Chapter 316 Lotus

"MSG? What is this?" Ma Xiangbo was confused.

"A seasoning whose main ingredient is sodium salt of glutamic acid. It was first isolated from wheat gluten by German scientist Reiter in 1846, but the correct usage was not found! When I was in France, out of curiosity, I tried it after making sure it was harmless to the human body. I found that this seasoning can greatly enhance the flavor of food."

MSG is also the result of Zhang Xingjiu's careful consideration. If you take out something else, it may make developed countries in Europe and the United States run faster due to their national strength, causing greater losses to China.

Therefore, he did not dare to produce achievements that could be industrialized on a large scale too early. Even the wireless telegraph was developed on time, only a short time before Marconi and Braun.

MSG does not have this problem. It is just a seasoning. It does not matter if it was born a few years earlier or later. Food preservatives can also enhance the logistics level of the military in developed countries. How much impact can MSG, which only provides umami, have? Moreover, it was the Japanese who first commercialized it. In 1908, Kikunae Ikeda of Japan isolated glutamic acid from kelp and found that the sodium salt of glutamic acid has umami taste.

In 1909, Japan began producing and selling "Ajinomoto" with monosodium glutamate as the main ingredient. It soon entered China and made huge profits from China every year. Now Zhang Xingjiu took it out in advance to steal the Japanese business.

"After returning to China, I brought some chemical experiment equipment and led some talented students to try to develop technology for large-scale production of monosodium glutamate. Some time ago, we finally made a breakthrough. We mainly use gluten or soybean meal as raw materials and use acid hydrolysis to produce monosodium glutamate."

More than ten years later, Wu Yunchu also adopted this method to produce MSG in Shanghai. This method continued until the 1960s, when it was replaced by new technologies such as fermentation, protein hydrolysis and synthesis by petroleum cracking propylene. Most of the MSG produced today is produced by fermentation.

Wu Yunchu is now a twelve-year-old child. He originally studied foreign languages ​​at the Shanghai Guangyan School. Due to his poor family background, he faced the risk of dropping out of school. Zhang Xingjiu provided him with financial support so that he could continue his studies and encouraged him to be admitted to Aurora University. When he enters the Department of Chemistry of Aurora University in the future, Zhang Xingjiu will find a new project for him and return the honor that originally belonged to him to him.

"At present, this technology has been verified in the laboratory and basically has the conditions for industrialization. However, some important equipment still needs to be imported from Europe and the United States, especially acid and alkali resistant equipment, which we cannot produce ourselves at present."

"So now we need a sum of money to buy equipment, land, recruit workers, and purchase raw materials for production. But as long as we can produce it, this product will definitely sell well, and we can recover the cost and make a profit in a short time. We can even export it to Japan, Southeast Asia and other places to make money."

Judging from the experience of Dongyangren and Wu Yunchu in making money in Shanghai in the future, there is no need to worry about the commercial prospects of MSG. Even when Zhang Xingjiu first traveled through time, the annual output of MSG was still as high as more than 2 million tons, and this business could be done for decades.

"You already have this money, and you are using it to benefit the school now!" Ma Xiangbo sighed. He felt more and more that he had chosen the right son-in-law. If it weren't for him, Aurora College might not exist now.

After get off work, Ma Xiangbo called Ma Jianzhong, Zhu Zhiyao, Zhu Yunzuo and other family members to go to Zhang Xingjiu's house to taste MSG. The chef in the family had already learned how to use MSG. The dishes they brought out were simple and ordinary, which they often ate, but they tasted extremely delicious and tasted much better than before.

Zhu Zhiyao couldn't help but feel a little strange, "Zhou Ping, did you change the chef at home? This cooking skill is extraordinary. The knife skills and the heat are fine, but this delicious taste is not something that an ordinary chef can make."

"It seems to have some flavor of Shandong cuisine. If we talk about freshness, Shandong cuisine chefs are still the best at the moment." Ma Jianzhong worked as an aide to Li Hefei back then, so he had seen and eaten a lot of it. After taking a few bites, he found some familiar flavors in the dishes.

“When Shandong cuisine chefs cook, they often add a special seasoning. This seasoning is their secret recipe and will never be taught to others easily. Only the son who inherits the family business has the opportunity to know it. It took me a lot of effort to find out this secret recipe. Later, I analyzed this seasoning carefully and found that the main ingredient is not much different from MSG.” Zhang Xingjiu took out a small bottle of sample and showed it to them.

This secret recipe is not surprising in reality. It is just grinding sea intestines into powder. Zhang Xingjiu did not say it directly because he did not want to ruin their jobs.

He asked the chef to cook a large bowl of mediocre cabbage and tofu soup using the old method. Everyone tasted it and thought it was bland and tasteless. He poured in an appropriate amount of MSG in front of them and stirred it slightly before tasting it again. The taste was immediately different.

"Delicious! This soup is so delicious! Even if you go to the Eight Great Buildings in Beijing, there are not many chefs who can make a bowl of cabbage and tofu soup so delicious." Veteran gourmet Ma Jianzhong gave a high evaluation.

"Uncle, do you think anyone would be willing to buy this MSG if it were put on the market?" Zhang Xingjiu asked.

"Haha, not only can you buy it, as long as one restaurant starts using it, other restaurants will have no choice but to use it. Zhouping, you've found a good business!" Ma Jianzhong gave his affirmation without hesitation.

A few days later, Ma Xiangbo called together Zhang Jian, Yan Fu, Xiong Xiling and other school directors, and talked about the matter of increasing revenue for Aurora College. He also invited them to Zhang Xingjiu's home to taste a banquet with added MSG.

Everyone praised the idea and expressed their willingness to contribute money to set up the factory. These school directors were all well-known figures, and with their investment, there would be no need to worry too much about being robbed.

Everyone quickly discussed the distribution of shares. Aurora College was the largest shareholder, Zhang Jian, who had run many businesses, was the second largest shareholder, and several other school directors who were interested in participating also invested in the company with money and land and got their own shares.

As the inventor of MSG technology, Zhang Xingjiu also received some shares. This was mainly to set an example and inspire newcomers. If other scholars saw that he had made a fortune, they would definitely be more motivated to do research.

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After several rounds of discussion, the basic rules of the MSG factory were determined. At this time, there was only one question left, "What should our MSG be called?"

Zhang Xingjiu blurted out, "Why not call it the Lotus MSG Factory? The lotus is pure and flawless, and our products are also pure and harmless. This name is just right."

(End of this chapter)