A condiment that many people can’t stop eating and are addicted to. Thank you, Shanxi people!

For most people, vinegar is probably a condiment for eating. However, for some Shanxi people or experienced vinegar eaters, vinegar is for drinking. Especially Shanxi aged vinegar, it is definitely an indelible soul on the table and the key to open the taste buds.

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They are both vinegar, so why is Shanxi aged vinegar considered the best vinegar in many people's minds? In this article, let's talk about Shanxi aged vinegar.

Shanxi aged vinegar,

Unique smoking process

my country has a long history of vinegar brewing, and the earliest vinegar-making technology can be traced back to the Western Zhou Dynasty. Among the many types of vinegar, Shanxi aged vinegar is very popular for its characteristics of "soft and sweet when drinking, fragrant when smelling, superior and soft taste, and long aftertaste".

Shanxi aged vinegar is made from sorghum and bran as the main raw materials, rice husks and corn husks as auxiliary materials, and Daqu made from barley and peas as the saccharification and fermentation agent. After alcohol fermentation, it is fermented with solid acetic acid, and then brewed through processes such as smoking and aging .

Figure: GB/T 19777-2013

The taste of Shanxi aged vinegar can be summarized as "soft, sour, fragrant, sweet and fresh"; its production process can be summarized as "steaming, fermentation, smoking, soaking and aging". Among them, smoking and aging are the key steps, and the smoking process is the essence, which gives it a unique flavor and color.

The smoked mash process has an important influence on the final color, aroma and taste of Shanxi aged vinegar. During the smoked mash process, starch, hemicellulose, protein, bacteria and other substances will slowly hydrolyze into reducing sugars and amino acids, and then undergo the Maillard reaction.

Under the Maillard reaction, black crystals will be produced in the smoked mash stage, giving Shanxi aged vinegar a brown appearance. A large number of heterocyclic compounds will also be produced at this stage, mainly including special flavor substances such as furfural, pyrazine and furan, which can provide Shanxi aged vinegar with coffee aroma, roasted aroma, nutty aroma and other flavors. If you taste it carefully, Shanxi aged vinegar will have a smoked aroma. Moreover, the longer the Shanxi aged vinegar is aged, the higher the content of these flavor components and the stronger the aroma.

The traditional Shanxi aged vinegar smoking process is to take half of the fermented vinegar mash and put it into an urn, and smoke it over a charcoal fire on the floor at a temperature of 80-90°C. The urn is turned over in turn every day. After 5-6 days, when the color of the vinegar mash changes from yellow to brown to brown-black or brown-red, the smoking process is finished and the subsequent vinegar pouring and aging can be carried out.

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Modern smoked mash technology has been improved, greatly increasing efficiency. It uses interlayer steam smoked mash tanks for smoked mash, replacing traditional charcoal fire heating on the kang with interlayer steam heating, and automatically rotating the mash tank to turn it over instead of traditional manual turning, greatly shortening the smoked mash time.

Moreover, compared with the traditional smoked mash process, modern steam smoked mash not only saves time, but also effectively reduces the loss of aroma components such as acids, esters, ketones and alcohols, and increases the accumulation of flavor substances.

Strong sour, sweet and fresh.

Nutritionally excellent too

1

Rich in lipids, sour ingredients and Lactobacillus

The most impressive thing about Shanxi aged vinegar is the sour taste, which is strong but not sharp, but rather mild. This is because it has undergone the traditional aging process of "drying in the sun in summer and catching in ice in winter", which produces rich ester substances and softens the pungent sour taste of Shanxi aged vinegar .

In addition, lactobacillus in the vinegar fermentation process can ferment sugars to produce organic acids such as lactic acid and citric acid, which may improve the flavor of vinegar. The lactic acid content in Shanxi aged vinegar is relatively rich, making the taste of vinegar softer and mellower.

The sour components in vinegar play an important role in promoting appetite, and the lactobacillus produced during the fermentation process is beneficial to intestinal health and helps improve intestinal function.

2

Rich in amino acids

In addition to the sour taste, Shanxi aged vinegar also has a sweet and fresh taste.

The brewing materials of Shanxi aged vinegar are all sorghum, barley and other crops produced and cultivated in the plateau of Shanxi. Because it is located in the plateau area, it is exposed to direct sunlight and temperature differences all year round. These grains have a higher sugar content, so the content of various amino acids is also richer than other vinegars.

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Amino acids are one of the important flavor substances of Shanxi aged vinegar. Each amino acid has a unique taste, providing vinegar with sour, sweet, bitter and fresh tastes. Among them, glutamic acid provides umami, alanine provides sweetness, and the content of alanine is richer than other amino acids. GB/T 19777-2013 "Geographical Indication Product Shanxi Aged Vinegar" requires that amino acid nitrogen should not be less than 0.2g/100ml (the higher the content, the fresher the taste), which is not required in general vinegar.

The longer the aging time, the more concentrated the umami and sweet substances will be, the more obvious the taste will be, and the less pungent acetic acid taste will be.

3

Other nutritional ingredients are also good

The older the Shanxi aged vinegar is, the higher the content of polyphenols, flavonoids and ligustrazine . Polyphenols and flavonoids have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, which are beneficial to cardiovascular health; ligustrazine is an important flavor substance that provides a special aroma for Shanxi aged vinegar, and also has the effects of dilating blood vessels and improving cardiovascular and cerebrovascular health.

"Geographical Indication Product Shanxi Old Vinegar" has made clear provisions on the content of total flavonoids and ligustrazine in Shanxi Old Vinegar: the total flavonoids content should not be less than 60mg/100g, and the ligustrazine content should not be less than 30mg/L.

In addition, Shanxi aged vinegar has a higher content of vitamins and minerals than ordinary vinegar because it has been aged and concentrated. Although for many people vinegar is just a condiment and the amount consumed is limited, these nutrients are also an advantage of Shanxi aged vinegar among different vinegar categories.

Choose Shanxi aged vinegar, pay attention to these 3 points

From the perspective of health and taste, Shanxi aged vinegar is a good choice. It not only has high total acidity and low salt content, but also has a stronger umami flavor and a higher content of flavonoids due to its long brewing time. It is delicious when paired with noodles, rice noodles, spicy hot pot, dumplings, buns, etc. But the key is to choose the right one!

1

See implementation standards

Vinegar produced in Shanxi is not necessarily Shanxi aged vinegar, but Shanxi aged vinegar must meet the implementation standard of GB/T 19777. When purchasing, be sure to check the implementation standard on the packaging.

The standard stipulates that the total acidity of Shanxi aged vinegar must be ≥6g/100ml, amino acid nitrogen ≥0.2g/100ml, salt ≤2.5g/100ml, and it must be aged for more than 12 months.

Figure: E-commerce platform

2

Look at the geographical indication certification on the packaging

Qualified Shanxi Old Mature Vinegar must use the special geographical indication product logo in accordance with regulations . Products that do not meet the requirements of the standards or have not obtained the Shanxi Old Mature Vinegar geographical indication product protection registration are not allowed to use the Shanxi Old Mature Vinegar product name.

Figure: E-commerce platform

In addition, we should also pay attention to the tricks of some products. The five words "Shanxi Old Mature Vinegar" must be used consecutively without any spacing, and the font, size and color should be the same. In addition, Shanxi Mature Vinegar ≠ Shanxi Old Mature Vinegar, so be careful to distinguish.

Figure: E-commerce platform

Figure: E-commerce platform

Authentic Shanxi aged vinegar is brown-red in color, has a strong and mild sour taste, and is fresh and sweet . Adding some vinegar to your meal not only adds flavor, but a foreign study found that it also helps stabilize blood sugar levels after a meal. If you can't handle eating vinegar directly, you can add some when cooking, mixing vegetables, or making soups, which can reduce the loss of vitamin C in vegetables and bring a crisp taste.

However, we would like to remind everyone that eating too much of any food will have the opposite effect, so it is important to eat it in moderation and stick to a balanced diet. Finally, let us thank the people of Shanxi for brewing the delicious Shanxi aged vinegar.

References

[1] GB/T 19777-2013 Geographical Indication Product - Shanxi Old Vinegar

[2] Ma Yumin, Lang Fanfan, Yan Yufeng. Research and development status of Shanxi aged vinegar smoked mash[J]. China Brewing, 2020, 39(1): 17-20

[3] Li Hongwen, Wang Xuping, Yang Xiaolan. Effects of different smoking techniques on aroma components of Shanxi aged vinegar[J]. Food Science, 2015, 36(20): 90-94

[4] Wang Mengying, Zhao Guozhong, Zhao Jianxin, Zhang Hao, Chen Wei. Microecological analysis of bacterial flora and isolation of lactic acid bacteria during fermentation of Shanxi aged vinegar[J]. Chinese Condiments, 2016, 41(6): 29-3338

[5] Liang Kai, Wang Hongxia, Sun Xiaoqi, Lang Fanfan, Zhang Xiaoyu, Xu Nu. Comparison of physical and chemical indicators, flavor and functional components of commercially available Shanxi aged vinegar of different aging years[J]. China Brewing, 2023, 42(3): 41-46

[6] Sun Xiaoqi, Wang Hongxia, Zhang Huiru, Ren Xiaorong, Guo Xinlei, Xu Nu. Changes of volatile aroma substances and functional substances during the aging process of Shanxi aged vinegar[J]. China Brewing, 2023, 42(3): 34-40

[7] Zhao W, Wang L, Fan Z, Lu J, et al. Co-ingested vinegar-soaked or preloaded dried apple mitigated acute postprandial glycemia of rice meal in healthy subjects under equicarbohydrate conditions. Nutr Res. 2020 Nov;83:108-118. doi: 10.1016/j.nutres.2020.09.003. Epub 2020 Sep 10.

[8] Mahmoodi M, Hosseini-zijoud SM, Hassanshahi G, et al. The effect of white vinegar on some blood biochemical factors in type 2 diabetic patients[J]. Journal of Diabetes and Endocrinology, 2015, 4(1):1-5.

[9] Li Shuang, Fan Zhihong. Regulatory effect of vinegar on postprandial blood glucose[J]. Chinese Condiments, 2017, 42(01): 153-156.

Planning and production

Author: Xue Qingxin, registered nutritionist

Review丨Zhang Yu, researcher/PhD, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, national health science expert

Planning丨Yinuo

Editor: Yinuo

Proofread by Xu Lailinlin