Starting from Robinson Crusoe-Chapter 84 - 31: The Third Mysterious Reward

Besides learning knowledge, university life has an underlying advantage; you can meet friends from all over the place and learn about the languages and cultures of different regions.

Chen Zhou has a roommate from Shanxi who loves eating vinegar.

Since everyone was too lazy to go to the canteen on regular days and cooked instant noodles in the dorm, they mostly ate braised beef or pickled sauerkraut-flavored, but he preferred spicy beef noodles.

Discontented with the vinegar packet not being flavorful enough, he'd pour in some aged vinegar brought from his hometown. The sour aroma was detectable even through two or three dorms.

Shanxi has a deep-rooted vinegar culture, and during idle chat in the dorm, the roommate shared some stories about alcohol and vinegar.

It is said that vinegar was invented by Du Kang's son, the Black Tower.

After brewing wine, the Black Tower soaked the leftover wine dregs in a jar, and after twenty-one days, opened the jar to find a fragrant sour liquid, which was the earliest vinegar.

Vinegar and alcohol are inseparable, as there's an old saying, "Where there is alcohol, there is vinegar."

According to Chen Zhou's roommate, high-proof liquor mixed with water or directly using low-proof liquor for fermentation, with a sufficiently high temperature and regular stirring, takes about half a month to turn into vinegar.

This temperature must be above 30 degrees, sometimes even requiring 40 degrees.

If acetic acid bacteria are available, the success rate is higher. Without acetic acid bacteria, it doesn't matter, as they are widely distributed in the air and will enter the brewing jar unless it's completely sealed.

Vinegar made directly from low-proof liquor doesn't taste as layered, fragrant, or rich as edible vinegar.

But it has a high acetic acid content and, to a certain extent, can achieve disinfection through surface wiping.

As for fumigating with vinegar for disinfection, Chen Zhou had long known that it was a "misguided common knowledge" passed down through generations.

Acetic acid with too low a concentration poses no threat to viruses, so he didn't intend to try it.

Besides disinfection, removing water stains, vinegar itself is also a seasoning and medicine. Applying it to tired or sore areas can provide some relief, aid digestion, and act as an emergency antidote for alkaline food poisoning.

In the 17th century, sailors heavily relied on alcohol for numbness; food on the ship tasted terrible, and the drinking water was unsanitary, making alcohol a quenching choice.

Most of the time, the Captain relied on alcohol to maintain order on the ship.

And not just sailors, even the Captain and first mate often drank, not to mention the gunner who was addicted to alcohol. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

Alcohol was undoubtedly an indispensible part of life at sea.

Chen Zhou transported sixteen large barrels of rum from the ship, quite a few bottles of premium bottled ale, and several silver-capped good liquors resembling brandy that were yet to be opened.

From the book's footnote, he learned that ale is a famous wine produced in Asia, brewed using coconut juice, honey, rice, and dates.

Though slightly sweet upon drinking, it has a soft kick but is an absolute high-proof liquor, no wonder he got drunk unknowingly.

Previously, Chen Zhou considered obtaining some seasonings to aid cooking, but his thoughts never turned to vinegar, and those little stories shared by his roommate were buried deep in memory.

While digging in the morning, for some inexplicable reason, he suddenly recalled this and hurriedly returned, intending to try if wine can be used to brew vinegar.

There was a large quantity of rum, and its proof wasn't low either.

Normally, he hardly drank, unable to consume so much alcohol stock, this was a perfect chance to test whether his good friend had lied.

There were also quite a few wooden barrels for fermentation, placed on the sunny slope, the temperature was enough, just need daily stirring, slowly waiting for acetic acid bacteria to form.

With a carrying pole in hand, Chen Zhou walked straight downhill.

He loaded two large barrels of liquor at the camp, carried them to the middle of the sunny slope, mixed with some cool boiled water, stirred vigorously for a while, slightly tightened the lid, then returned to the shady slope to continue digging.

Vinegar making is different from wine making, vinegar doesn't need to be sealed so tightly, it needs to be aired daily to allow acetic acid bacteria to find opportunities to enter, only then can it be successfully brewed.

Thus, from November 11, Chen Zhou had an additional task—airing the vinegar barrel lid and stirring every noon.

The regular life persisted until November 12.

After another day, sitting on the bed inside the cave, Chen Zhou carved a mark on the wedge-shaped calendar and, rubbing the uneven grooves, realized that another half month had unknowingly passed.

The tight schedule made time feel like it's being swallowed, silently disappearing.

As the third mysterious reward approaches, Chen Zhou's heart no longer has the same excitement as the previous two times.

He could basically conclude that the so-called mysterious rewards were mostly cheap small items, even worse than blind box draws, more often than not defective pieces of modern industry.

Last time, pulling a nail clipper set was lucky. This time, it might not be anything good.

It takes about an hour and a half to walk from the cave on the slope to the landing site, spending the entire morning in round trips, quite time-consuming, actually a bit unwilling to go.

But there's no choice, the mysterious reward has low floors and high ceilings. If he ends up drawing a box of lighters and doesn't pick it up only for the seagull to carry it away, who knows when he'd get a useful reward again.

So even reluctantly, he still got up early, departing for the beach before sunrise.

Actually, there's one more thing Chen Zhou is curious about—the exact timing when the mysterious reward refreshes on the beach.

Does it appear immediately after midnight, or only when he gets close to the beach?

If he guards the beach the night before, could he witness the process of the reward appearing?