Literature. Drinking. 【文飲】

Scroll 8 in Qimin Yaoshu has twenty-three  vinegar recipes in it.  I've now translated them all, and rather than posting them fully, I thought I'd offer a summary, and a few of them in particular. I haven't (successfully, ahem) made any of these yet, and when I do I'll post separately about them, with the full recipe included. Science and Civilisation in China  notes that vinegar was a relatively late addition to Chinese cooking, replacing the use of Prunus mume  (a kind of apricot) as a souring agent in the Spring and Autumn period (771-476 BCE). Ingredients Most of these are millet vinegars, produced like a millet wine.  But they also don't all use yeast cakes.  Most are using what I'm translating as "wheat grains" (麥䴷), which are also called "yellow steam" (黃蒸).  To make this: 作黃蒸法：To Make Yellow Steam 〈六、七月中，取生小麥，細磨之。 In the middle of the sixth or seventh months, take fresh wheat, and finely grind it. 以水溲而蒸之，氣餾好熟，便下之，

I'm working on the vinegar recipes in Qimin Yaoshu , and one of the recipes contains a line that offers some useful insight into the wine making business: 至十月中，如壓酒法，毛袋壓出，則貯之。 When it has become the tenth month, press it with a wool bag as if you were pressing wine, and then store it. Seems like I've been on the right track using cheesecloth and nylon bags, although I would like to get a bag made from mohair or something like that eventually.