Dazhong Daily reporter Zhou Xueze
There is a liquor advertising slogan that is widely circulated: "It is difficult to give up the last drop". "The last drop of rice" is the delicacy of wine, but the last product of rice wheat brewing fermentation is not wine, but vinegar.
Chief engineer of vinegar: Jia Sixun
Zibo is a city associated with vinegar, and the vinegar of the "Qiao Daughter-in-law" in Linzi District and the "Wangcun Vinegar" in Zhoucun District are very famous.
"Qiao Daughter-in-law" Company (hereinafter referred to as "Qiao Daughter-in-law") is located on the north bank of Linzi Jiqing Expressway, and there is a statue of Jia Sixun in the courtyard, and some people joke that Jia Sixun is our chief engineer.
Jia Sixun, a native of Yidu, Qingzhou (present-day Shouguang City, Shandong), was an outstanding agronomist in ancient China, who wrote a comprehensive agricultural book "Qi Min Zhi Shu", which systematically summarized the agricultural science and technology knowledge of the Yellow River Basin of the mainland since the Qin and Han Dynasties, and was the earliest and most complete large-scale agricultural encyclopedia in China.
Jia Sixun's "Qi Min Zhi Shu" is a detailed record of the vinegar brewing method, which is the earliest work that rigorously reveals its production process. In the "Moving Wine And Brewing Method" of the "Qi Min Zhi Shu", it is recorded: "A large rate of wine is a bucket, three buckets of water are used, and the urn is served, and it is exposed in the middle of the day." After seven days, when it stinks, the clothes (referring to the fungal membrane) are born, do not blame it, but stop, do not move, scratch it. Dozens of days, vinegar into. ”
Sophora is vinegar, and in ancient times vinegar was called soy, also known as mash, bitter wine or anhydride. Xu Shen explained 醯 as acid, also known as 酢, in the Shuowen Jiezi. The production of continental vinegar is very early, in 1058 BC, Zhou Gong's book "Zhou Li" has a record of "Five Qi and Seven Thorns", but before Jia Sixun, only vinegar was mentioned, and there were few records about the method of brewing vinegar. "Qi Min Yao Shu" systematically and in detail summarizes the practical experience and scientific and technological achievements of the working people of the mainland from antiquity to the later Wei period, and is a classic document on microbiology of acetic acid fermentation.
The raw materials used for vinegar brewing in the Qi Min Yao Shu include millet, sorghum, glutinous rice, barley, wheat, soybeans, adzuki beans, etc., and the vinegar brewing method recorded in it not only has many "bitter wine methods", but also many koji brewing vinegar methods, such as "corn koji brewing method", "huijiu method" and "shenshu method" A total of 23 kinds.
Vinegar is made first to make wine
Vinegar side unitary, pronounced yǒu, was first seen in the Shang Dynasty oracle bones, and its original meaning is wine vessel, which by extension refers to wine. The glyph structure of "vinegar" and the brewing story about vinegar show that the ancients discovered vinegar in the natural environment, and the earliest vinegar was spoiled wine.
In the courtyard of the "Qiao Daughter-in-law", in addition to the statue of Jia Sixun, there is also a sculpture of the black tower, the son of the legendary wine saint Du Kang. According to legend, the earliest vinegar in history was invented by the black tower: Du Kang invented wine, and his son black tower carried water in the workshop, moved the cylinder and did everything, and slowly learned the technique of winemaking. Later, after Black Tower brewed wine, he felt that it was a pity to throw away the lees, so he stored it and soaked it in the tank. When the twenty-first day of unitary time came, as soon as the cylinder was opened, an aroma that had never been smelled before came to the nose, and it was stored as a "seasoning pulp". What is the name of this sauce? The black tower added the word "unitary" to the twenty-first day to name this spice "vinegar".
Whether it is the record in Jia Sixun's "Qi Min Zhi Shu" or the black tower making vinegar from distiller's lees, it shows the "last nature" of vinegar in the process.
The popularization of modern knowledge has made people further aware of the relationship and mystery of vinegar and wine: the main component of vinegar is acetic acid, and its chemical name is acetic acid, which is a widely used organic acid. Normally, pure acetic acid is a colorless liquid with a strong pungent odor that is easily soluble in water and alcohol. The main ingredients of liquor are alcohol and water, alcohol is commonly known, and the chemical name is ethanol. Of course, if it is other wine ingredients, it is complicated.
The general procedure for vinegar production is to turn ethanol into ethanol, and then convert ethanol into acetic acid. Ethanol is oxidized to form acetic acid under the action of enzymes. From the process of speaking, the wine is in front of the vinegar, the two are closely linked, and the vinegar is made before the wine, which is also the reason why vinegar is called "bitter wine".
Vinegar and wine are so closely related, vinegar is also considered a kind of wine, so why is it that people drink alcohol easily drunk, while vinegar is not drunk?
According to Chen Xu, a professor at the Shandong Provincial Mental Health Center, the reason why drinking alcohol may be drunk is because of the effect of acetaldehyde on the brain. When a glass of wine is drunk, most of the ethanol is quickly absorbed into the bloodstream in the stomach, and the remaining ethanol is absorbed into the bloodstream in the small intestine. When blood flows through the liver, the ethanol dehydrogenase there will oxidize the ethanol in the blood to acetaldehyde; the acetaldehyde dehydrogenase in the liver will oxidize the newly produced acetaldehyde to acetic acid, which is also a component of vinegar, and acetic acid will be further metabolized into carbon dioxide and water. Therefore, once ethanol becomes acetic acid, it no longer has any effect on the body. This is the body's metabolic pathway for alcohol.
The ranking of "vinegar" in "scales"
In the interview of "Qiao Daughter-in-law", it was particularly surprising that various flavors actually have a "scale" ranking. "Qiao Daughter-in-law" built a "12345 stepping corridor" in the factory area, each pedal corresponds to a note, stepping on the "12345" five pedals to show everyone, the sound is not "doo, come, mi, hair, instigation", but "sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, salty" five words.
"12345 Tread Corridor" is an experiential scene created by "Qiao Daughter-in-law" for the development of the cultural tourism industry. The reporter saw in the "Qiao Daughter-in-law" that there is not only a clean and spacious CNC automation factory, but also some interesting and informative "small attractions", such as the construction of a leaning drunken cabin, so that people can experience the feeling of drunkenness.
The most attractive thing is to show off your rich brewing history and culture. Shandong's "Qiao Daughter-in-law" has a long history, formerly known as the "Fuyuanyong" sauce garden founded by Li Xihan and Yuan Shien in 1895 and the "Yongshunhe" sauce garden founded in Xiguan by Hu Tiantian's father in 1900.
To visit the brewing heritage of "Qiao Daughter-in-law", you must first walk through a "time tunnel" with dappled light and shadow, and then enter the "ancient method of drying". Here you can see the small knowledge of vinegar on the wall, learn about the sauce culture, know that "chai rice oil salt sauce vinegar tea" is still an important surname of the Chinese nation; in the storage warehouse, there are layers of sauce blocks exported to Japan and South Korea, and 2,000 kilograms of old "vinegar jars" are neatly arranged, which is eye-opening.