Chapter 83: Sounding Things Out

Fu Zhengtu left the house this morning with Su Taotao's plan.

Su Taotao said, "Fu Zhengtu, don't submit the plan just yet. I plan to make a batch of coconut candies first. It will be more convincing if you throw your stone and ask the way with a product."

Fu Zhengtu looked down at her slightly.

Su Taotao tapped her own head, "Remember to tell the boss that I have tons of ideas for promoting all the island’s fruit. The plan only covers a small part of them."

"I know," Fu Zhengtu looked at her with a smile in his eyes, "Do we have enough coconut water at home? If not, I can buy more after work."

Su Taotao shook her head, "There are many ways to make coconut candies. This time, I can't use young coconuts. I need old ones."

Fu Zhengtu thought for a moment, "The water from old coconuts on the island isn’t sweet anymore, and the meat doesn’t taste great either. Most of them are cracked open to feed the pigs."

Su Taotao said, "Exactly. I want to turn waste into treasure using the simplest method to showcase my value."

Su Taotao really did know several ways to make coconut candy. Some required a lot of manpower and resources, while others needed modern machinery. The simplest and least technical method was using old coconut flesh.

Young coconut water was refreshing and sweet, and the flesh was tender and slightly sweet. Everyone loved it, including Chenchen.

The water from old coconuts had no flavor and could sometimes be sour. It was better to drink plain water. But the old coconut flesh was a treasure. When conditions permitted, it could be made into canned coconut milk and exported.

For now, Su Taotao would use it to make the simplest kind of coconut candy—really just coconut flesh candy.

Su Taotao led Chenchen, while Fu Zhengtu carried Chenchen's "ride." The family of three left the house together.

Chenchen wanted to bring Bai Bai along, but Su Taotao managed to persuade him otherwise.

The little one was wearing a small straw hat today. Su Taotao was worried he might get sunburned, so she dressed him in long sleeves and pants, with only his white little feet exposed to the sun.

It was the little guy's first time sitting on the "ride" his father made for him, being pushed out by his mom to "make a splash." He was extremely proud and smiled at everyone he met.

This was the most attention Su Taotao had gotten since coming to the island.

It had been a long time since she was in the spotlight.

If it weren’t for her reputation as 'aloof' and 'untouchable,' parents with kids around Chenchen’s age would probably ask her about the stroller.

On the other hand, little Fu Haochen, whether he had adjusted or was just super happy, wasn’t shy at all. He smiled back at anyone who looked at him, melting their hearts.

Su Taotao wandered for a while before finding a few old coconuts. The vendor refused to take her money, saying these coconuts were generally not sold and were used to feed livestock.

Times had changed, and Su Taotao didn’t argue. She thanked the vendor and placed the old coconuts in the basket under the cart.

The vendor's family had a little girl of about four or five years old. Su Taotao gave her some candy.

The little girl thanked her, happily accepted, and secretly looked at Chenchen with her big round eyes, smiling shyly.

Chenchen smiled at her, and she shyly hid behind her father, only to peek out with a little head.

Chenchen deliberately widened his eyes and tilted his head to look back at her.

She hid again.

Chenchen thought they were playing hide-and-seek and giggled with delight.

The two kids didn’t exchange a single word, yet they had a blast playing together.

It was especially heartwarming.

It was the first time Su Taotao saw Chenchen interacting so joyfully with a stranger.

The child was becoming more and more cheerful, and she was feeling more relieved.

She then wheeled Chenchen over to buy another two pounds of sugar.

Lunch was two pounds of mantis shrimp and half a pound of seaweed, and dinner was a pig’s trotter with some greens—everything was set.

Fu Yuanhang was going through a growth spurt, and recently, Su Taotao had been making very light dinners, so he often felt hungry at night but was too embarrassed to say anything.

Su Taotao noticed him drinking water desperately and only after asking several times did he tell the truth.

Back home, when he got hungry, he’d roast a sweet potato, but here, when he was hungry, he just drank water.

Chenchen even drank milk before bed, but this silly kid never thought to mix up some malted milk and wouldn’t mention it to her.

Nutrition advice from the 21st century doesn’t quite fit the 1970s. These days, there aren’t any snacks or drinks that are high in salt, sugar, or fat. All nutritional intake comes from three meals a day. Their family wasn’t well-off, but they could still manage to keep the kid fed.

So Su Taotao stopped worrying. They would buy whatever they wanted to eat, and she would just eat a little less.

Kids still need to get out for some fresh air. After a walk, Chenchen returned much cheerier.

The only thing that made the child unhappy was that Su Taotao had locked his “ride” in the downstairs rain shelter, so his little uncle couldn’t push him to play in the morning.

Even though it was locked, Su Taotao still worried someone might steal it. Although the punishment for thieves was severe, there were still daredevils. People even stole children, let alone a cart.

With a worried heart, Su Taotao began making coconut candy.

The ingredients for old coconut candy were actually quite simple—coconut shreds and white sugar—but peeling and shredding were very labor-intensive.

Mainly because Su Taotao wasn’t strong enough, it took her a long time to turn four old coconuts into coconut shreds that weren’t much thicker than paper.

Next was boiling the sugar syrup. Su Taotao tasted some coconut water and kept the unspoiled portion, pouring it into the white sugar to make the syrup. This “original broth enhancing the original food” would give it a richer taste compared to plain water.

When the coconut water completely melted the white sugar and stirred it into a sticky coffee-colored syrup, the coconut shreds were added and continuously stirred until each shred was coated with sugar. Then it was ready to be taken off the heat and poured into a flat tray, like the one used for steamed rice noodles.

Using a rolling pin, she pressed it down firmly and evenly while it was still warm.

After letting it cool on the side, it could be cut into uniformly sized candy blocks.

This way, an original, traditionally handmade coconut candy was completed.

In fact, it could be further improved by adding peanuts and sesame, which would make it taste even better. Of course, the cost would be higher, and the price would rise accordingly.

Excluding labor costs, the basic version of coconut candy didn’t differ much in cost from regular candy, making it very competitive in the market.

Being a local specialty, this was only available in the southernmost coastal cities. Locals might not treasure it, or they could even figure out how to make it themselves, but if transported to central and northern cities, the market potential was huge.

These days, transportation and couriers weren’t well-developed, so fresh fruit from the south was hard to transport and sell in the north. Processed products didn’t have this problem.

If they were to target the mid-to-high-end market, they could later introduce a peanut and sesame version.

The cooled candy would become particularly hard and needed to be cut with a hammer tapping on the knife while cutting.

Good products need attractive packaging to make a great impression and fetch a better price.

But in an era of limited resources, it's best to avoid unnecessary gimmicks.

Su Taotao found two canvas bagss, drew scenes of blue skies and seas on them, added illustrations of coconuts and coconut trees, wrote "Handcrafted at XX Base Workshop" on the side, and centered "Traditional Handmade Coconut Candy" in bold letters.

And just like that, a simple yet effective cover was made.

As the first taster, little Chenchen gave Mom high praise: "Yummy!"

Su Taotao took a bite; it was sweet and crunchy, with the rich coconut milk flavor growing more intense with each chew. It tasted fantastic.

Fu Zhengtu’s chances of success would skyrocket if he brought this product to market.