和牛好吃的秘诀：喂牛吃巧克力

大家都知道吃巧克力可以让人更开心，但你知道吃巧克力可以让牛肉更美味吗？一位澳大利亚农场主在他饲养的和牛饲料中加入巧克力，结果使他的牛肉变成了最美味的顶级牛肉。据说吃了巧克力的牛的肉质具有独特的甜味、淡淡的坚果味和奶油一般的口感。这种牛肉并不便宜，0.3公斤重的牛肉就售价288美元，但买得起的人都说物有所值。

They say chocolate makes everything better, and apparently premium wagyu beef is no exception. For the past 10 years, the Mayura Station Farm in southern Australia has been feeding its full-blood wagyu cattle chocolate and other sweets mixed with their regular feed, and the results have been spectacular.

有人说巧克力会让一切变得更好，显然价格昂贵的和牛也不例外。过去十年来，位于澳大利亚南部的Mayura Station农场一直在给其纯种和牛的饲料中添加巧克力和其它甜点，其结果也非常令人惊叹。

When Scott de Bruin, managing partner at Mayura Station, returned to his father's farm in the Limestone coast of Australia, in 1998, he knew he wanted to do something special to make their beef stand out from that of other luxury cattle farms around the world. But he didn't know exactly how he was going to do that, so he consulted a cattle nutrition specialist from Japan and spent two years experimenting with different feed before deciding on the final daily ration for his wagyu cows – a special mix of regular feed, chocolate, gummy bears, strawberries and cream flavored gummy snakes. Each cow eats up to 2 kilograms of ground and partially broken chocolate delivered by Cadbury's every day.

当Mayura Station的合伙人Scott de Bruin在1998年回到他父亲那个位于澳大利亚石灰岩海岸的农场时，他就决定让其农场里的牛肉成为最好的奢侈牛肉。但他不知道该怎么做，于是他咨询了日本的牲畜营养专家，并花了两年时间调配其和牛日常饮食的饲料（混合了常规饲料、巧克力、小熊软糖、草莓和奶油味的蛇软糖）比例。每头牛一天会吃下两公斤饲料，此外还有一些吉百利巧克力的碎粒。

Adding chocolate to the daily diet of cows at Mayura Station started out as a simple experiment, but it ended up making their luxury beef one of the most appreciated in the world. “Many of my customers come to enjoy Mayura beef two to three times a week. They love how the beef has the perfect balance of fat, rich flavor and tender texture,” Michelin star chef Umberto Bombana told Forbes Magazine.

原本喂牛吃巧克力只是一个简单的实验，但这一举动却让Scott的牛肉变成最美味的昂贵牛肉之一。米其林星级大厨Umberto Bombana告诉《福布斯》杂志说：“我的许多顾客一周会来吃两到三次Mayura牛肉。他们喜欢牛肉完美的脂肪比例，醇厚的口感和柔嫩的质地。”

Shane Osborn, Head Chef and Co-Owner of Arcane Restaurant in Hong Kong, added that its unique sweetness, hint of nuttiness and buttery texture make Mayura beef “the ultimate steak”.

香港Arcane餐厅的共有人和主厨Shane Osborn则补充说Mayura牛肉的独特甜味、淡淡的坚果味和奶油一般的口感让Mayura牛肉成为“顶级的牛肉”。

Although he first started feeding his cattle chocolate in 2006, Scott de Bruin claims that he only realized how important it was to the quality of the meat in 2010, when he decided to take it out of the animals' diet to make the meat pinker and more marbled. Two months later, clients started phoning in and asking 'What have you done? Your Wagyu doesn't taste like it used to anymore'. So de Bruin immediately reverted to including chocolates again.

虽然Scott从2006年就开始给牛喂巧克力，但他直到2010年才真正意识到巧克力对牛肉质量的影响。2010年为了让牛肉颜色粉红，有大理石花纹，他决定不再给牛喂巧克力。两个月后，老顾客们纷纷打电话来问为何牛肉没有以前好吃。于是他决定立即恢复对牛的巧克力供应。

De Bruin says he begins feeding calves chocolate when they are 30 months old, but only a bit of it, with the ration increasing the closer they get to the slaughterhouse. “The last two rations are about producing as much marbling as we possibly can, so that's why they consume such a high-calorie ration,” he said.

Scott说他会在牛30个月大的时候给它们喂巧克力，一开始只喂一点点，之后慢慢增加直到牛被送入屠宰场为止。他说：“最后两天的配给是想让牛尽量长出大理石纹路一样的脂肪，因此牛的饮食中卡路里含量较高。”

Asked if the milk chocolate has a negative effect on the cattle's health, Scott de Bruin says “No, unlike humans – who may start eating chocolates at a very young age for over several decades – these cattle (raised on chocolates for only four months) won't see the long-term negative effects of chocolates in their system.”

在被问及牛奶巧克力是否会给牛的健康带来负面影响时，Scott否认说：“与人类吃几十年巧克力不同的是，这些牛吃巧克力的时间只有四个月，我们也不会看到巧克力给其身体带来的长期负面影响。

“People ask me about the ethics of feeding chocolate to cows. But they're not on a long timeline here, they are going to go to baby cow heaven soon, but this way they are happier and taste better,” the Mayura Station manager said. “All I can say is that in those last four months, they are really, really happy cows.”

“人们会质疑我给牛喂巧克力的道德问题，但牛不会活很久，它们会很快去小牛的天堂，这样喂它们能让它们更快乐口感更好。我只能说，它们生命的最后四个月过得非常非常快乐。”

As you can imagine, Mayura luxury beef is not cheap. Forbes reports that a 10.5oz-steak sells for $288, but those who can afford it claim it's worth every penny.

你也可以想象得到，Mayura牛肉并不便宜。《福布斯》报道说0.3公斤重的牛肉售价288美元，买得起的人都说物有所值。

Interestingly, feeding cattle chocolate and other sweets is not unheard of. In 2017, a surge in corn prices forced farmers to feed their cows chocolate, gummy sweets and marshmallows, since their four stomachs help them digest pretty much anything, but Mayura Station is the only one using the unusual feed to enhance the flavor of the beef.

有趣的是，给牛喂巧克力和其它甜食并不是什么稀奇的事情。2017年，玉米价格飙升迫使农民们给牛喂巧克力、奶油甜点和棉花糖，但Mayura Station是唯一一家用这种不同寻常的方法来改善牛肉口感的农场。