Chapter 374: Accidentally Fermented Potato Wine
Wine is something that people both love and hate.
If used correctly, it can play an important role in industries such as medical care, beverages, catering, textiles, and agriculture.
However, if you indulge in the pleasure brought by alcohol, it will not only harm your body, but also make you crazy, do many things that you will regret, and even lead to death.
Of course, for Jiang Xuan, the emergence of wine definitely has more advantages than disadvantages, because it can play so many roles in primitive tribes.
If he was lucky, he could even use the semi-finished wine lees to make vinegar, adding a delicious condiment to the tribe.
"How did these round potatoes become like this?"
Jiang Xuan took the jar and found that the round potatoes inside were obviously cooked and piled up together. After fermentation, some wine liquid was produced.
Jing Jie said embarrassedly, "I cooked these potatoes and brought them on board to eat on the way. I didn't expect that there were some tribes along the way to trade with us, so we didn't have to worry about food. This can of potatoes was left in the cabin and I forgot about it."
"This afternoon I went to the cabin to look for something and suddenly saw this pottery jar. Then I remembered there was a jar of round potatoes inside."
"I originally thought that the potatoes inside must have been moldy and smelly, but when I opened the lid, I found that the potatoes actually gave off a strange fragrance. So I brought them here to show the leader. I don't know if they are still edible or if they are poisonous."
Jiang Xuan suddenly realized, "So that's how it is. After you cooked the round potatoes, you kept them in the cool cabin to ferment. By chance, they not only didn't go bad, but they fermented into wine."
Jiang Xuan remembered that when he was a child, his family raised pigs and would occasionally cook a lot of sweet potatoes. If they were not eaten in a day or two, the cooked sweet potatoes would have two consequences: one was to become sour and smelly, the other was to give off a wine aroma after fermentation.
This round potato is a bit similar to sweet potato, and its sugar content may be even higher. It tastes particularly sweet, so it is not surprising that it can be fermented into wine in a relatively closed ceramic jar.
Of course, the tribesmen never had enough food, and food waste was rare, so over the years, only the jar of round potatoes that Jingjie had left in the cabin and forgotten to eat was successfully fermented.
This incident also reminded Jiang Xuan that since the Teng tribe had solved the problem of food shortage through large-scale planting and breeding, could they try brewing drinks and condiments such as wine, vinegar, and soy sauce?
At this moment, Jing Jie couldn't help but interrupt Jiang Xuan's thinking: "Chief, what is wine? Can it be eaten?"
Jiang Xuan smiled and said, "You will know if you try it."
Afterwards, Jiang Xuan took out two ceramic bowls and poured some of the wine fermented from round potatoes in the jar into each of the two ceramic bowls.
Jingjie couldn't wait to pick up a ceramic bowl and took a sip tentatively.
This sip made his eyes light up. After realizing that there was nothing wrong with his body, he gulped down all the wine in the bowl.
"Chief, it's delicious, sour and sweet."
Jiang Xuan also picked up the pottery bowl and took a sip. It tasted really good, a bit like the rice wine he had drunk in his previous life, and very sweet.
It seems that the round potato wine in this pottery jar was fermented quite successfully and can be regarded as a good wine fermented under natural conditions.
After drinking a bowl of wine, Jingjie wanted to pour it out, but Jiang Xuan pressed the pottery jar to stop him.
"Don't drink too much alcohol. Drinking too much will cause bad things. Remember this."
Jingjie immediately withdrew his hand in embarrassment and put down the bowl.
Jiang Xuan thought for a moment and said, "Also, this naturally fermented wine has a lot of alcohol. Drinking it directly may cause poisoning. Put it in the fire pit, add some ginger and boil it before drinking."
"Chief, I remember that."
Seeing that Jiang Xuan was serious, Jing Jie nodded solemnly and kept Jiang Xuan's words in mind.
Jiang Xuan added: "Leave this jar of round potato wine with me. I will try to make more wine with it and let the tribesmen have a taste of it in the future."
Although Jingjie was a little reluctant, she had no choice but to agree in order to drink more wine in the future.
Of course, there was nothing he could do even if he disagreed, because Jiang Xuan was the leader, and if he insisted, few people in the Teng tribe would dare to refuse.
Jingjie said pitifully, "Chief, if you make wine in the future, you must give me a jar."
Jiang Xuan smiled and said, "Don't worry, you'll be there for me."
After hearing Jiang Xuan's affirmative answer, Jing Jie left contentedly.
At this time, it was late at night. Jiang Xuan sealed the pottery jar and placed it in a cool and dry corner. Then he washed the pots and pans and went to bed.
The next morning, Jiang Xuan cooked half a pot of round potatoes in a clean large ceramic pot. After letting it cool down, he found a clean large ceramic pot and carefully boiled it with boiling water to prevent any bacteria from getting inside.
Then he washed his hands, mashed the cooled round potatoes, put them into a large ceramic jar, spread a layer of fermented round potato lees evenly on it, and poured in some original wine liquid.
In this way, he spread a layer of crushed round potatoes and smeared some lees and wine until the large clay pot was filled to two-thirds.
Then, he moved the large clay pot to a cool place, found a clean spider silk cloth and a pile of sand, boiled them all in boiling water, and then wrapped the sand in the spider silk cloth, used it as the lid of the clay pot, and blocked the mouth of the large clay pot.
The reason he did this was because he had seen his family brewing wine when he was a child. Although he didn't understand the principles, it was better to follow their example than to figure it out on his own.
After finishing all this, Jiang Xuan went to do other things, leaving the rest of the transformation process to time.
After a few days, the large clay jar gradually began to emit a faint aroma of wine.
On the seventh day, Jiang Xuan opened the pottery jar and took a look. He saw that the crushed round potatoes were fermenting normally and there was no sign of rot or mold on the surface, so he sealed the lid again with satisfaction.
It was the beginning of October in the ninth year of the Teng Tribe. The northern part of the Southern Wilderness had begun to feel cold, but the central part was cool and crisp, neither too cold nor too hot. It was a good time to make wine and also a harvest season.
The wastelands that the Teng tribe had reclaimed in the early days have matured into grain crops for the large tribe. The warriors of the tribe are working hard to harvest these crops, bring them back to the territory in time to dry them, and then store them in the newly built granary.
It is worth mentioning that, thanks to the efforts of the smelting workshop, a group of people in the new territory of the Teng tribe have replaced bronze sickles, hoes and other tools with iron ones.
These new iron tools are durable and not prone to chipping or breaking, which greatly improves the work efficiency of the Teng tribe warriors.
After working so hard for half a month, the work in the fields was finally completed, and a batch of iron ore newly transported from the Bamboo Rat Tribe also arrived. Everything in the territory was proceeding in an orderly manner.
On October 20th, Jiang Xuan opened the lid of the large pottery jar again, and a rich aroma of wine immediately filled his nose.
"It looks like it was successful!"
Jiang Xuan was overjoyed. He immediately found a clean spoon and a bowl, first used the spoon to skim aside the round potato lees floating above the pottery jar, and then scooped up half a bowl of fermented wine.
Because the round potato wine is not filtered, it looks turbid, but it has an extremely strong aroma.
Jiang Xuan took a sip and found that it tasted even better than the jar of round potato wine that Jing Jie had accidentally obtained before, and his heart was immediately filled with joy.
"With this jar of round potato wine, we can make more attempts and brew more wine in the future."
Jiang Xuan plans to try using red crystal rice next time. Logically speaking, the wine brewed from red crystal rice should taste better. I hope it will be successful.
That night, Jiang Xuan called Jing Jie over and gave him a small jar of freshly brewed round potato wine, which was considered as fulfilling his promise.
Jing Jie followed Jiang Xuan's instructions and boiled the round potato wine over the fire before drinking it. It tasted really good, and paired with cooked animal meat, it was extremely enjoyable to eat.
From then on, Jingjie had a new hobby: drinking.
Of course, wine is still a scarce product in the Teng tribe. Even people of Jiang Xuan and Jing Jie's status can only enjoy a small bowl occasionally, and there is basically no possibility of getting drunk and causing trouble.
Thanks to book friend "SUPK" for the reward of 5,000 book coins.
Thanks to the book friend "This World is Guilty" for the reward of 500 book coins.
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