kscans

Chapter 301 - Roses and Olives

"I'm telling you, the wild rose berries are so astringent, they're completely inedible!"

"That's not true, they're delicious."

"Yeah, not that much, but they are a little sweet."

It was late November, and Yuri was perplexed by the dispute between the alcohol spirit Marshia and the little birds. When he had complained to the birds about the lack of food, they had recommended the rose hips of this season. However, Marshia, who happened to be there, had interjected that anyone who ate something so astringent must be out of their mind, which had led to the argument between the two parties.

In the end, Yuri insisted that he could not make a conclusion without seeing the real thing. He dragged a reluctant Marshia to the site, tasted them himself, and consulted with Appraisal-sensei...

"I see..."

It seemed the wild roses of this world had specialized in having birds handle their seed dispersal. The fruit contained an essential oil component that made it taste astringent to mammals like mice, but not to birds. By limiting the seed dispersers to birds, it seemed to have evolved to increase the dispersal distance. However, according to Rural Life Guide-sensei, the astringent component in rose hips could be eliminated through fermentation. The fruit itself did not have much sugar, but by adding a little bit of a suitable carbohydrate, the yeast attached to the fruit would advance the fermentation. But as for whether it would ferment into alcohol...

"Is it no good?"

"There's too little sugar. It's barely enough to get rid of the astringency. To get it to the point of alcoholic fermentation, you'd have to add a considerable amount of sugar, and if you're going to add that much, you don't need the rose hips in the first place."

Marshia looked disappointed to hear it could not be made into alcohol, but Yuri saw potential in these rose hips.

"...Tea?"

"Yeah, we should be able to manage with that much sugar."

He made some Rose Tea to try it out, and it seemed to meet with Marshia's approval. She appeared to like the color, reminiscent of red wine, and the faint acidity that reminded her of white wine. Of course...

"If only there was something sweet to have with this tea..."

She muttered regretfully, but Yuri pretended not to notice. He was cultivating Mapel trees, but whether they would actually produce wood honey was still unknown. It was best not to say anything unnecessary. But... Marshia herself seemed to be thinking of something else. Perhaps the process of removing the astringency from the rose hips had given her an idea.

"Eh? Aura Fruit?"

"Yeah. They look delicious, but they're actually too bitter to eat. But if you can remove the astringency from rose hips, maybe you can do something about the Aura Fruit, too."

From Marshia's description, they sounded like a type of fruit similar to Earth's olives. Olives also contain a bitter compound called Oleuropein, and despite their fresh appearance, they are not suitable for eating raw. Of course, if it was a fully ripened black fruit in the dead of winter...

"You can eat them."

"Yeah, you can."

In that respect, it seemed both Aura Fruit and olives were the same. If one wanted to eat them while they were still fresh, the bitter component needed to be removed. They would be soaked in water or a light brine for several months, with the soaking liquid changed many times to remove the bitter compound, Oleuropein. Ash was sometimes added to make the brine alkaline and increase its effectiveness. Finally, they would be transferred to a new brine with herbs, lemon, garlic, or vinegar to adjust the flavor, and only then would they be ready for the table.

"It takes a lot of work, doesn't it..."

"I hear there's also a method where you just leave them in brine or salt. That takes even longer, and since there's no trick to it, the quality of the fruit directly affects the taste."

"...Basically, they're pickles, right?"

"Yeah, probably. Marshia, have you ever made... or rather, been involved in making them?"

As far as Yuri knew, these types of pickles were made by soaking them in a light brine to suppress the growth of harmful bacteria and promote fermentation by lactic acid bacteria. It was different from alcoholic fermentation, but it was still a type of fermentation. So, he thought that Marshia, as an alcohol spirit, would not be entirely unrelated.

"I've never done pickles, you know..."

...It seemed the world of spirits was also surprisingly specialized.

In the end, Marshia learned the management method by watching Yuri's trial and error, and a new item was added to the abandoned village's menu.