斯坦福学生使用5000之久的中国食谱酿造啤酒

 

Most college students would love to get an assignment like the one Madeline Ota recently received at Stanford University.

She and her classmates were asked to make beer in their dorm rooms.

But before you get too excited, you need to know that it was for a class called The Archaeology¹ of Food. And the assignment was to make beer according to a 5,000-year-old Chinese recipe.

“I think it was a bit different than beers that you would buy in the store because it only had a week to ferment², and I think that is one of the biggest differences that you would notice in taste. Because after only a week, alcoholic³ content isn’t very strong.”

Ota and her classmates made two kinds of ancient beer, some of which are still being made by indigenous⁴ people today. One of the beers was made by grinding grains like wheat, millet⁵ or barley⁶.

The other was made using a root known as manioc, or cassava, in different parts of the world. The students chewed the root and then spit it into glass containers. Their saliva⁷ began the fermentation process.

Water and heat were carefully added to each mixture.

Ota said she has a new appreciation⁸ for what goes into making the beer people buy at stores or at the local bar.

“This is not something we should take for granted when we go and pick up something from the store. And you know, that doesn’t just apply to beer, but kind of any sort of processed food. There is a whole story behind how this got to where it is, how people produced it, how they cooked it...”

Their professor, Li Liu, discovered the old Chinese recipe.

Liu and a graduate student, Jiajing Wang, “reverse engineered” their beer recipe based on substances found in clay pots from northeast China. That means they studied the residue⁹ and made guesses as to what the original ingredients might have been.

The researchers found evidence of barley, an important grain in making beer today. Until Liu and Wang did their research, most historians thought barley arrived in China more recently.

“Again, that’s where experimental archaeology comes in. Because when you have this small residue from an archaeological artifact, you know, you don’t have the full story. You may have parts of a bigger story, but you don’t know how those parts necessarily fit together. So experimental archaeology is really cool because it allows you to experiment with those processes and see which ones are the most successful.”

Ota said we can learn a lot about ancient cultures by learning about their food and beer.

“You know, when the first people started actually having farms and agricultural societies, very soon after that they actually started making the first alcohols using various techniques. Having alcohol became a very culturally significant and religious experience for many communities and it went on to become an important part of their society.”

Because the class treated the beer making like a science project, they were able to add their information to the scientific record. Every ingredient was carefully measured. Every degree of heat was noted¹⁰.

Thanks to the students, there is now a very specific record for how to make these ancient beers. In the past, the instructions might have been “fill the pot with water,” Ota said. But no one ever knew how big the pot was or how much water was used.

But the most important question is: How did the beer taste?

The beer made from grain, Ota said, was fruity, like a cider. The one from manioc root smelled so bad – like cheese – she didn’t want to try it.

Words in This Story

assignment– n. a job or duty that is given to someone : a task someone is required to do

dorm – n. a building on a school campus that has rooms where students can live

archaeology – n. a science that deals with past human life and activities by studying the bones, tools, etc., of ancient people

ferment – v. to go through a chemical change that results in the production of alcohol

take for granted – v. to fail to properly notice or appreciate (someone or something that is helpful or important to you)

residue – n. a usually small amount of something that remains¹¹ after a process has been completed or a thing has been removed

artifact – n. a simple object (such as a tool or weapon) that was made by people in the past

cool – adj. often used to show approval in a general way

cider – n. an alcoholic drink made from apples

bar – n. a building or room where alcoholic drinks and sometimes food are served

reverse engineer – v. to study the parts of (something) to see how it was made and how it works so that you can make something that is like it

1 archaeology   

n.考古学

参考例句：

• She teaches archaeology at the university.她在大学里教考古学。
• He displayed interest in archaeology.他对考古学有兴趣。

2 ferment   

vt.使发酵；n./vt.（使）激动，（使）动乱

参考例句：

• Fruit juices ferment if they are kept a long time.果汁若是放置很久，就会发酵。
• The sixties were a time of theological ferment.六十年代是神学上骚动的时代。

3 alcoholic   

adj.（含）酒精的，由酒精引起的；n.酗酒者

参考例句：

• The alcoholic strength of brandy far exceeds that of wine.白兰地的酒精浓度远远超过葡萄酒。
• Alcoholic drinks act as a poison to a child.酒精饮料对小孩犹如毒药。

4 indigenous   

adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的

参考例句：

• Each country has its own indigenous cultural tradition.每个国家都有自己本土的文化传统。
• Indians were the indigenous inhabitants of America.印第安人是美洲的土著居民。

5 millet   

n.小米，谷子

参考例句：

• Millet is cultivated in the middle or lower reaches of the Yellow River.在黄河中下游地区，人们种植谷子。
• The high quality millet flour was obtained through wet milling.采用湿磨法获得了高品质的小米粉。

6 barley   

n.大麦，大麦粒

参考例句：

• They looked out across the fields of waving barley.他们朝田里望去,只见大麦随风摇摆。
• He cropped several acres with barley.他种了几英亩大麦。

7 saliva   

n.唾液，口水

参考例句：

• He wiped a dribble of saliva from his chin.他擦掉了下巴上的几滴口水。
• Saliva dribbled from the baby's mouth.唾液从婴儿的嘴里流了出来。

8 appreciation   

n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨

参考例句：

• I would like to express my appreciation and thanks to you all.我想对你们所有人表达我的感激和谢意。
• I'll be sending them a donation in appreciation of their help.我将送给他们一笔捐款以感谢他们的帮助。

9 residue   

n.残余，剩余，残渣

参考例句：

• Mary scraped the residue of food from the plates before putting them under water.玛丽在把盘子放入水之前先刮去上面的食物残渣。
• Pesticide persistence beyond the critical period for control leads to residue problems.农药一旦超过控制的临界期，就会导致残留问题。

10 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

11 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。