Chapter 821： Maple sugar

Looking at the pile of oak logs, Marin is half happy in his heart, and the other half is egg pain ...

Why does the egg hurt? It stands to reason that with so much wood, it should be able to burst many warships. The problem is that besides wood, Marin has insufficient resources ...

Shipbuilding is not only about wood, but also requires nails, dry oil and paint (the two form a waterproof coating). Moreover, because of long-term soaking in the sea, iron nails are not enough. Because iron nails are easily corroded by seawater. Therefore, it is best to use copper nails. As for dry oil, there is no tung tree in Europe, and linseed oil is generally used. Sometimes olive oil is used, but it needs to be mixed with paint. Because olive oil is a non-drying oil, the waterproof performance is not good. Therefore, it needs to be used with paint.

However, the production of linseed oil is too low. Moreover, linseed oil can also be eaten. Therefore, its price is naturally high. It is really expensive to build ships.

Needless to say about copper nails, the ratio of silver to copper in Europe is 1 to 15, and 15 copper nails is equivalent to a silver nail made of silver, showing the cost ...

As for paint, there is no sumac in Europe, and the paint is carefully prepared from mineral and animal products, and the price is very expensive ...

Therefore, even if Marin has more wood, there is not enough copper nails, dry oil and paint, it is nothing. Moreover, Marin doesn't have too many shipbuilding craftsmen in his hands.

...

After reading the stocked wood, Marin felt hungry, so he took his hands down for a wild barbecue. The ingredients for the barbecue are made locally-a bodyguard takes off the armor, and at the speed of Liu Xiang and Bolt, he randomly catches a sheep back on the grass, slaughters and divides it directly, and then puts it on the grill. grilled……

what? You say stealing sheep from the people's house? Joke, the entire Cape Breton Island is Marin. Does killing a sheep need nonsense? Of course, Marin is a particular person. Although legally speaking, he only let people kill a sheep of his own, but in order to show that he is very reasonable, Marin still let people find a shepherd and rewarded the shepherd with a small silver coin as a reward. In fact, this sheep is not worth a small silver coin (that is, a 50% silver fenny silver coin), but Marinto is happy, and there is nothing more to give. Of course, this husbandry belongs to Marlin's estate, and Marlenken gave money, but he didn't want to break the rules. Before the shepherd left, Marin told him to take the money worth a sheep to the manor to report, and the rest was rewarded to him ...

The shepherd left with gratitude, and Marin, with the guards, intently roasted the whole sheep ...

The wood is also taken in situ, but this Marin did not pay. Why? In North America, sheep is an important asset, but wood is not. Because, on Cape Breton Island, except oak is classified, the rest of the wood is thrown everywhere. In addition to the removal of non-oak wood affecting farming, the rest of the types are thrown away casually. Who is short of firewood, picking up everywhere ...

The fat sheep kept turning on the grill, and the governor, Garland, personally added firewood. And his firewood was chopped up by the men on the side who served as guards.

Smelling the smoke of firewood, Marin suddenly felt something wrong-why did it still have a slight caramel smell?

Suddenly, Marin realized-he finally remembered what it was ...

This kind of wood is actually called sugar maple, or sugar maple. Anyone who has read a book in later generations knows that the flag on the Canadian flag is the maple leaf. The red maple leaf on the Canadian flag is actually called sugar maple leaf.

Sugar Maple is a tall tree native to high latitudes in North America. In autumn, its leaves will change to a fiery red color, just like the flag of later Canada. Of course, his most distinctive feature is his trunk, which can shed a sweet sap. This sap is slowly heated and concentrated after a small fire, and you will get natural maple syrup, a caramel with a woody and caramel flavor.

Marin's previous life has read reports that maple syrup is not as sweet as sucrose, but the calories are much lower than sucrose. Moreover, it is rich in calcium, magnesium and various organic acids, which can supplement the weak nutritional imbalance.

It is said that Indians in North America, in winter, can only hunt for meat, lack of vitamins and various minerals, causing many people to die and die. Winter in Canada is already very cold, and if it is lack of nutrition in winter, it will cause the body to get sick and easily die in winter.

Later, around 1600, the Canadian Indians stumbled upon that they could drill holes in the sugar maple tree to make it emit a sweet sap. Drinking this sap is not only sweet, but also good for the body. Later, European colonists once called maple syrup "Indian syrup" ...

Of course, this has not happened yet. Today, only 1507, the Indians apparently have not discovered maple syrup. After all, that was about 1600.

Moreover, Marin remembers that the extraction requirements for maple sugar are also relatively high-he needs to be in the spring, and the temperature requirements are strict. Extracting maple syrup is simple. Just drill a small hole in a sugar maple tree over 15 years old, then put a tube on it and let the sap slowly flow out.

Generally, a tree is collected once a year, and about 100 kg of sap can be collected at a time. Then, after concentration and processing, these 100 kilograms of sap can be processed into two or three kilograms of maple sugar. The processed maple syrup has some rosin-like colors. The lighter the color, the higher the grade ...

However, although it is in spring, the weather required to collect maple sugar is also very strict. The article read by Marin's previous life said that the season for collecting maple syrup, in the middle and early spring of Canada, the temperature requirement is-night temperature does not exceed 0 degrees Celsius, during the day it needs to be above 5 degrees Celsius ...

It is said that sugar maple accumulated a lot of starch in the trunk in spring, summer and autumn. Then, in the long winter, the starch in the trunk is converted into maple syrup ...

In the spring, when the temperature starts to rise, these maple syrups will be slowly absorbed by the sugar maple trees and converted into energy. Therefore, maple sap must be collected in the early spring at 10 minutes and at the latest in the mid-spring season. Otherwise, the sugar maple itself will absorb the maple sugar. Moreover, in order not to let the sugar maple die, it is best to only make a small hole in the trunk, not to drill too many holes, otherwise the tree will die ...

Marin wondered, it's April now. It stands to reason that it should be Zhongchun. However, Cape Breton Island belongs to later generations of Canada, with high latitudes and late spring. Last night, he felt that the temperature was around 0 degrees, but during the day, it looked like 10 degrees. It is indeed a good time to collect maple sugar ...

So, after eating the roasted whole sheep, Marin could not continue to inspect, but went back to find the tools. After finding the chisels, hoses, and barrels that opened the tree, Marin greeted Garland:

"Go, let's gather honey!"

Garland's face was inexplicable-what? Master said to pick honey? But we are not bees ...

With a question mark full of questions, he discovered that Marin, under the leadership of a carpenter, walked to the front of a red-leaf tree (Galand did not know that it was called a sugar maple, but only knew that the tree had red leaves in autumn). Dig a hole. Then, use a leather tube to guide the sap into the bucket slowly ...

Later, Marin was not satisfied that the flow rate was too slow. So, he went back to find a batch of tools to dig holes in the trunks of sugar maple trees on the island to collect sap ...

The next day, Marin had collected about two hundred kilograms of sap. Then he found a pot, heated it under a small fire, and began to purify the sap ...

After purification, Marin obtained about 5 kg of natural amber thick syrup ...

"Come, everyone try ..."

"% ￥ # @% # ￥% ......" After drinking the maple syrup, everyone was shocked, and many people's faces appeared indescribable ...

"This ... this is honey?" Garland was shocked ... he couldn't figure it out. Marin made a hole in the tree and could make honey-like sugar juice out. It was amazing ...

"It's not honey, it's just maple syrup. On average, every full-fledged sugar maple tree can collect 100 kilograms of sap every year and can boil out two or three kilograms of maple sugar ..."

Garland's mouth suddenly grew up:

"The most we have here is this kind of tree, which is more than an oak tree. If each tree collects two or three kilograms of maple syrup, how much sugar will it get?"

You know, in this era, sugar, a scarce resource in Europe, was sold in pharmacies. On the island of Cape Breton, sugar maples can be seen everywhere, and Garland has seen the rolling gold coins hit him ...

Marin nodded and said:

"From now on, if not necessary, stop cutting down the sugar maple. Also, you have to collect maple syrup as soon as possible. I guess it ’s not too long to collect maple syrup. You must collect enough in half a month. Maple sugar. Otherwise, after the season, you can't collect it ... "

"Ah? Is there such a thing?" Garland suddenly panicked.

"Nonsense ~ www.novelhall.com ~ This kind of syrup can only be collected in early spring. The requirement is that the temperature does not exceed 0 degrees at night and above 5 degrees during the day ... By the way, you have the mercury thermometer invented by Leonardo Can it be used as a reference ... "

"Yes, I get it. I arranged to prepare enough tubes and buckets to collect enough sugar juice!"

"Well, remember, a tree can only dig a hole, don't dig too big. Otherwise, the tree will die ..."

"Ah? We extracted the sugar juice, and the tree can survive?" Garland was shocked. In his view, there is 100 kilograms of sap flowing from the tree. How can the tree still live?

"Nonsense, those trees are old trees over 40 years old, Zhang is so tall, so thick, what is the flow of 100 kilograms of sap per tree? Remember, don't kill the tree! Run out of sap , You have to do some treatment on the trunk to make it recover. Otherwise, the maple syrup will not be made in the next year! Also, find a few craftsmen to study how to turn the syrup into solid maple syrup. Maple syrup is packed in oil paper bags and sealed, so I can get it back to Europe! "

"Understood!" Garland finished, and hurriedly prepared pipes and barrels. He wants to grab time and collect enough maple syrup in the short time Marin said. Otherwise, you will miss the season ...