Gourmet Emperor: Master Of Culinary World 48 Sapping Technique

"Okay Claude listen carefully, I will teach you how to do it. First, not all trees can be taken in its sap. Minimum the tree must have diameter 12 inches, to make a hole to take the sap, 18 inches for two holes and over 24 inches you can make 3 holes. The process to make the hole to get the sap itself called tapping"

Claude listening to my words with a serious expression. He won't let anything miss from my explanation.

"Okay, after that let's make a hole in the tree, I will show you how to make the hole and put the tapper into the tree. Ah, that tree is big enough to sap with diameter maybe 15 inches. When you drill, make it gently and not to damage the tree. The hole itself doesn't make it horizontally but have a slight angle so the sap will flow down easily. Make the hole as big as the tapper, in this case, is this iron pipe. we can also use wooden pipe for this"

I show Claude how to drill the hole and put the iron pipe as the tapper in the tree. I try to make the hole fit with the pipe, not too big not too small. After that, I put the bucket under the tapper to collect the sap that flows down from the tree through the tapper. After that, I put a lid on the bucket to cover it from leaves and dirt that might fall into the bucket.

I make the same demonstration on another tree to make Claude understand thoroughly the technique and how to implement it. After making three demonstrations I let Claude learn how to do that with the remaining tapper. It seems he's a fast learner that can do like what I teach him. I nodded satisfied after checking his result.

"Okay Claude, it seems you already understand how to do it. We can leave it here and check the result tomorrow. This is not magic where everything can be done in blinking eyes. It must through the process, patience, and hard work. When I return to the castle, I will ask my father to deliver more material for this sapping, and I want you to teach some people how to do it to help you carry on this project"

"Yes, don't worry Henry, I won't let you down"

"Great, let's return to the camp"

We arrive at the camp when the lunchtime has come. I see the party cook is busy reheating the Frikadel that we brought from the castle in the frying pan, and place each people portion in their bowl. I don't know how many Frikadel that we still have, but for tomorrow menu, I guess we should make another kind of food for them, which mean I should teach this cook some recipe that easy to make and we have the ingredient.

Re-heating the Frikadel didn't need much time. After a while, the cook already finished his job and all crew portion was already taken and delivered. So I call him to know how our logistic situation is.

"You, come here for a minute. I need to talk with you"

The cook approaching me after hearing my call

"Young master Henry, what can I do for you?"

"What's your name? Did we still have Frikadel for provision?"

"My name is Craig, young master. Our frikadel provision only last for tonight dinner, young master. After that, I should cook another dish from our supply"

"Alright, tonight after you finish preparing the dinner. Come and see me, I will teach you some recipe that easy to make but good enough for the crew"

"Young master….you want to teach me recipe?...Really?"

"Of course. It's not something hard to learn, you'll learn that easily"

"Thank you, young master!"

Well, for a cook, a recipe is like a spell for a magician. More recipe he/she has the more powerful he/she is, like a magician with many spells will be more formidable than a magician that only know some spells.

"It's okay, you can leave now"

The cook, Craig, leaves me with a joyful expression on his face. Meanwhile, I'm thinking about what I should do next after this. Claude already returns to his previous post in clearing team, left me here alone. After checking the salt cooking in the stoves, practically I have nothing to do. I can't do nap when everyone working hard outside, it's unfair. So I walk to the old pier to see the sea in days, maybe I can find something useful there.