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Alcoholic drinks from Northern China

Foxtail-millet 'lu' wine drunk through a tube (作粟米爐酒法)粟米爐酒

A 6th-century recipe from the Qimin Yaoshu. Cooked foxtail millet is kneaded with qu powder and powdered lees from spring wine, packed into a jar over a layer of pebbles and left for five or six days. The mash is never pressed; cold water is poured in and the wine is sucked up through a tube.

A short entry: the sources we found record only what is said here about Foxtail-millet 'lu' wine drunk through a tube itself.

Short entryAlcoholic drinks5 days – 6 days

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe text's rule of thumb for a jar holding 2 dan or less; 1 dou is 10 sheng, and Northern Wei units differ from modern ones.
Cooked foxtail millet (粟米飯)5 douCooked at night and spread out to cool in the night dew[s1]
Qu powder (麴末)1 douUse less millet if the qu is weak[s1]
Powdered spring-wine lees (春酒糟末)1 dou[s1]
Pebbles (石子)2–3 shengLaid over the bottom of the jar[s1]
Starterqu powder plus powdered spring-wine lees

Total time across the recorded steps: 5 days – 6 days

Start
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What changes: Millet, qu and lees are kneaded together and packed over pebbles in the jar

Step 1 of 4
Mix millet, qu and lees and pack the jar
Time
Millet cooked at night, cooled in the night dew, and mixed at cockcrow
Reported
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Output: packed mash filling the jar.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
kneaded hard until evenly mixed
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

A 6th-century recipe from the Qimin Yaoshu. Cooked foxtail millet is kneaded with qu powder and powdered lees from spring wine, packed into a jar over a layer of pebbles and left for five or six days. The mash is never pressed; cold water is poured in and the wine is sucked up through a tube. Made in 4 steps over 5 days – 6 days. The longest step, ferment, takes 5–6 days (Jia Sixie).

Key numbers
Main step5–6 daysReported[s1]Ferment

What makes this one different

This wine is never pressed. The mash is packed solid, kept under paper rather than mud, and drunk straight from the jar through a tube with cold water poured in, much as tongba is sipped through a straw with hot water in the Himalaya today. The text warns that pressed-out wine goes flat.

Season
Qimin Yaoshu chapter 66 (笨麴餅酒) says the wine is twice as good when made in the 5th, 6th or 7th month.

Related ferments

Safety

The text's only safety advice is about heat; sealing with mud makes the mash overheat.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

  1. [s1] Jia Sixie, Qimin Yaoshu (6th century), ch. 66 笨麴餅酒, 作粟米爐酒法 (Chinese Wikisource transcription, juan 7)archive