Chapter 293: Cocoa
Rose plants and roses are not the same thing. This concept was something Xiang Chuan found on Geegle when organizing information on edible legume crops for the Agriculture Department back then.
Under this large category, there is one order and two families, and the Bean Order to which beans belong is one of them.
However, the ornamental value of rose plants during their flowering period is still highly recognized by 21st century people and modern people, so shortly after Xiang Chuan and the others entered this section, a large number of visitors poured in, stopping to appreciate in front of the plant display cases one by one.
Xiang Chuan was naturally dragged to the area where the Bean Order was located. But just as she said, the edible beans had already been organized and submitted by her and the three members of A Bite of China Club earlier, so revisiting the place this time naturally yielded no new discoveries.
Seeing everyone’s very disappointed looks, Xiang Chuan was also quite helpless.
“After all, we’re mainly here this time to find nettle. Any other gains can be considered bonus points—the more the better, but it’s no big deal if there aren’t any. Since we’re already here, why not wander around a bit? Uh… look, that plant over there has a huge fruit.”
With that, Xiang Chuan grabbed Nancy and Ouyang Yating and quickly squeezed into the crowd, while the male group was stunned for a moment before hurrying to catch up.
“Look at this, such a big red… uh?”
Xiang Chuan tugged at the girls on her left and right, trying to get them to turn their attention to the plant in front of them, but as soon as she looked up, she froze.
Seeing her like this, Ouyang Yating and Nancy exchanged a knowing glance: something promising?
The two also looked up at the plant in the display case.
The plant wasn’t too tall, and the fruit it bore was olive-shaped, with a bumpy skin like a cucumber, but not as fresh and watery as a cucumber—instead, it had quite a few sunken ridges. The fruit was a golden yellow close to orange, and Ouyang Yating thought that if the skin were smoother, this color would certainly look great.
But… is this edible?
She withdrew her gaze and turned her head, just in time to see the same doubt in Nancy’s eyes.
“Xiang Chuan, this…”
Liang Gong, who had caught up right behind, was the first to snap out of it. His intuition told him: this crop definitely had something special about it. Whether this idea was correct or not would need verification from Xiang Chuan. Just as Liang Gong was about to call out to her, he noticed that she had already opened her blank light screen, her line of sight constantly shifting back and forth between the display case and the light screen.
They were very familiar with this action—Xiang Chuan had done it quietly many times before while visiting the nature reserve and the Botanical Garden.
In other words, this plant…
Everyone looked again at this plant and the fruits hanging on it, each the size of two apples, their faces full of indescribable expressions.
This plant, well, more accurately this fruit… is it edible?
Ainuo didn’t hide their disgust at all.
Fortunately, half of the visitors around had the same thought, and soon the number of people stopping around the display case dwindled.
Finally, Xiang Chuan closed her blank light screen. The crowd held their breath, watching her nervously.
Comparison complete, which means this plant in front of them has something to it…?
“Yating, Liang Gong, help me call Manager Ye over. This time we’re going to buy a lot more things to take back. This new discovery will take our afternoon tea dim sum to the next level.”
Xiang Chuan put her hands on her hips, her eyes gleaming as she looked at the display case in front of her. If not for the obvious drool at the corner of her mouth, the scene might have been more pleasing.
——
What they found this time was precisely cocoa beans.
After comparing the pictures and academic information Xiang Chuan found on Geegle with the display case description nearly ten times, she finally reached a conclusion.
Before Manager Ye arrived, she gave Ouyang Yating and the others a brief introduction to how cocoa, as a classic dessert and snack, was incorporated into the diet of ancient people.
Only then did she realize a problem: the taste of cocoa, or rather chocolate, couldn’t be accurately explained orally or through pictures and text, given her limited descriptions and the modern people’s lack of taste experience.
“This thing for snacks and making cakes…?”
Ainuo looked incredulously at the cocoa tree.
“Are you sure the ancient people’s judgment was correct? Of course, we haven’t tasted it yet, so hard to say, but… how do you know ancient people thought this thing was edible?”
Xiang Chuan glared at him irritably.
“It’s just that the fruit looks a bit ugly. After processing the cocoa beans inside the fruit, they turn into chocolate, which is when it’s actually edible. And so what if the exterior isn’t pretty? You know, 21st century people could eat tofu with mold on it!”
“There’s nothing proud about this thing… and once tofu is like that, how does it grow mold? Transplant hair follicles?”
“Um… sort of? Simply put, it’s through fungi and fermentation.”
Everyone: …The ancient people’s mindset and tolerance for food are sometimes truly admirable.
Food invaded by fungi, and they still found ways to eat it!
At this thought, the three from A Bite of China Club suddenly froze and turned sharply to Xiang Chuan.
“Xiang Chuan, by the way…”
“You’re not going to make that kind of moldy tofu too, are you?”
Xiang Chuan looked at them like they were idiots.
“How could we not make something as good as fermented bean curd and moldy tofu? It’s super tasty with porridge… apparently.”
The three recalled the several large jars in the warehouse with yeast constantly breeding every day and sighed deeply.
Nancy patted her childhood friends’ shoulders comfortingly.
“Think on the bright side—at least mass production of tofu is still some time away, so you can enjoy some peace for now.”
Ouyang Yating looked at her resentfully.
“But put that way, it means once tofu mass production starts, we’ll have to start being forced to eat food processed with fungal fermentation.”
This group has no end to it! Xiang Chuan couldn’t help rolling her eyes.
“If you can accept dough with yeast making bread, why can’t you accept fermented bean curd and moldy tofu made with fungi?”
“It’s mainly the names that sound so scary.” Li Wei, who had been watching the audience’s cross-talk from the side, couldn’t help chiming in. “With ‘fermented’ and ‘moldy,’ it doesn’t sound like normal tofu no matter how you hear it.”
But I saw you three devouring cheese made with lactic acid fermentation yesterday like it was great?! Xiang Chuan’s mouth twitched.
——
Unlike nettle, which had been regarded as a weed due to its overly “common” appearance, a crop like the cocoa tree with fruits the size of two fists would have plenty of fruits stored and piled up, and at the right time, the Botanical Garden would uniformly transport them to the relevant departments to use material conversion technology to transform them into other useful resources.
Right now, Xiang Chuan had arrived just before this batch of cocoa was packed and shipped out, so the warehouse had two full containers of piled-up cocoa beans.
Manager Ye was also beaming with joy.
Sure enough, the ancient names of these plants that contain “bean” are all good stuff!
She couldn’t wait to see these cocoa beans from their Botanical Garden highlighted as key crops at the next Agriculture Bureau meeting, displayed before all the people of the Third Fleet.
Of course, the more, the better.
“Classmate Xiang Chuan, want to check out other sections? We’ve made progress on the nettle at the nature reserve side, but it will still take some time for them to process and transport it over. Rather than waiting here, why not wander around some more.”
If they could discover more plants during the stroll that would help their Botanical Garden gain presence in front of everyone in the fleet, that would be even better!
Seeing Manager Ye with her thoughts written all over her face, Xiang Chuan couldn’t help but twitch her mouth.
But well…
“Actually, there is.”
Xiang Chuan said, opening her light screen, which appeared blank to others.
“Mention chocolate and you’ll mention caffeine. Since we found cocoa, the king of caffeine sources should be findable too.”
