In August 2020, an online incident of a winery "opening a warehouse and releasing insects" aroused the attention of netizens. While netizens expressed concern about the event itself, they were also curious about the "worm" in the "open position and release worm". Although there have been reports that these small bugs are aspergidium worms, and there have been reports that making good wine is inseparable from the "help" of koji worms, they participate in pollination in nature, which can bring floral aroma to the wine, and the larvae in the koji are also rich in protein...
However, netizens who want to "dig to the bottom" find it difficult to find specific information about "curved worms", which seems to have cast another veil of mystery over them. In fact, "koji worm" is also known as "koji mosquito", but the name in the liquor industry, generally refers to the process of fermenting liquor chen qu attracted insects, and these insects as many as 20 kinds, sauce-flavored big qu aging time long qu xiang thick especially attract insects.
Nationally, due to the different geographical locations and environmental conditions of each winery, there are also certain differences in the population of aspergillons. In general, it is mainly Cryptolestes beetles, coffee bean elephants (Araecerus fasciculatus), and Tribolium castaneum Herbst.
The beetles of the genus Diplodocus (Koji mosquitoes) include: Cryptolestes ferrugineus, Cryptolestes pusillus, and Cryptolestes turcicus. They are very easily confused by observers, because all three are reddish-brown, the adults are about 2 mm long and live for about a year, and all adults fly but cannot climb the walls of the glass. All three beetles are flattened, shiny, and have slender antennae.
Their eggs are all white and average 0.5-0.8 mm long. The larvae burrow holes in the grain, but also leave the burrow in search of more favorable food. The larvae undergo 4 larval stages and finally form a cocoon. Their adults and larvae are cannibalistic and will eat eggs and pupae of the same kind. At 25 °C, the RH value is 75%, and the female worms begin to lay eggs within 4 days after breaking the cocoon, and the average fertility of each female worm is about 300 eggs.
The difference between the three beetles is that the tentacles of the Rusty Flat Valley Bandit are about half the length of their bodies. The tentacles of the Longhorn Flat Valley Bandits and the Turkish Flat Valley Bandits exceed two-thirds of the length of their bodies. The lateral margins of the dorsal plate of the rusty red flat valley thorax shrink significantly towards the base, while the lateral margins of the dorsal plate of the other two are closer to square.
Their development process from egg to adult also varies, and at 32-35°C and 75% RH, it takes 22-24 days for rusty flat grain pirates and longhorn flat valley bandits to grow to beetles, while Turkish flat valley pirates take 30-35 days. The Rusty Flat Valley Beetle is more hardy and can still survive at -20 °C and 10% RH, while the Longhorn Flat Valley Thief cannot survive below -10 °C.
The main hazards of the above three species of beetle adults and larvae of the genus Flat Valley are crushing and damaging cereals, beans, oilseeds, powdered grains and dried fruits, of which powder hydrocarbons and oilseeds occur the most, and are also one of the most common aspergillosis in wineries (accounting for about 85%).
Next, let's take a look at the coffee bean elephant, which is not only one of the common beetles in the wine aspergillomallus (accounting for about 9%), but also common in unsaved rice, noodles, medicinal herbs, dried potatoes, garlic, rice, wheat and sorghum, etc., and is the number one grain storage pest in China.
They are 3–5 mm long, oval in shape, dark brown or black grey in adults, with yellow and reddish-brown fur, and adults can fly and jump. The average fecundity of each female is about 100 eggs. Death when the temperature is above 50 ° C, and it is difficult to survive below 0 ° C.
Another common aspergidges in wineries is tribolium castaneum Herbst, which is one of the main hazards of flour, grains, legumes, nuts, dried fish, dried meat and leather. They are 2-4 mm long, the adult is not good at flying, the whole body is reddish brown or brown, at first glance it looks very similar to the reddish-brown Turkish flat valley bandits, but it is not difficult to observe its tentacles to find that the tentacles of the red valley pirates are much shorter than those of the Turkish flat valley pirates.
In terms of appearance, the Red Valley Bandit is so similar to the above three species of Flat Valley Bandit Beetle, why introduce it separately? The first is that because they belong to different parts, the Akagi Thief is the tribolium genus. Secondly, because it has a longer lifespan — sometimes up to three years and is more fertile — it reproduces 4-5 times a year to lay more than 300 eggs at a time.
In addition, the Akatsugu thief is also different from the above introduction of these several kinds of wine koji insects, the above several are only harmful to the sake koji, cereals, etc., and the Chizhigu thief not only has this property, its adult body also has odorous glands that secrete odorous liquid, once polluted by its odorous liquid, it will emit a fishy odor and be inedible. Their presence also promotes the growth of mold. However, it is difficult for the Chizhigu bandits to survive above 50 °C and below -10 °C.
The above are the most common kinds of wine koji worms in the distillery, of course, there are also such as macular dewtail nails, medicinal beetles and other wine koji worms, which will not be introduced here.
Protein is the basis of life, so it is inevitable that the wine aspergillus contains protein, but is the content high? How high is it? No entomologist has given specific data yet.
Is the addition of organisms important during the wine making process? The answer is yes. China has a long history of winemaking, but biological participation in wine making generally refers to microorganisms, such as the manufacturing process (Divine Comedy) recorded in the "Qi Min Zhi Shu", there is a process of cultivating bacteria (罨), which mainly refers to root mold and yeast.
Isn't it no longer mysterious to see the koji worm here? At present, we know more than a million insect species, of which about 400,000 are beetles, and although some of them are harmful to crops, they are an indispensable part of the food chain. Of course, how much help can these little bugs bring to the production of wine? You also need to savor, savor.