to enjoy it by yourself and it will also add variety to one’s food. www.ihavesinnedtranslation.com
I fill a large jar with the jam - a different one from the one for my family members - and give it to Lila.
「Arc-sama…………」
Aletta approaches with tears in her eyes.
「I also have some for Aletta for helping」
「Thank you very much!」
It was harder for her to help in the kitchen because of my jam-making and she’s always so helpful to me anyway. This much side benefit should be fine.
「Breakfast is about to be ready, you should go to the dining room now」
「Un, okay. Thank you」
Lila sends me off, and Fuku and I head toward the dining room.
When I arrived at the dining room, everyone except me was already seated.
I’m also not late today so I don’t get scolded.
I greeted everyone as usual and took my seat.
「It looks like you were up early, what were you doing?」
「It’s still a secret」
「Secret, what do you mean by that?」
Chloe looked displeased by my answer, but she closed her mouth when the dining room door opened and the maids entered with our meal.
Today’s breakfast includes Spanish omellete, onion soup, salad, cheese, and yogurt. It’s going to be a very delicious breakfast today too.
「Hm? There is no honey or jam today?」
Once all the menus were all set, Ziruol made a dissatisfied face while saying that. www.ihavesinnedtranslation.com
Ziruol eats yogurt every morning and he likes to add something sweet like honey or jam with it. Chloe and Runoa are also the type who eats toast with honey so they looked unhappy with the lack of topping.
「Taーdaa, I prepared something today!」
I took out the jar of forest strawberry jam from my pocket as though to surprise everyone.
「It’s forest strawberry jam」
「Forest strawberry jam!? Really!」
「Really」
Ziruol took the jar from me as if snatching it and dipped some into his finger to taste it.
「...there is no doubt. This is forest strawberry jam」
Ziruol had an ecstatic expression on his face after savoring it thoroughly.
「How did you collect them?」
「Yesterday, Fuku found a forest strawberry cluster when we were taking a walk」
「Wan!」
Fuku puffed out his chest as if saying ‘I’m amazing, aren’t I’.
I gave Fuku some pats around his chest as he was proud of his findings.
「Heeー, that is pretty good. It is quite hard to find forest strawberry」
「You have certainly taken a step forward as a Tamer」
Although they are happy, I was able to pick the rare forest strawberry, but it seems like for Runoa, what makes her happier is the fact I found them as a Tamer.
Certainly, being able to achieve one’s goal as a Tamer by putting a familiar’s special characteristic to use might be a Tamer’s strong point.
I definitely wouldn’t have been able to find forest strawberries on my own.
「Yosh, let us go ahead and enjoy it immediately」
Perhaps he wanted to taste the forest strawberry jam as soon as possible that Ziruol spoke as the head of the family as if he was slightly impatient.
I chuckled at his easy-to-understand figure and started eating with everyone. www.ihavesinnedtranslation.com
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