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Chapter 18 Salt and Tofu

"Brother, I've got all the things you want for you, don't drop the chain for your buddy at a critical moment." In the strange gaze of the subordinates, Zhang Shaokang hooked the shoulders of the eldest grandson, which was not at all like his usual appearance.

"I've always been very good at critical moments, right?" Zhang Shaokang is immune to these modern words, and he can basically figure out what they mean.

The two of them stood in front of the door of the newly built shed, watching the next person carry the soybeans into the sack by sack, chatting first, sometimes it is very pleasant to watch others work, but the eldest grandson has consciously or unconsciously become a member of the evil exploiting class.

It was a shed that had just been built out of huge logs and bamboo, and according to the requirements of Changsun Tang, it was divided into several huge areas, one for storing soybeans and salt for production, another for a dozen huge iron pots, and one area was not here, but in another shed.

Changsun Tang intends to use the existing conditions to remove the impurities in the salt.

The impurities of this salt are divided into many kinds, some salt is not good in color, and some salt does not taste much, as mentioned above, this salt has a bitter taste because there is more magnesium in the salt.

The source of these impurities is more complex, for the salt of the salt well, this is because there are salt mines in the ground, which are generally formed after the huge lakes dry up when the sake is born, and the groundwater flows through the salt mines, forming a solution, that is, brine, and the water and salt in the brine are precipitated after evaporation. However, some impurities, such as magnesium sulfate or magnesium chloride, are difficult to separate from salt, which makes the prepared salt bitter and can cause diarrhea.

However, it is difficult for the general purification method to act on magnesium chloride because it is too close to sodium chloride, the component of table salt. So Changsun Tang planned to use soy milk to complex the magnesium in the brine.

Changsun Tang asked people to swell the soybeans first, grind them into soybean milk with a stone mill in one shed, and use bamboo to directly transport the soybean milk to the cauldron in another shed, which is the most primitive industrial pipeline.

After the soybean milk enters the pot, it is boiled first, and the natural gas used to burn the soy milk here is to dig the salt well, but in this era, the salt well is still dominated by artesian wells, and the natural gas has not yet appeared, so the soymilk has to be burned with firewood.

When the soy milk is about to boil, add it to the boiling salt pot, and the soy milk will slowly turn into tofu.

The people at the scene were shocked, how did this soy milk turn into tofu. Zhang Shaokang stood in front of the cauldron, looking at the snow-white tofu, he had eaten tofu, the taste was really not good, he looked at Changsun Tang with some hesitation, I don't know how it is in the tofu?

"Eat as much as you want, and try how it tastes." The eldest grandson didn't even look at Zhang Shaokang.

"Well, that's good. It's so delicious compared to the tofu I've ever tasted. Zhang Shaokang ignored the high heat of tofu, and refused to put it down with a whine in his mouth.

"If you can't eat hot tofu in a hurry, slow down and no one will rob you."

"Is this another way for us to make money?"

In fact, at this time, tofu has become popular, and it is all soy milk that is made without boiling. It's just that the taste of soy milk is not very good, and the taste of tofu with salt brine in boiled soy milk is also good.

The problem of bitter salt has indeed been solved, and it is really difficult for those who will not be able to do it, and it is not difficult for those who will know it.

Changsun Tang solved this problem with some tofu, but his intention was more than this, maybe this is the will of heaven, he thought secretly.

Tofu and soybeans are much more important in China's food system and agriculture.

Tofu is a cheap source of protein compared to meat because it is rich in protein, and many spicy strips in later generations are made from soybeans because they are rich in protein and can obtain similar taste and nutrition as meat.

Until the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the average life expectancy of Chinese people did not exceed 40 years old, and a large part of the reason here is that too many people died of malnutrition when they were young. For the ancient Chinese, it was good for most people to eat some meat during the Chinese New Year, and soybeans were an extremely cheap protein raw material. Many times, the forage for the war horses we watch in TV dramas is hay mixed with various beans.

Soybeans are a good ingredient, but it is not the case for people, due to the problems of the human digestive system, it is not easy to digest if you eat too many beans, so our wise people invented tofu and bean sprouts.

Although the historical records record that tofu was invented by King Huainan of the Han Dynasty, in view of the fact that Sichuan has snacks that Qianlong ate when he went to the south of the Yangtze River, this statement is not necessarily correct, but it is good that tofu was invented in the Han Dynasty. It's just that because of the production method, this taste is not complimentary, and there are even other toxic side effects.

Therefore, some inconspicuous things that are not capitalized in our history books also have their own unique functions, just like tofu, although few people can say his function, but his significance is extraordinary, just like the screw and his inventor. Each of us is one such screw.

In addition to tofu and bean sprouts can improve our physical fitness, soybeans also have another important role, which is to improve soil quality. The reason why the black soil is fertile is because it is rich in a lot of organic matter, and we can achieve this purpose through chemical fertilizers in later generations, but this is the Tang Dynasty, there is no chemical fertilizer.

Plants need nitrogen, but a large amount of nitrogen in the air can not be directly used by plants, only soybeans can use rhizobia to fix nitrogen, not only grow by themselves, but also effectively improve soil quality.

In this era, there was already a practice of fallow to protect the field, and generally one-third of the field was left fallow, and if soybeans could be planted on the fallow field, it would kill two birds with one stone.

The key here is still on soy milk and tofu.

Tofu actually has another role, Zhu Yuanzhang's father raised Zhu Yuanzhang to the age of six by grinding tofu, which can be regarded as one of the contributions made by tofu.

Tofu was made, and if it was not used properly as a by-product of salt, it would naturally be thrown away in vain, which was a sin for the ancient times when there was a great lack of food. Therefore, Changsun Tang plans to promote tofu to the end without doing two things.

Chili pepper and pepper and salt make a home-cooked tofu, everyone eats heartily, if there is bean paste, it would be better, the eldest grandson silently thought.

The tofu is squeezed out of water, salted, smeared with seasonings and smoked, and after a while, the authentic spiced dried tofu is baked, which has become another huge local income.

Ps. chasing more children's shoes, are there any free appreciation tickets and starting coins~ The countdown to the 515 red envelope list is over, I'll pull a ticket, ask for an increase and appreciation vote, and finally rush a handful!