Gourmet Emperor: Master Of Culinary World 54 Making Lye Alkali Solution

When I arrive in my tent, I lay down myself to get some rest. While resting, my brain thinking about what I will do for today. In afternoon I will take Claude to check the maple sap again, and for noon? I decide to do something with those ashes, but I still lack some ingredient. I guess for that ingredient, I must take Claude and some people to hunt in the forest.

After the firewatcher crews deliver the ashes, I get out from my tent to find the other ingredient. But first, I should check on our supply cart, who knows what I needed already available there without I must go out for hunting. I'm scanning the supply cart for its content. There are sacks of flour, potato, vegetables in there. There are also pots, frying pan, and other cooking utensil stored within the boxes. Some spices also store within small earthen jars in some boxes. There are some wooden barrels that still covered with the lid which I don't know that inside the barrel.

Seeing me in the cart, Joe the cart driver approaching me and asking

"Master Henry, is there something I can help here?"

"Ah Joe, do you know what is the content of these barrel in here?"

"The barrel contains wine, oil, and fats, master Henry"

"Fats you say?"

"Yes, master Henry. It will be processed to make wax then processed again to make candle"

"And the oil?"

"it's cooking oil, master Henry. Some made from fats and the other made from the plant"

Woohooo…I don't have to go out and hunting. I already find what I needed here. But the processing that thing need a long time and I still need some moldings equipment. I guess I can start making it in the afternoon after I'm checking the maple sap.

"Joe, take the barrel with the fats and deliver to my tent"

"Yes, master Henry"

"And one more thing, do you have straws here?"

"Yes, we have some in here for horse food, master Henry"

"Sent that too with the fats to my tent"

"Master Henry….. you can make straws into something edible? That's awesome!'

I facepalm myself. Since that rice things, did everyone think what I take always becomes something edible? I must make this clear from now on.

"No, Joe. It's not for cooking ingredient or become something edible. I will use this straw for filtering something"

"Oh, I thought master Henry will make something to eat again from the straw like the last time with horse feed"

See? I bet when I start making this thing using the alkali I've extracted from ashes, they will think I'm cooking something again

From the supply cart, I'm going to see the carpenter that still making wood plank from the wood log. I ask one of them to leave their works for a moment and crafting the molding equipment that I needed. Because there are many unused blocks of wood to use, especially from the tree stumps, I get what I need from the carpenter within one hour. It's a box with size about a man palm with a thickness of about 5 cm. it carved splendidly that make the box like a small square boat. I said thanks to them and leave the site with those boxes in my hand.

Now it's time to work on the ashes for this thing. What I want to do with these ashes is getting Lye from it. Lye is a strong alkali solution and I will extract that from that ashes. If this is in the modern era, that will be easy to buy this alkali in chemical stores because it is known as caustic soda.

I'm starting with making a hole in the bottom of the barrel, where extracted ashes liquid will dripping from there. And in the bottom of the barrel, I put one layer of gravel stone, which easy to get on this beach. Over the gravel layer, I put the straws that I just take from supply cart. After the straw layer, I put the ashes there. And after the ashes, it's time to pour some water into the barrel. But before I pour the water, I put an earthware jar under the hole of the barrel to become lye container. I can't use any metal container since alkali is corrosive to metal.

After all been set I pour some water in the top of the barrel and put the lid on it. Now it only waits until I get the extracted lye from these ashes.