Upstart Pastry Chef ~Territory Management of a Genius Pâtisserie~ - Chapter 17

Chapter 17: Walnut Oil from the Blessings of the Forest

In the end, it didn’t take even thirty minutes before Tina found two wild yams.

With two of them, it should be enough for making sweets, and one could be eaten at home.

Tina cheerfully carried the wild yams I had dug up.

“Yo-ho-ho, heave-ho-ho, la-la-la♪”

She seemed to be in a very good mood, humming a strange song.

“Swish, swish goes the tail, la-la-la♪”

Her tail swayed in time with the song, quite adorable.

“The tips of my ears are black as night♪”

It was a strange song, but rather pleasant.

Next time, I’ll ask her to sing it in a quiet place, so we can enjoy it properly.

◇

“This place feels nostalgic.”

“I think it’s been since winter since we last came here.”

Tina and I entered a small cave in the forest.

Though calling it a cave was generous; it was just a small dead-end after a minute’s walk inside.

Snow still lingered inside the cave.

This was our refrigerator, Tina’s and mine.

We would throw in as much snow as possible during winter, and it would remain until the end of spring without melting.

By storing what we gathered in autumn inside, we could preserve it for a long time.

I looked at one of the pots inside the cave. It was filled to the brim with walnuts we had collected at the end of autumn.

Walnuts can last for up to six months if refrigerated. Rich in nutrients, they serve as emergency rations for the winter when forest blessings are scarce, and in the spring when food supplies run low due to minor crop failures.

With only about fifty people in the village, the walnuts stored here could sustain us for quite some time if used sparingly.

“Tina, I’m thinking of using the walnuts we gathered together as ingredients for making sweets. Would you mind?”

Since these walnuts were collected by Tina and me, I couldn’t use them without her consent.

“It’s okay… but, I’m a little disappointed.”

Tina seemed slightly disheartened.

Every year, we were grateful that we didn’t have to use the emergency walnuts, so from the end of spring, we enjoyed them together or shared them with everyone in the village.

Walnuts were a treat in our village, and I’m sure Tina looked forward to them as well.

“I’m sorry, Tina.”

“…Can I make just one selfish request?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“For tonight’s dinner, could you prepare a wonderful dish using walnuts?”

“Got it. I’ll put my heart into making a walnut-based dish.”

“I’m looking forward to it!”

It was a charming request from Tina.

I couldn’t refuse. I crushed the walnut shells with my grip strength, extracted the white kernels, and tossed them into Tina’s small mouth.

It was fine to indulge her a little.

Tina looked slightly surprised at first, then she crushed the walnut kernels firmly, her face lighting up with happiness.

◇

After that, the two of us gathered plenty of mountain wild vegetables, butterbur, and spikenard, and returned home.

Our date was over, and walking in the mountains with Tina had completely relieved the fatigue in my heart.

Well, there was still one thing left to do. I needed to prepare an amazing dinner for Tina.

I entered the kitchen and laid out the walnuts.

“What are you making, Kurt-sama?”

Tina asked.

“Walnut oil. I’m going to extract oil from the walnuts. It’s convenient to use like butter. I’ll use it for tonight’s dinner and tomorrow’s sweets.”

I explained.

Truth be told, the shortage of butter was more severe than wheat for tomorrow’s sweet-making.

In my pioneering village, we only had a few goats for livestock.

There was no way we could prepare enough butter for two hundred people’s worth of sweets.

So, we would use walnut oil instead.

The oil extracted from walnuts has a subtle sweetness and rich flavor. It’s not just a substitute for butter; it’s a worthy rival. Depending on how you use it, you can make sweets even more delicious than those made with butter.

“You can make oil from walnuts?”

“Yeah, it’s delicious. Look forward to tonight’s dinner with walnut oil.”

I smiled, spreading out as many walnuts as possible on the table.

In my hand was my favorite stone knife.

And then…

“Wow, the incredibly hard walnut shells split right in half.”

With a single stroke of the knife.

Thanks to Swordsmanship Level III, my slashing ability is enhanced. As a result, cracking open walnut shells, which used to be a struggle, can now be done in no time.

“Tina, could you gather all the white kernels from the walnuts I’ve split into two and put them in one place?”

I asked.

“Of course!”

Tina replied cheerfully, using a fork to extract each kernel from the split walnuts.

As I watched her do that out of the corner of my eye, I continued to split walnuts one after another.

◇

“Kurt-sama, we’ve gathered a lot of walnut kernels, haven’t we?”

Tina remarked.

“Yeah, thanks to you, Tina, it went smoothly.”

I replied.

The wooden bowl was filled to the brim with walnut kernels. I wrapped them tightly in a coarse cloth and then proceeded to crush them with the flat side of the knife. Afterward, I squeezed them tightly, remembering to enhance my physical abilities to the maximum with magic.

“Wow, the oil is seeping out from the cloth.”

Tina exclaimed.

The dripping oil from the cloth was being collected in a bucket. The amber-colored oil was steadily accumulating at the bottom.

“We’ve really made oil. I’m surprised.”

She continued.

“This is walnut oil. Actually, this oil is delicious even if you just consume it as is. Want to try?”

I offered.

“Is it okay? Then…”

Tina hesitated briefly before licking a bit of the walnut oil.

“Mmm, delicious. It tastes like walnuts—rich, fluffy, and sweet.”

She described.

“See? Doesn’t it make you feel excited to use this in making sweets?”

“Yes, I’m looking forward to it!”

Tina replied eagerly.

Tomorrow’s ingredients for the sweets to be served included eggs provided by Fernande, wheat harvested from the village, walnut oil from the mountains, yams I dug up, honey, and the sarnashi harvested today—a green, five-centimeter kiwi fruit native to the area.

Except for the eggs, all were sourced from the village and the forest. They were all excellent ingredients, and since they were gathered from the same forest, they complemented each other well. I planned to make sweets that fully utilized the vitality of the forest’s ingredients while highlighting the flavor of the eggs.

I envisioned making golden-colored sweets. Now, I needed to think of a suitable name for these golden treats.

“Now that we’ve collected enough oil, we have all the ingredients for the sweets. Look forward to trying my special sweets tomorrow, Tina.”

I said.

“But that’s so unfair! Waiting until tomorrow is torture.”

Tina complained with a resentful expression, her eyes fixed on me.

I chuckled as I worked on bottling the walnut oil.

As I smiled, I realized that the four essential ingredients for Western sweets were now complete, more or less:

Flour – Wheat and yams harvested from the village
Eggs – Provided by the Fernando Marchioness’s chickens
Butter – Goat butter from the village and walnut oil
Sugar – Honey

With these four ingredients, I could confidently showcase my skills. I was looking forward to starting tomorrow.

“Well, while the sweets will have to wait until tomorrow, as promised, today you’ll get to enjoy a lovely dinner featuring walnuts. So, forgive me for the wait.”

I teased.

“What exactly are you going to make?”

Tina asked with anticipation in her eyes.

“I’ll just tell you it’s a feast featuring deer meat and walnuts. The rest will be a surprise, not only delicious but also an auspicious dish.”

I said, offering a hint of what was to come.

In my mind, I envisioned the dish: the rich protein of the meat complemented by the flavor of walnuts. Topped with a special sauce, it would surely delight Tina.