The Young Bakers visit Lesaffre’ yeast factory in Anhui Province
海上青焙坊学员参观安徽乐斯福酵母工厂
On April 11th, the Young Bakers, accompanied by the team of SYB teachers and Lucy (trainer at Lesaffre Shanghai), took a bus for a very special trip to Mingguang in Anhui province: the visit of Lesaffre’ yeast factory, the world’s largest yeast manufacturer!
4月11日，海上青焙坊的学生在老师的陪同下，乘坐大巴来到安徽明光参观世界最大酵母企业乐斯福集团在中国的工厂。
Since the launch of Shanghai Young Bakers in 2009, Lesaffre has been strongly supporting our charity program, not only through sponsoring but also by sharing knowledge and a passion for baking. You can read more about Lesaffre’ support to SYB here.
自海上青焙坊于2009年成立至今，乐斯福集团一直都对我们的慈善项目大力支持。乐斯福不仅是我们的赞助商，同时也不断与我们分享烘焙相关的知识以及热情。点击这里，了解更多乐斯福对SYB的支持。
In the afternoon of April 11th, the bus took off from Shanghai for a 6-hour-long drive to Mingguang in Anhui, which gave enough time for the students to sing songs, play games and take some rest. Once arrived and checked-in, we all went out for a night snack and quickly went back to take a good rest in preparation of the next morning’s visit.
4月11日下午，满载学员的大巴从上海出发，历经6小时最终到达安徽明光。学生们利用在车上这充足的6小时唱歌、玩游戏或休息。在一场短暂的夜宵后，我们回到酒店，养精蓄锐，为第二天的行程做准备。
In the morning, we walked to the factory which was only a few minutes away, and were warmly welcomed by M. Wu, Head of Production and Technology, whom has been working at the Mingguang factory since its opening in 1996.
早晨，我们走去了距离酒店只有几分钟路程的乐斯福工厂，并收到了来自生产经理吴先生的热情招待。自明光乐斯福工厂1996年成立以来，吴先生就一直在这里工作，因此对这里十分了解。
M. Wu first gave a presentation of the Lesaffre group, its (160 year-long) history, values and international development. Indeed, currently in the world, one bread out of three is baked with Lesaffre yeast!
吴先生首先向学员们介绍了乐斯福集团160年之久的历史，理念以及国际发展情况。事实上，如今全世界每三个面包中就有一个是用乐斯福的酵母制作的！
The Young Bakers are already familiar with their products as they have been using the Lesaffre yeast during their training but also during their internship at our partner hotels. But it is extremely interesting for them to learn more about the technical background and what exactly is yeast. This is what M. Wu explained during the second part of his presentation: how it is produced, what affects its composition and how should it be stored, all these questions were answered, and M. Wu used a very humorous tone which captured everyone’s attention for almost two hours. And as there is no secret for him, the Young Bakers and bakery teachers were able to ask all the questions that came to their mind!
海上青焙坊的学员们已经对乐斯福的产品非常熟悉了，因为在SYB的培训以及他们的实习中都是使用乐斯福的酵母。但是，对于他们来说，了解酵母的生产背景以及酵母到底是什么非常有趣且有意义。而这正是吴先生接下来介绍的部分：酵母是如何生产的，它的生产受到哪些因素对影响以及如何正确地储藏酵母——这些问题吴先生都一一耐心解答。吴先生的介绍非常幽默，引人入胜，大家聚精会神地聆听了2个小时。由于什么都难不倒吴先生，海上青焙坊的学员和老师们可以任意提他们想到的任何问题！
So, what is yeast?
Yeast is a microorganism able to multiply quickly if given the right food: nutrients, water and a lot of sugar! Most of these ingredients can be found in Molasses, a dark thick juice extracted from sugar cane or sugar beets that has a considerable amount of fermentable sugar. It all begins in the laboratory where yeast seeds are cultivated and controlled before they are allowed to grow. After growing a few hundreds of kilograms, scientists are able to feed the yeast with Molasses. According to Lesaffre employees at the factory, it takes 5 tons of molasses to make 1 ton of yeast !
酵母其实就是一种在正确的食物（例如养份、水份和糖份）喂养下能够迅速繁衍的微生物。大多数的原料包含在在黑色粘稠的糖蜜中。这种糖蜜大量存在于甘蔗和甜菜之中，因为这两种之物都含有丰富的可发酵糖。酵母种子在用于繁衍之前都是在实验室中培育，当酵母长到足足有几百斤重时，科学家就可以喂这些酵母糖蜜来帮助其生长。据乐斯福公司的工作人员说，生产一吨的酵母需要消耗5吨的糖蜜！
Following the presentation came the site visit, and the students happily put on their white laboratory uniform and mask before entering the laboratories. Outside, we took a tour around the impressive tanks containing the fermenting molasses before heading into the production rooms, which were just as impressive.
在吴先生的讲演之后，学生们穿上了实验室专用的白色工作服，为参观做准备。在进入生产厂房之前，我们先在室外绕着装有发酵糖蜜的储蓄桶进行参观，这些巨大的储蓄桶给学员们留下了深刻的印象。
In each part of the factory, the students were warmly welcomed by Lesaffre employees, even on a Sunday, as the production goes on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The visit finished by a tour of the warehouse, where the yeast needs to be kept at a temperature below 18°C, to ensure it to remain “alive”. Indeed, you can keep instant yeast alive for up to 2 years!
即使这是周日，学员们无论走到工厂的哪里，也都能受到乐斯福员工的热情欢迎。因为这工厂每周7小时，每天24小时地在运作。学员们的工厂之旅以储藏室的参观收尾。储藏室常年保持着18摄氏度以下的低温以保证酵母的良好品质。你知道吗，其实速溶酵母就算被储存了2年但还可以存活！
After a lunch at the canteen and a last group picture with M. Wu, the students got on the bus and headed back to Shanghai. Thanks to Lesaffre and its employees, the students had a great opportunity to receive very precious and professional knowledge, which will guide them throughout their career and will help them be better bakers!
在食堂的午餐以及与吴先生合影留念后，学生们乘上大巴，踏上了回上海的归途。感谢乐斯福以及其员工为学员们提供了一次难得的学习专业知识的机会。此次乐斯福工厂之行也必定会在学员们未来的学习与工作中引导他们成为更加出色与专业的烘焙师！
Thus, we are truly grateful for Lesaffre’ long-standing support to SYB and for constantly sharing its expertise with us!
最后，我们衷心感谢乐斯福集团长期以来对海上青焙坊无私的支持以及一直以来与我们分享专业技术！
Emilie,
Program Director
艾米丽，
海上青焙坊项目总监