Laochencuniangzhijiyi
01 · Historical Records
The starting point of Meiheju lies in the first year of the Hongwu reign of the Ming dynasty (1368), when the vinegar masters of this Taiyuan workshop established the smoking-and-steaming process and the aging method of 'summer sunning in the heat, winter ice-skimming,' setting down the form and flavor of Jin vinegar. It belongs to the same lineage as vinegar-making craft since the Western Zhou dynasty, but what truly distinguishes Meiheju from ordinary vinegar workshops is the series of critical stages that over six hundred-plus years has never been broken up.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Shanxi aged vinegar heads the four famous vinegars of China, and its brewing technique belongs to the same lineage as vinegar-making craft since the Western Zhou dynasty. In the first year of the Hongwu reign of the Ming dynasty (1368), the vinegar makers of the Taiyuan workshop 'Meiheju' created the 'smoking-and-steaming' process and the aging process of 'summer sunning in the heat, winter ice-skimming,' raising the brewing craft of Shanxi aged vinegar to a new level. The Meiheju aged-vinegar brewing technique has its own unique process flow; production employs specific raw and auxiliary materials and classical recipes, and technical means such as low-temperature liquid fermentation of the alcoholic mash, high-temperature inoculation and fire-lighting, smoking and percolation combined in making the vinegar, summer sunning in the heat, winter ice-skimming, and storage aging are all important among them. The Meiheju aged-vinegar brewing technique is unique in the field of Chinese vinegar making and is a typical representative of China's traditional aged-vinegar brewing techniques.
Archival Records of Process Steps
The Meiheju aged-vinegar brewing technique has its own unique process flow; production employs specific raw and auxiliary materials and classical recipes, and technical means such as low-temperature liquid fermentation of the alcoholic mash, high-temperature inoculation and fire-lighting, smoking and percolation combined in making the vinegar, summer sunning in the heat, winter ice-skimming, and storage aging are all important among them.
Low-temperature liquid mash fermentation
Fermenting the mash as a liquid at low temperature is the starting point, setting the strength and cleanliness that guide the later smoking and leaching.
High-temperature inoculation
High-temperature inoculation is the crucial step: the heat must be high enough to wake the cake and mash, or the vat sours.
Combined smoking and leaching
Smoking and leaching are combined in one operation: the smoked mash gives colour and body, and the first run off is graded above the rest.
Summer sunning and winter ice-lifting
Summer sunning and winter ice-lifting are the seasonal devices of ageing: sun in the dog days, ice lifted out in the cold months, strength raised turn by turn.
Storing until mature
The final stage is storage; the longer it rests, the more the sour, fermentary and ester notes fuse into what is called a piercing aroma.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
By school, Meiheju belongs to the northern lineage built on smoking-steaming and ice-sunning; it is connected with the ideas of smoking the cupei (fermented grain), percolating, and aging in the Qingxu area, yet each has its own practice. Guo Junlu and chief brewer Ren Ligen held firm to pure-grain brewing without wavering, introducing equipment and laboratory analysis only in non-critical stages; this choice of keeping the core unchanged while modernizing the periphery is precisely the key to the survival of the aged-vinegar school to this day.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Qingxulaochencuniangzhijiyi · Niangcujiyi · Niangcujiyi · Niangcujiyi · Niangcujiyi · Niangcujiyi.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Through more than six hundred years of transmission and development, the Shanxi aged-vinegar brewing technique, centered on handmade craft, has gradually taken shape. As a crystallization of the farming culture of the Yellow River basin, the Shanxi aged-vinegar brewing technique is an important component of Jin culture, with research value in the history of craft, the history of folk custom, and the history of social life. Guo Junlu (recorded in the official archive of associated inheritors): Male, of Han ethnicity, born in February 1952 in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province. Representative inheritor of aged-vinegar brewing technique (Meiheju aged-vinegar brewing technique), a national-level intangible cultural heritage item (third batch). He began work in 1970 and became chairman of Shanxi Meiheju Aged Vinegar Co., Ltd. in 1996. Together with chief brewer Ren Ligen, he held fast to the unique pure-grain brewing process, completely preserving the Meiheju smoking-and-steaming method of aged-vinegar brewing. In non-critical stages, he improved the craft, introduced modern equipment, and adopted scientific laboratory analysis, giving scientific basis and guarantee to the steady improvement of aged-vinegar quality. To adapt to market needs, beyond the flavoring function, he has developed other functions such as health care, beauty, and beverage use. In core technical posts, he devoted himself to training young technicians, successively bringing along dozens of disciples.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Guo Junlu 03-1328
- Wu Runwei 04-1853
- Wang Decai 05-2760
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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