Cereal vinegars made by solid-state fermentation in China

Abstract

In China there is a proverb saying that, in daily life, the seven indispensable substances are firewood, rice, edible oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and tea. From this proverb, we can see the vinegar has a very important position in Chinese daily life. In the historical literature, we find that vinegar originated more than 3000 years ago in China. It is reported that the first written mention of vinegar was in 1058 BC in a book named Zhou Li about the rites of the Zhou Dynasty, and a professional workshop for vinegar making appeared in the Chunqiu Dynasty (770-476 BC) (Zhao, 2004; Hu, 2005; Zhao and Li, 2005; Shen, 2007). At that time, vinegar was so costly that only the rich noblemen could afford it. Vinegar first became popular with ordinary people in the Donghan Dynasty (25-220 AD) (Shen, 2007). Up until the Northern and Southern Dynasties (420-581 AD), a book named Qi Ming Yao Shu, about the essential techniques of farming, written by Sixie Jia, recorded in detail 23 different methods for brewing vinegars (Zhao, 2004; Hu, 2005). © 2009 Springer Milan.