America's Greatest Villain: I Defeat Magic with Magic

Chapter 102 Who says it has no commercial value?

There were no classes the next afternoon; the original plan was to continue researching Arthur's high-temperature curing enzyme in the laboratory.

However, the advanced laboratory in Area B had been sealed off due to the "hallucinogenic mushroom incident," so Chen Yuan and the others had no choice but to change their experimental location.

The new experimental site was unexpectedly set up in the kitchen of Rongding Pavilion.

Since it wasn't lunchtime yet, the restaurant wasn't very busy.

Old Cao, Old Ma, and Zhou Xingye were preparing food when they saw Chen Yuan leading three college students carrying a bunch of instruments in. They all looked at the group with curiosity.

"Will this work?"

Arthur looked at the somewhat messy kitchen with disdain. As the top student in the School of Life Sciences, ranked second overall, he had extremely high requirements for the academic environment.

"We'll have to make do. Many great American companies were born in garages, so why can't we use a kitchen?"

Chen Yuan didn't seem to care, and then cut to the chase: "I remember you said before that the blocking enzyme was extracted from papaya?"

Arthur nodded and explained very carefully, "It's papain. It can break down proteins very effectively, so it's often used as the main ingredient in meat tenderizers in the food industry."

Upon hearing this, Mina Hoshino, who was standing nearby, curiously took out a bag of meat tenderizer from the stove next to her.

She glanced at the ingredient list and found that it indeed contained "papaya protein extract," exclaiming in surprise, "Doesn't that mean we can achieve that lipid-blocking effect directly with meat tenderizer?"

"Of course it's not that simple!" Arthur immediately explained, "Ordinary meat tenderizer is just a coarsely processed product. But through my research on a special biochemical process for deep purification and modification, the oil-blocking properties of this enzyme will be exponentially enhanced, and it won't destroy the original crispy texture of the food during frying!"

"Most importantly, after being heated to over 100 degrees Celsius for a period of time, it will automatically undergo a thermal denaturation reaction, breaking down ordinary proteins that are completely harmless to the human body. So as long as the heating time is right, it can not only perfectly isolate oils, but is also absolutely safe."

"That's why I named it high-temperature curing enzyme."

"

"But what if we swallow this blocking enzyme directly?"

Chen Yuan thought of Adrian's project, which involved making similar substances into medicine for people to take.

Arthur shook his head without hesitation, his face serious: "When high-purity blocking enzymes enter the human body, they will break down the proteins on the surface of the delicate gastrointestinal lining. This can lead to stomach ulcers in mild cases, and even stomach perforation or internal organ dissolution in severe cases!"

"So my goal has always been to use it as a food additive. Only a madman like Adrian would want people to eat this stuff."

The thought that his hard work had been maliciously altered made Arthur sigh heavily.

"Alright!" Chen Yuan clapped his hands, interrupting Arthur's pessimism. "Today's task is to use the existing equipment to try and extract your high-temperature curing enzyme from papaya."

"Use these things?"

Arthur stared in disbelief at his surroundings. Although they had brought some test tubes, beakers and other experimental equipment, and even a small medical centrifuge.

However, the idea of ​​extracting high-purity blocking enzymes from papaya using such rudimentary equipment is considered a pipe dream by the academic community.

Chen Yuan laughed and said, "Didn't you say that the biggest problem with this blocking enzyme is that it can't be mass-produced? If we can extract it in a simple environment like a kitchen using only basic physical methods, wouldn't that make preliminary mass production possible?"

In fact, Chen Yuan's goal was to use these rudimentary devices to actually explore how Arthur's "high-temperature blocking enzyme" was extracted from papaya.

If the high-precision instruments in the laboratory are used, many chemical generation steps will be omitted. Even if Chen Yuan watches Arthur operate the whole time, it will be difficult for him to fully understand all the catalytic principles involved.

However, if the refining is done manually using relatively simple equipment, some complex steps can be broken down, making the technical principles more intuitive.

Arthur didn't think that much about it. After witnessing Chen Yuan's ruthless methods yesterday—getting Adrian out with just a few words and even getting student council member Pete jailed for "poisonous mushrooms"—he was still unaware of the consequences.

He knew all too well that this young boss was no student to be trifled with.

So he nodded and said, "In that case, we can start by juicing the papayas—"

Arthur was indeed not holding back. Under his command, Chen Yuan and Mina Hoshino put on gloves and, like assembly line workers, chopped dozens of kilograms of papaya into pieces, juiced them, and filtered them through multiple layers.

Then, the liquid is heated in the oven in the back kitchen to break down the impurities and proteins in the original liquid.

Finally, the liquid is separated at high speed using a small centrifuge, and the active juice at the bottom is collected.

Kevin was busy assisting and recording data, as well as filming the experiment to facilitate later review.

The four of them spent most of the afternoon working in the kitchen, and in the end, they only extracted less than 3 kilograms of pale yellow crude enzyme liquid from dozens of kilograms of papaya.

Arthur conducted a simple titration test using the portable spectrometer he brought, then shook his head somewhat dejectedly and sighed, "The equipment here has too much error. The purity is only one-third of that synthesized in the laboratory, and the activity decays quickly—it has no commercial value at all."

Arthur's plan is to turn the "high-temperature curing enzyme" into a food additive and sell it to households through supermarkets, just like meat tenderizer.

However, these crudely made enzyme solutions clearly do not meet the standards for mass production and sale.

"Can't this thing be stored for a long time?" Kevin asked, somewhat surprised.

Arthur nodded: "The purity is not high enough. Even under low-temperature refrigeration, it will become inactive in two or three days at most."

"How could this happen—?"

Mina Hoshino looked visibly disappointed; she hadn't expected this to be the result of her busy afternoon.

Chen Yuan, meanwhile, fell into deep thought.

Although this experiment was not entirely successful, thanks to his [Basic Biotechnology Proficiency], he was able to basically understand the technical principles behind Arthur's extraction process.

With the assistance of advanced experimental equipment, the entire process is not very difficult.

The key is that there are high requirements for the precision of each heating and centrifugation step. Even a slight deviation in any step will affect the overall extraction quality.

For this very reason, this process relies too heavily on high-precision equipment, making mass production extremely difficult.

Take, for example, the 3 kilograms of crude enzyme solution that we finally managed to obtain. Even if some of the steps are replaced by machines, the cost is still very high.

Moreover, the concentration is too low to be preserved for a long time, and from a traditional capital perspective, it does not have commercial value.

Wait a minute—the cost is too high, and it will become ineffective in two or three days?

Thinking of this, a glint flashed in Chen Yuan's eyes!

If the goal is to manufacture this "high-temperature curing enzyme" into a food additive that can be packaged in jars and sold in supermarkets across the United States, these two points are undoubtedly fatal flaws.

But what if it's just made fresh and used on Rong Ding Ge's fried chicken, grilled squid, and other Eastern delicacies?

Wouldn't this completely solve the problem of Rongdingge's traditional dishes being high in oil and fat?

It can even improve the taste by controlling oil!

In other words, Arthur's "high-temperature curing enzyme" can be considered Rongdingge's "exclusive secret recipe"!

In the future, if people want to eat healthy, low-oil, delicious fried chicken and oriental dishes, they will have to come to Rongding Pavilion.

After figuring this out, Chen Yuan felt a sense of clarity.

Who says that "high-temperature curing enzymes" must be mass-produced to realize commercial value?

You can still make a lot of money through Rongdingge's dining tables by "making it fresh to use"!

Looking at the crudely made "high-temperature curing enzyme" that he had painstakingly collected, he smiled at Arthur and the others and said, "Since these things are homemade seasonings that we've worked so hard to create, let's not waste them."

.

"Tomorrow we'll set up a stall at the school and use these seasonings in our fried chicken so that all the students can try Rongdingge's healthy fried chicken!"