How to eat pineapple buns on the immigration ship

Chapter 285 Making Cheese
The day after the bread was successfully made, in Xiang's kitchen.

"Shall we stop making bread?"

Aino looked at the milk and white vinegar laid out in front of her and asked in confusion.

"Of course we have to do it! Isn't this preparation for the new bread coming out?"

Kagawa blinked as he spoke.

She wasn't lying. After all, pizza does exist in some countries, so it's perfectly normal for her to make cheese in order to make pizza.

"...Milk is understandable, but this...is it vinegar? Can it be used for bread?"

Ai Nuo's words made Ouyang Yating and Liang Gong, who were standing on either side, nod in agreement, their faces full of doubt.

"This isn't for bread. What we're making now is an ingredient we'll need for the bread we're going to make next... or rather, a seasoning?"

Kagawa scratched her head. In her mind, cheese was basically an ingredient used to add flavor to food, but because of its high fat content, it was rarely regarded as a proper ingredient. Therefore, in her mind, cheese was more like a condiment in cooking.

condiment?
The three looked at the milk and white vinegar on the table with suspicion.

How do you combine these? Do you just pour white vinegar into the milk?
Can sour milk be used as a condiment?
Were ancient people's diets really this wild?
Kagawa, who was just a baking novice in his previous life, naturally couldn't explain the role of cheese or its production principle. He could only remind them of some precautions for each step while he was working on it.

She poured the milk into a small pot, heated it over medium heat to about 85 degrees Celsius, and then quickly turned off the heat.

Just when Ouyang Yating and the others thought that Kagawa was going to do something to the milk skin that was about to float to the surface of the heated milk, she suddenly picked up the white vinegar next to her.

Huh? Put it in now?

Kagawa didn't have time to answer their questions right now; she needed to quickly pour in the white vinegar before the milk cooled down, but she couldn't add too much. Before breakfast that morning, Kagawa had specifically asked the cook to prepare about forty milliliters of white vinegar, which was just right for about two liters of milk.

The process of adding white vinegar is not like sprinkling salt all at once; instead, it should be added slowly while stirring. Kagawa is a little nervous now. She has made bread at least a few times in her past life, but making cheese is truly a first for her.

Will something happen?

Kagawa was also apprehensive.

Fortunately, this simple cheese is quite forgiving, and since I had done a similar process when making tofu before, there were no major mishaps when I poured in the white vinegar as a coagulant.

After she poured in all the white vinegar, she stirred it for a while. Soon, the milk visibly separated into many white flocculent substances, and the liquid in the pot turned a yellowish-green color.

Kagawa asked the chef to bring over the filtration equipment he had prepared that morning, poured the white flocculent substance from the pot into it, and placed a basin underneath to catch the remaining liquid as it dripped down.

Soon, only white flocculent material remained on the filter, forming clumps.

Logically, it shouldn't have been filtered out so quickly. Based on her experience making Greek yogurt in her past life, filtering whey normally takes at least half a day. The fact that it was mostly filtered out so quickly is thanks to the excellent efficiency of modern filters; otherwise, everyone would be watching this filter all day.

Kagawa took out the white, blocky substance, rinsed it several times with cold water, and then handed it to Aino, Ouyang Yating, and the others.

"Come and smell if it smells sour. I smelled a lot just now, and my sense of smell is a bit numb now."

Upon hearing Kagawa's words, the three exchanged bewildered glances.

In the end, Ouyang Yating reluctantly stepped forward first, followed by Aino and Liang Gong.

After the three of them took turns confirming that the blocky substance did not have the characteristic sour smell of white vinegar, Kagawa asked the chef to find a new filter container and put the white flocculent substance back in. However, this time she added a cleaned and disinfected metal object that could be used for chemical processing.

The purpose is to squeeze out the remaining water inside.

"Okay, now wait an hour or two and the cheese will be ready."

Kagawa clapped his hands, and the chef immediately brought over a towel for washing hands.

what?
Ouyang Yating and the other two were dumbfounded. They thought it would involve some complicated steps, like making double-skin milk pudding... and it just ended like that?
They looked at the white, lumpy objects in the filter with suspicion.

Well... although it didn't smell particularly weird or unpleasant at first, this thing doesn't look very appetizing...
-
When Rivi arrived in the kitchen, this bizarre scene greeted him:
Three people stood by the cabinet, staring at a filter device containing a white solid, watching with complicated expressions as drops of yellowish-green liquid dripped from the filter device into the basin below.

"Aren't you making that...bread today?"

The unfamiliar name, Rivi, is still not quite easy for him to pronounce smoothly.

Aino ignored him, while Liang Gong, who was standing next to him, looked up and explained their arrangements for the day to Li Wei.

"...Ingredients? Seasonings? This...milk seasoned with white vinegar?"

Rivi's lips twitched. In the past few days, on the recommendation of the Xiang family, he had gradually come to like the habit of drinking a cup of hot milk every morning and evening. He really liked the drink with its rich aroma.

So now, he can't imagine what it would taste like to put white vinegar, such a sour condiment, into milk that smells sweet.

As a result, the number of people gathered around the cabinet to look at the filter increased from three to four, all of them wearing expressions of bewilderment.

"By the way, that whey... Wow! Brother Rivi, when did you get here?"

In a corner of the kitchen, while munching on a snack specially prepared by the chef and watching Geegle on a screen, Kagawa finally noticed that there was another person in the kitchen.

"I just got here. Why are you using such strange seasonings to flavor the milk? Would people in ancient times use sour milk to make food?"

The combination of white vinegar and milk was so overwhelming that Levi blurted out his question without even thinking.

Kagawa blinked.

"Generally speaking, people in ancient times would not drink something as strange as white vinegar mixed with milk. However, yogurt made from naturally fermented lactic acid bacteria was a popular drink all over the world at that time, and it could even be used to dip fruit."

what?
The shock of white vinegar and milk hadn't even subsided when the magical equation "sour milk = a drink favored by ancient people" struck the four of them like a thunderbolt.

"The method is not difficult. I just need to try making yogurt with whey. It should be ready by tomorrow or tonight. You can try it then."

As he spoke, Kagawa removed the basin from under the filter and replaced it with another empty small basin.

By now, very little of the white solid had flowed down the filter, and Kagawa wouldn't feel any remorse even if he had to throw the rest away.

The curd obtained after filtering two liters of milk was only about the size of two palms, but the amount of whey filtered out was quite substantial. The basin in Kagawa's hand was quite heavy; this could make a lot of yogurt.

She glanced at the recipe on the screen. One liter of milk only required about ten milliliters of whey. The bowl in her hand contained at least three pounds of whey, which would be about one and a half liters.

Thank goodness she didn't forget the unit conversions she learned in math class during her nine years of compulsory education.

Kagawa sighed.

It's a pity, a real pity, that fruit production hasn't picked up yet.

We've made so much dessert and fruit milk at home that the warehouse is almost empty. Just then, the Agricultural Bureau started collecting fruits from the market to get seeds for research, which caused the price of fruits on the market to skyrocket to almost the same level as seafood was back then.

Seafood prices have actually dropped now because simply processed river fish can satisfy the residents of the Third Fleet's desire for white meat.

The Xiang family had considered restocking their fruit warehouse, since the money Xiang Weiguo's company and Xiang Xue's drama-watching website had earned was enough for the whole family to have fruit three times a day. However, there was simply no market for it. The Agricultural Bureau was watching closely, not to mention other wealthy families who also wanted to taste fresh fruit.

As a result, Kagawa has stopped having fruit milk available starting today, let alone being able to pair it with yogurt.

If you make a fruit salad with freshly made chilled yogurt and fresh fruit, you won't get a sore throat from constantly eating fries and potato wedges during dinner.

Kagawa muttered to himself.