Chapter 239 Primitive Beast World Cubs 14
Animals also know that they need to replenish salt. Nature contains all the nutrients that animals need, and humans are also animals, so of course they can find the substances they need in nature as well.
There are many ways to obtain salt; it can be found in the flesh and blood of animals, as well as in fish and shellfish.
But for people who are used to refined salt, that little bit is practically nonexistent, and they can't taste it.
Food that has no flavor doesn't taste very good.
Once you find water, minerals, or soil containing salt, extracting salt becomes much easier. Human society has a history of directly utilizing natural salt springs, and during the Yangshao culture period, a method of boiling salt with bamboo axes was invented.
Shen Ci didn't have many meticulous and elaborate solutions; she kept everything simple. Right now, she desperately needed to eat flavorful food, otherwise she couldn't stand eating meat every day.
Shen Ci squatted by the pool and observed carefully for a while.
She picked up a bit of the white crystals on the surface of the soil with her fingers, put it on her tongue and tasted it. A strong salty and astringent taste immediately filled her mouth.
This tastes really not good; it's both salty and astringent, and only animals would dare to eat it.
But after the bitterness subsided, Shen Ci still looked delighted because she had found what she was looking for.
"That's it, this is the place!"
"My dear, you've done a really great job!"
Upon hearing the praise, Cangye's ears immediately perked up, its tail wagged even more enthusiastically, and it circled around Shen Ci, overjoyed.
Without further ado, Shen Ci looked at the tools he had brought: a bamboo basket that couldn't be filled completely, several thick bamboo tubes, and a stone knife. All of these things were placed in the basket.
She tried it, and this bamboo basket prop is actually like a space; it can hold a lot of things, but when you want to take them out, you just need to put your hand inside and think of those things.
It can be said to have a visible storage space.
Despite the limited resources, as long as we don't lose heart, there are always more solutions than problems.
Shen Ci carefully scraped off the hard clods of soil with white salt crusts from the edge of the pool with a stone knife and collected them in a bamboo basket.
These salt crusts are relatively pure, and more salt can be extracted from them. Then, a large bamboo tube was used to scoop several full tubes of turbid brine with a strong salty taste from the pool.
The bamboo tubes are made in a closed manner, requiring only one thick section and one thin section. As long as the thickness is just right, they can be joined together. It is not a complicated process.
It's easy to store water at home if it's enclosed, and it's also convenient to take with you when you go out.
"Come on, my sweet child, let's go home! Mom will make you something delicious today!"
Shen Ci weighed her haul and was quite satisfied. She decided to take some home and try it out today. Salt, usually, a two-yuan bag would last a very long time.
Back in the cave, Shen Ci immediately got to work.
She found the largest and flattest stone to use as a workbench, then poured the collected salt crust clods onto it, and slowly crushed and ground them with another smooth pebble, trying to make them as fine as possible.
"Mother, what are you doing?" Cang Ye asked curiously.
"This is like drawing salt out of the soil."
Look, this white stuff is salt, but it's mixed with the soil now, and we need to figure out a way to separate them.
We only need the salty stuff inside; we don't need to eat the dirt.
While vigorously grinding the salt crust with a stone, Shen Ci patiently explained to him.
Once she felt the grinding was almost complete, she poured the powdered salt into a large wooden bucket made from a cleaned, hollow tree trunk, which she had previously found and painstakingly cleaned out.
Basically, you just bring the tree trunk home. The bottom is sealed, so you just need to scrape a pit around the edge, making it as smooth and even as possible. It can barely be used as a wooden bucket to hold some water, and the bottom won't leak.
Then pour in the brine you brought, and stir it constantly with a long, clean, peeled twig. It's best not to stop stirring during this process.
"Stirring like this allows more salt to dissolve into the water."
She told Cangye that she stirred for a long time, not requiring a very fast speed, but she just couldn't stop. Her arms ached, and she only stopped when the salt water became very cloudy.
The next step is the most crucial one: filtration. However, under these conditions, there are no sophisticated instruments available for filtration.
Find several large, sturdy, clean leaves, stack them together, and use a thin twig to poke many small holes in the middle to make a simple filter.
She placed the filter on a clean bamboo tube and then slowly poured in the stirred, turbid salt water.
The murky liquid dripped through the leaf filter into the bamboo tube below, and its color indeed became much clearer. Although it still had a yellowish tinge, it was much better than before.
She repeated this filtration process four or five times, each time using a new leaf filter, until the filtered brine looked relatively clean.
"Alright, now it's time to drive the water away and leave the salt."
As Shen Ci spoke, she poured the filtered, clear brine into several thick bamboo tubes. She carefully placed the bamboo tubes next to the still-burning fire, using the residual heat of the flames and the temperature inside the cave to allow the water to slowly evaporate.
Bamboo tubes should be used with care. If the bamboo tube is completely sealed and there is no air leak, it will crackle and explode when placed in a fire.
These bamboo tubes were cut directly from the bamboo while it was still alive, not dried out. As long as they are not placed directly on a fire, they are very difficult to burn.
However, during the heating process, layers of moisture will seep through the bamboo tube.
Isn't this just like bamboo salt?!
While waiting, Chen didn't sit idle. He used the remaining brine to filter the crushed salt soil again, trying not to waste any salt, since it wasn't easy to bring it back.
She didn't plan to take too much at first; she just wanted to make a portion so she could have salt for the time being. She planned to make even better salt later when she had more sophisticated tools at home.
Several hours later, most of the water in the bamboo tube had evaporated, leaving a thick layer of coarse salt with slightly yellow crystals at the bottom.
Shen Ci used a wooden spoon to scrape off the crystals and collected them into a smaller bamboo tube. She picked up a small pinch and put it in her mouth to taste it.
It has a pure salty taste, although it still has a slight bitterness because it contains a small amount of minerals, but it is more than enough to meet the needs of daily seasoning and food preservation!
"Success! Look, my good boy, this is salt!" Shen Ci excitedly handed the bamboo tube containing coarse salt to Cang Ye.
Cang Ye leaned closer, sniffed carefully, and then stuck out his tongue to lick it. He immediately withdrew his tongue because of the saltiness, smacked his lips, and his eyes were full of curiosity.
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