African Nationhood

Chapter 312 Military Food Factory

"Dangdang~~"

As the start-up bell rang, the workers on the road to Factory 857 quickened their pace.

The tall and thin Hu Wenhu took off his glasses and put them carefully in his pocket. Then he trotted towards the research room.

Today, this factory has become a factory directly under the Military Department of Nanhua Company.

Before, this was only a food factory directly operated by the company. After Mr. Shi returned from Europe in 1887, their food factory was placed under the jurisdiction of the military.

At the same time, the name of their factory also changed from the previous "New Orange Town Canned Food Factory" to 857 Factory.

As a food factory specializing in the production of canned products, their main product is canned luncheon meat.

Factory 857 was the first cannery produced by Nanhua Company to produce luncheon meat. The reason why this factory was built here was because it was close to the Cape Colony.

It is only separated from the Cape Colony by a river. At that time, it was also to better ship and purchase goods to the Cape.

The shipment is to sell canned fruits and fish products to inland customers, while the purchase is to purchase various industrial raw materials.

For example, ingredients such as sodium nitrite, sugar, starch and pepper are used to make luncheon meat.

At that time, Nanhua Company basically had no shortage of salt and livestock meat, and everything else had to be imported from outside.

Therefore, cargo ships from Europe are basically not available at Walvis Bay Port. In recent years, with the increase in immigration, Nanhua Company has made some achievements in developing the entire industrial chain. Even sodium nitrite can be produced by itself.

Since being assigned to the military, the production tasks of their factory have also become secretive.

Since last year, their factory has begun accepting international students returning from Europe.

Hu Wenhu was one of the first batch of European students to enter the 857 factory. He studied chemistry in Europe.

This major and food should be incompatible, but with a transfer order, he came to the 857 factory to report.

When he first arrived at Factory 857, Hu Wenhu truly understood the relationship between chemistry and the food industry. He also changed from a former chemistry student to an engineer obsessed with food science.

"Hu Gong!"

Hu Wenhu stopped and turned to look at the place where the shout came from. His vision was blurry, and he suddenly realized that he was not wearing glasses.

After putting on his glasses, he saw the person calling him clearly and smiled.

"Hello, Director Hou!"

Factory director Hou Liangcai is 40 years old and has a stocky build. He moved here from the United States.

Because he had worked in a cannery in the United States, after arriving at Nanhua Company, he was entrusted with the important task of serving as the first director of the Walvis Bay Cannery.

The factory there was very small at that time, with only a few dozen people, most of whom were North Korean women except him.

He also married his current wife at that time, and the two have lived together for nearly ten years.

There are three children at home. Now his North Korean wife is taking care of the housework and taking care of the children at home. He was transferred to Factory 3 as the director.

When he received the transfer order, he himself was confused. At that time, the New Orange Town Cannery was very large.

The Walvis Bay cannery where he worked was already a bit behind the times. It was inevitable for him to be excited when he was asked to become the director of a large factory.

It wasn't until he met his superior that he realized that he had been promoted to the director of the Xinju Town Cannery Factory and was his superior.

His boss told him that their factory was under the direct control of the military department, and their future production would shift to producing military rations for the troops.

He naturally knew what this meant, and he immediately suppressed his excitement and assured his superiors that he would fulfill the important tasks assigned to him by the company.

The first two years were relatively stable, but after 1890, the mission of Factory 857 changed.

It became the development of various flavors of military rations. As the production tasks changed, new researchers also came to the factory.

Through the researcher's mouth, Hou Liangcai learned that military rations have several elements: first, balanced nutrition, and second, light and easy to carry.

Together, these researchers developed a series of military rations with the word "sea", specifically: sea rice and seaweed soup, seafood crab meat energy bars, seafood soup and rice, etc. It’s just that after the superiors tasted them, they found that these dishes were a bit too delicious, so they asked them to make them less delicious.

This request puzzled Hou Liangcai at the time. His superiors told him that the main function of military rations was to keep soldiers from feeling hungry. If they were too delicious, they would eat them all if they found the opportunity.

If there is an emergency and the rations are not delivered in time, the soldiers will starve.

So if you make it unpalatable, they won't eat it randomly unless it's a critical moment.

This will save logistics and transportation pressure, and allow soldiers to maintain maximum combat effectiveness.

Therefore, the seafood soup rice and sea rice and seaweed soup among the three "sea" rice series they made are made into concentrated dry powder, which can only be eaten after being washed with boiling water. Oral intake will kill you.

As for the seafood crab meat energy bar, the crab meat is removed and the energy bar is made with rich cocoa and peanut kernels as the main ingredients.

There is no added sugar, which makes it taste bitter, but it provides enough calories.

After the Haizi series, the military department made a request to develop some more staple food series as much as possible.

Like seafood soup and rice, soup-type condiments are served with "dehydrated noodles".

The military department requires that the "dehydrated noodles" can be perfectly matched with the soup. In addition, it requires that the strength of the noodles be improved, not brittle, and that it can be stored for a long time.

After research, Hou Liangcai and researchers found that the "fried noodles" method provided by the military can indeed quickly shape the noodles and preserve them for a long time, but the hardness is not very good and they break into pieces when pinched.

So they created a new version of the "dehydrated noodles" product through the "steaming and drying" method recorded in ancient oriental books.

This dehydrated noodle is so hard it can be used as a whip.

Unless it is cooked for a long time, it will never become soft, and the taste will not be much better with the addition of soup.

It perfectly meets the requirements of the military department of "it is edible but not delicious".

The next "dehydrated rice" they launched is also made in the same way, which is guaranteed to be edible, but you don't have to worry about it being delicious.

After having dehydrated noodles and dehydrated rice, they turned to research on a more portable dry food series.

Hu Wenhu and others came here to study this new type of military ration.

"Gong Hu, how are you doing lately? Is there any progress in your research?"

Hu Wenhu smiled awkwardly and said, "Director Hou, you know that this matter cannot be decided by me alone.

However, we are developing a new type of oil, which comes from the latest American technology provided by Mr. Shi.

It means that vegetable oils such as soybean oil and cottonseed oil are hydrogenated, and then the vegetable oil becomes viscous like lard.

But it has more properties than lard, such as plasticity, emulsification, shortening, etc. Anyway, it has many advantages.

We are almost done with the research and should have a finished product soon. "

After hearing what Hu Wenhu said, Hou Liangcai nodded.

“If the new oil you say is so good, then this technology is definitely not simple.

Mr. Shi’s connections in the United States are really amazing, and he was able to obtain such high-tech technology! "

Hu Wenhu nodded in agreement, "That's right, our team leader said that this oil will create a new era of food processing."

"Then, have you, the team leader, said what kind of food will be made after the success of this new oil?"

Hu Wenhu chuckled, "We are trying to make 'compressed biscuits'. With the help of this new grease, the new compressed biscuits will be easier to shape and more durable."

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  (End of this chapter)