kscans

Chapter 302 - Yuri's Diary, The Development of Root Beer

Year 2, 7/21, Sunny. After breakfast, I set out again at Marshia's request to search for brewing ingredients. Marshia came with me. Today, we plan to explore a little deeper along the river.

"Hey Yuri... I said this yesterday, but do I really need to come with you?"

Marshia is whining on my shoulder, but my answer is already decided.

"Marshia, I told you yesterday, right? I can figure out the names to some extent, but I won't know if they're suitable as brewing ingredients unless you're here. Besides, you were the one nagging me to find ingredients for alcohol."

"That's true, but... we don't have to look for them right now, do we? Most of them don't even have flowers, let alone fruit, yet."

Marshia probably wanted to explore in the cooler early autumn. But...

"Autumn is the harvest season, so I'll be too busy with farm work to go searching. We have to scout for them now."

"I get that, but... see, if there are no flowers or fruit, I won't know what they are, so aren't I useless?"

"It's fine, I can identify the types. Like I said earlier, I need you to judge whether they're suitable as brewing ingredients or not."

"............"

Yeah, you're not getting out of this alone. You don't have the right to refuse. With a seemingly resigned Marshia on my shoulder, I head up the riverbed. Yesterday, I tried searching in the forest on the north side, but the canopy was closed and the forest floor was dark, so the undergrowth was sparse, and I didn't find anything promising. If Marshia had searched from the sky, she might have found something, but...

"No. Way."

...Apparently, she had a terrible experience before, so she hates going into the forest. And yet, she still wants brewing ingredients.

"...You know, Yuri, even if I looked from above, if there are no flowers or fruit, I wouldn't know what type they are anyway."

I guess that's true... Well, based on that reflection, I decided to check along the river today. The forest canopy is broken over the river, so it gets good sunlight, which makes it easier for plants to grow. And my hunch paid off. What I found was...

《Giber, equivalent to Earth's ginger. It is not generally cultivated as a food ingredient and is treated as a medicinal herb that grows in the mountains and forests.》

Ginger, huh... It's excellent as both a medicinal herb and a seasoning, but I guess it's not well known around here. Well, for me, it's a huge find. Now I can enjoy ginger pork, and I can make ginger tea and chilled sweet drinks. For Marshia... I think ginger ale is non-alcoholic, so she might not like it. ...I'm pretty sure there was a drink that was the precursor to ginger ale... was it ginger beer? You make it by adding sugar to ginger juice and fermenting it. The fermentation starter could be made just by adding a moderate amount of sugar to grated ginger... was it called a ginger bug?

...When I told Marshia about ginger beer, she was incredibly enthusiastic. Personally, I think a simple paste made from fermenting grated ginger would also be good, but she flatly rejected the idea. ...It's excellent as a seasoning, too...

Thinking I might as well go all the way, I told her about root beer, which is made from Giber (ginger) and several other plant materials. Marshia got even more fired up and started searching...

"Yuri, what about that one? Doesn't it look like it?"

"Which one? ...Whoa... you're right..."

《Salsa, a climbing plant equivalent to Earth's sarsaparilla (Smilax genus). It is used as a herb or crude drug, and its dried root is prescribed as a treatment for rheumatism, gout, colds, skin diseases, and venereal diseases. Like on Earth, it can be used as an ingredient for root beer, but in this world, root beer is not made, partly because it uses many types of plants that mainly grow in the mountains as ingredients.》

We were able to secure a few other usable ingredients as well... It's definite that we'll cultivate them in the village.

"We're gathering all the Giber and Salsa from around here for the field!"

No, Marshia, we're not going that far.