The next morning when Iris awoke she found that she had already been washed clean and redressed. Caspian was nowhere in sight and Iris could only assume he was out hunting more prey for the cold season.
Iris couldn't help but question how much food was "enough". If this world works like the modern world then the cold season should only be three months or so.
Walking into the kitchen, Iris lifted back the rug covering the cellar entrance. She then pushed the stone cover back and slowly walked down a wooden ladder. For safety's sake, Iris had wanted to hide their food and create a safe place for her to hide in case of intruders. Beastmen often starved in the cold months due to a lack of food, so one could never be too careful.
Walking around the cellar, Iris took stock of the amount of food they had stockpiled so far. They had many large bins full of dried and smoked meat. There were dozens of prey in their cellar already. Iris felt both amazed that Caspian had already done so much and confused as to why her latest quest was yet to be completed.
Just one of these large prey would be enough to feed Iris for nearly a month. Even with Caspian eating a lot more than her, surely the amount they had now would be enough? Iris was unsure what the problem was but could only hope a few more days of collecting prey would complete the quest. It would snow any day now and they would not be able to collect food for much longer.
Iris decided to carefully organize her new purchases and put them away in the cellar. The stone box full of honey had not been able to safely be placed in her animal hide bag. Thus, she had to carry it back home. Honey was very precious as it could sweeten her herbal teas and even be used in cooking. This she placed inside one of the carved-out stone cupboards that held her spices.
The cattails, acorns, and plantain leaves would need to be dried and processed to be used. Plantain leaves were really far better fresh and could be eaten in stir-fries or salads. However, with their natural anti-inflammatory and immune-boosting properties, they were a real superfood. It would be better to have them throughout the cold season to use in soups and stews than to eat them all while they were still fresh.
The cattails and acorns are natural starches easily foraged for, both in the modern world and the beast world. However, they would have to be carefully processed to ensure they were safe to eat.
Acorns could be turned into flour and grits before being made into numerous other delicacies. Due to the bitter and potentially poisonous tannins in the acorns, it's best to either boil the acorns for three hours or use cold water for over a week to leech the tannins out.
The boiling method would obviously be faster but the flour it would produce would be darker in color and would destroy the gluten-like properties in the flour. As such, Iris could only set the nearly fifty pounds worth of acorns aside for later when Caspian returned. She'd need river water and she did not feel safe braving the dangerous forest for such a thing. That wasn't even to mention the weight of the water and stone pot would be far too much for her to carry.
Cattails are edible from top to bottom and contain many vitamins and even potassium. Thankfully, cattails were not as dangerous to eat raw, they just needed to be prepped and dried for the cold season.
As the pollen found in the tail could also be used as a flour, Iris first placed them into a normal animal skin bag and shook it around to loosen the pollen. She did this repeatedly in small batches, transferring the pollen to a larger, clean animal skin as she went. The rest of the cattails were set aside for the next step. Once all the pollen was removed, Iris used a strip of animal hide to tie it together and placed it in a corner. Later, when Caspian was home, she would have to ask him to carve out some large stone jars for her to store flour in.
The next step was to pull off any leaves and stalks along the leftover cattails. These could be used in basket making or for starting fires once dried. The leftover root would also need to be dried but could later be roasted or boiled in soups. The root is supposed to be similar to eating artichoke with the starches being stripped away from the fibers with your teeth.
While Iris knew some of the information on foraging and cooking with wild foods, her animal skin book was also a treasure trove of knowledge. It explained many of the preparation steps and even common ways of cooking and eating such foods. In this beast world without modern technology, it was a true lifesaver as Iris would not be able to live a long and healthy life if she ate nothing but meat.
Just as Iris was finishing the last of her food preparations, she heard Caspian shouting her name in a concerned tone from above her. She quickly climbed up the cellar ladder and replied
"What's wrong? I was just in the cellar preparing the food we bought the other day."
Caspian looked relieved upon seeing Iris and quickly went over to hug her. He had been worried upon seeing that she was neither in bed nor in the main room of the house. Clearly, he was still not used to how his little female was so independent as to wander off and do things on her own.
"Nothing, it's nothing. I was just worried when I didn't see you when I came back. I brought some meat back for me to prepare for lunch. I figured I'd eat with you and then I would head back out for the afternoon to hunt more. That is, unless you have something you want to do today. I realize it must be difficult to only have a single male to tend to your needs."
As Caspian rambled on, Iris smiled, finding it cute. This beast was more attentive than even many husbands were in the modern world. How could Iris not appreciate such a hard-working spouse? She reached up and kissed Caspian, wrapping her arms around his neck as she did so. Soon she pulled away, smiling up at Caspian as she did so.
"Well, I do have a few things I need help with but we should work on lunch first."
Caspian followed Iris into the kitchen where he showed off his freshly caught prey. As there was no hide on the animal and it had been cut into large roast-sized pieces of meat, Iris had no way of telling what Caspian had caught this time. Oh well, meat was meat and you can't be too picky in this beast world.
Iris had Caspian carve out the new stoneware for her while she showed him how to prepare a roast. Iris was excited to finally eat food with salt and she even had plenty of other spices as well. With the addition of some roasted cattail and some leftover watercress salad, this meal felt like the closest thing to a real meal Iris had had since transmigrating.
When she finished cooking the food and took the first bite of the meat, she couldn't help but moan in delight. This made Caspian feel hungry too, so he was quick to join in on the fun. While the meals Iris cooked were never enough to fill Caspian's stomach, he always joined in. He felt it was nice to enjoy each other's company while enjoying the delicious food his mate always prepared.
Besides, he could always practice his cooking skills and prepare extra food for himself later in the night when dinner had been finished and Iris was tucked away in bed. He had been ever so slowly learning how to improve his cooking skills but having new foods and cooking methods introduced to him only seemed to make things more complicated. Even if he could now roast small pieces of meat over a fire, learning to cook larger pieces of meat without it being raw in the center would be a new challenge. That wasn't even to mention learning to balance spices was nearly impossible for Caspian who was used to eating raw unseasoned meat before his mate came along. Still, even if it took Caspian the rest of his life, he'd never stop trying to learn so he could better take care of Iris.
After dinner, Caspian quickly went to fetch water for the acorns and for washing the dishes. Iris carefully organized her cattail pollen flour and salt into their new stone pots in the cellar while she waited for him to return. Upon returning, Caspian immediately began to carefully wash, dry, and put away the leftovers from dinner just as he always did. He curiously watched Iris pour all of her acorns into the large basin of water she had asked him for and then stirred the contents a few times.
"Don't you usually dry foods to prepare them for the cold season? How does soaking them in water help?"
Iris easily explained how they needed to do this to make the acorns safe for her to eat. Many beastmen could safely eat acorns without worrying about toxins, but humans were not able to eat the same foods as beastmen. This made Caspian worry as he felt that Iris must have a weaker digestive system and would more easily become sick.
Usually having a male beast man check food for poison was enough to ensure a food was safe to eat, but now he found out that was not the case and it worried him. Thankfully his little mate seemed well-versed on what was safe for her to eat or else Caspian would likely end up limiting her food to only what she'd already eaten.
Since removing the bad substances in the acorns was as simple as soaking them in fresh water every day for a week and moving them around twice a day, Caspian decided to take this task upon himself. He might be lacking in certain areas, but he was determined to take care of his little mate any way he could.
More sources of food made things easier in the cold season. It meant they would not have to worry about starvation as much. As this was Caspian's first cold season with a mate, this worried him to no end. Many tribesmen would starve to death every year and many males would sacrifice themselves as food to keep their mates from starving to death.
As Iris's only mate, Caspian could only hope to stockpile enough food to not worry about such things. He was very grateful for his mate's varied diet and abundance of knowledge regarding food.
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This series is now complete on Patreon!
- 5 PDF copies of completed volumes
- 3 side stories
- End of chapter shout-out
- Exclusive Discord role
A special thanks to the following Patreon subscribers:
Discontinued: Ann, Argon, Austin J., Byloderus, Care, Catherine W., Cheyenne O., Chong Y., Christen F., Cindy S., Clara, CooCoo C., Courtney H., Dagoon320, David Z., Denise G., Doc., Dreamer, Emma B., Fictional F., GeminiDragon, Gracie, InjaP., Izzzy B., Jasmine H., Jenn L., Juha, Kayla N., Kelly, Killer K., Lisa C., Martina I., Merveille L., Michelle S., Michelle W., Miranda M., Myungjun R., Nick T., Nova H., Nyrobi J., Nyxie N., Parul N., Quince, Red, Reyanne B., Rochelle N., Ryanna B., Satya P., Sboss678, ScorpioPerk, Shaunna H., Shawna B., Steven B., Travis S., 8Please respect copyright.PENANAqkSttQINby
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Her Beasts: Alison S., Becca S., Isabel P., Ja’sonsra P., Kaleaha C., Keiber A., Miranda S., Ren, Sha C.,
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