I am a Primitive Man
Chapter 365 – Canned food, and a Virgin Boy’s Pee
Can these damaged fruits be preserved?
The shaman, the Eldest Senior Brother, and others who understood Han Cheng’s intentions couldn’t help but widen their eyes. They looked at the large pile of fruits on the ground, then at Han Cheng, who seemed confident, and then innocently touched their own heads.
Could it be that the Divine Child planned to preserve these fruits like the salted fish before by sprinkling salt on them and drying them outside?
Salting the fruits… the taste…
Many people from the Green Sparrow Tribe who had eaten like this couldn’t help but lick their lips.
Or perhaps these fruits need to be boiled in water and dried before storing? Like drying wild vegetables before?
They couldn’t think of a good solution.
Following the instructions, the Eldest Senior Brother took out some fish, meat, and vegetables to make soup. He knew there must be a solution since the shaman said so, and he wouldn’t just watch these fruits go bad.
After dinner, Han Cheng saw that everyone wasn’t sleepy, so he started instructing them to find as many empty jars in the tribe as possible and clean them with water.
The next day, the Eldest Senior Brother and others, the strong ones, continued to pick fruits, while the underage and weak ones stayed in the tribe. According to Han Cheng’s instructions, they used only an iron knife and many bone knives to peel the damaged fruits.
Since the integration of the Bone Tribe into the Green Sparrow Tribe, bone knives have not been in short supply. Most people in this tribe are quite skilled at making bone tools.
The peeled fruits were placed in large pottery basins filled with clean water. After washing, they were sorted and placed in clean wooden baskets for later use.
Two large pottery jars were burning, with fire underneath. Two people were tending to the flames. About half a jar of water was inside the jar, emitting hot steam.
“Splash!”
A basket of peach-like fruits was poured into the water-filled jar, covered with a lid, and simmered. (There are early-maturing May peaches and late-ripening stubborn peaches.)
A fragrance different from fresh fruits soon spread.
After simmering for a while, Han Cheng scooped out some to taste. It was sour and sweet, and the taste was pretty good.
Seeing that they were almost cooked, Han Cheng instructed someone to scoop them out of the jar and put them in a large bowl prepared in advance to cool.
After cooling, when tasted again, the flavor was even better than when hot.
The people who worked here each tasted a small bowl, and everyone praised it.
Han Cheng didn’t add too much water to enhance the flavor of the fruits, so these waters contained a high sugar content. If accidentally splashed onto the hands, they would become sticky after a while.
This rich flavor of sourness and sweetness was incomparable to eating fresh fruits.
This flavor conquered everyone who tasted it for the first time.
Bai Xue drank a little water carefully and then comfortably closed her eyes.
Reluctant to drink too much at once, she took a long time to finish a small bowl of simmered fruit juice.
The reactions of others who received the fruit juice were not much different from Bai Xue’s; they all treasured it exceptionally, even more than children in later generations would treasure candies.
Looking at Han Cheng, their bright eyes were full of admiration.
To think that these damaged fruits could be turned into something so delicious! It was even better than good fruits!
After tasting this flavor for the first time, they all wanted to simmer all the fruits in this way.
The shaman watched carefully from the side, preparing to record this method again. He didn’t let the Shi Tou do it this time but planned to do it himself.
No, that’s not right.
As the shaman came to his senses from the taste of this delicious flavor different from salt, he remembered something.
After Han Cheng’s operation, these fruits tasted even better than before, but the problem of long-term storage still hadn’t been solved. This…
As he was about to inquire, Han Cheng instructed people to mix the cooled fruit flesh with the juice and fill the jars that had been washed clean the previous night.
After filling them, they used large leaves from trees growing near their tribe, which were broad and somewhat oily, to seal the mouths of the jars. They then applied a layer of well-mixed mud outside and had people carry them to the cave’s depths in the house for storage.
What Han Cheng did was the primitive and simple version of canning.
Canned food, this delicious thing, was a weapon against damaged fruits.
When he was a child, many families would bring a jar of canned fruits during the New Year. In those days, this thing was simply the favorite of children.
“Ding ding dong, ding ding dong…”
There was no “jingle bell.”
Large-scale shedding of leaves, white frost descended, dyeing purple the originally bright red leaves.
The air became cold, and white mist spewed from everyone’s mouths and noses.
But such coldness couldn’t stop the enthusiasm of the Green Sparrow Tribe for forging.
Bright red iron was taken out of the furnace and placed on a thick stone slab for forging. Axes that had been prepared long ago quickly descended, smashing hard onto the red-hot iron block, practicing the widely circulated saying “strike while the iron is hot.”
After two days of forging, the largest piece of iron finally took shape.
“Sizzle~!”
The red-hot iron was put into water. In the somewhat harsh sound, white steam rose, accompanied by an unpleasant smell.
Of course, this smell wasn’t pleasant because the water used for quenching wasn’t ordinary water but pure child urine!
Han Cheng couldn’t remember where he had seen this method, but he vaguely remembered that it was said that iron tools made this way performed better than those made with ordinary water.
For Han Cheng, who was trying to improve iron tools, such a method naturally couldn’t be overlooked.
Any human urine would do, but Han Cheng deliberately raised the bar by using child urine. After all, in many places, child urine was said to be extraordinary…
The iron smelted; this time, it weighed more than four catties but less than five catties.
Some wanted to make knives, some wanted to make hammers, some wanted needles, and some wanted iron arrowheads…
Compared to the huge demand, these irons remained scarce.
The first iron tool forged this time was nothing like everyone had hoped for. It wasn’t a hammer, iron knife, iron needles or arrowheads, but an iron rod.
To be precise, it was a rather pointed iron rod at one end.
This iron rod wasn’t light; it weighed one and a half catties!
Nearly a third of the iron that had been so laboriously obtained this time was used for it!
Seeing this newly forged iron tool, the people of the Green Sparrow Tribe looked at each other. They didn’t understand why he chose to make such an extremely useless iron rod out of so many things the shaman could forge.
Was he planning to mount this iron rod on a wooden spear for hunting?
As they looked at this somewhat inexplicable iron rod, everyone began to speculate in their minds.