The origin of wine is recorded in different ancient books in China. One says it originated from the Yellow Emperor in Xuanyuan, and the other says it originated from the Yellow Emperor in Shiyu. From the perspective of modern science, the origin of wine has experienced the transformation from natural wine to artificial wine.
We know that all sugar-containing substances, such as fruits, honey, animal milk, etc., are easily influenced by fermenting microorganisms in nature to produce wine. So many people think that the most primitive wine should be naturally fermented from sugary fruits. This is not uncommon in the notes of the ancients. The famous ape wine is one of the natural wines.
First generation artificial beverage wine
The development process of human society is to enter the nomadic society first and then the agricultural society. The earliest invented artificial beverage wine is milk wine brewed with animal milk in nomadic times. Because animal milk contains lactose, it can naturally ferment to produce ethanol. This kind of milk wine was called fermented cheese in ancient times (Zhou Li and Li Yun). In other words, the first generation of artificial drinks and wines were naturally formed without adding any saccharifying agent and fermenting agent. Today, young people in Inner Mongolia, Tibet, Qinghai and other places still keep this habit of making wine with animal milk. This is about 7000 to 1 10,000 years ago.
The second generation artificial beverage wine (fermented wine)
The second generation of artificial beverage wine in China is made by adding saccharifying starter, also known as artificial fermented wine (used for non-distilled wine), also known as fermented wine. The added saccharifying starter is a well-known tiller. This is a major feature of our country, which is divided into two stages: natural tillering brewing and artificial tillering brewing.
(1) Natural Tillering Brewing (First Stage)
Making wine with natural tillers is the first stage of the second generation artificial beverage wine. Appeared before and after the emergence of agriculture. Our ancestors realized that starch seeds of wild plants can satisfy hunger, so they collected and stored them for use in winter. It is true that after the emergence of agricultural society, more food was stored. Because the preservation method was primitive, extensive and crude at that time, the grain germinated with moisture during storage, mildew was common, and the leftover cooked grain was also moldy. These germinated and moldy grains form natural tillers, and naturally ferment when they meet water to produce wine. So it is bound to inspire people to simulate. Therefore, we can understand and master the production method of qu tiller and use it in wine making. In other words, the tillers at this stage are not separated from each other, but mixed together. Huainanzi proposed that wine-making began in Reddy. "That is to say, wine originated from the beginning of agriculture.
(2) Taking Qu as wine and tillers as food (the second stage)
With the development of social productive forces and the progress of brewing technology. In the middle and late stage of farming, qu tillers are divided into qu, tiller (grain bud) and Huang Yiqu (saccharified qu, sauce qu and fermented soybean qu). Therefore, human beings call "wine" brewed with tillers "wine" and "wine" brewed with flexors. In other words, in the second stage of the development of the second generation of artificial beverage wine, the separation of qu and tiller was realized.
It was popular in Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties, and was gradually replaced by liquor brewed with Qu after Qin Dynasty. As for the specific time of Kyberg's separation, it may be in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties of class society.
Why is the tillering method eliminated? As pointed out in the late Ming and Song Dynasties? "Since ancient times, wine has been made, and the tiller has made food. Later generations hated thin taste and lost it, so the combined tillering method also "died" (Tiangong Wu Kai). According to the principle of fermentation, tillers (grain buds) are fermented unilaterally, and only play a saccharifying role in the fermentation process; Therefore, the content of ethanol in fermented grains is very low. Liquor-making with koji is a compound fermentation of saccharification and alcoholization, also called bilateral fermentation; So wine has a high alcohol content. From the perspective of production technology, the method of making wine with starter is much more advanced than that with tillers, so the method of making wine with tillers should be eliminated.
China is one of the cradles of beer.
Beer is brewed from malt. The time when China used tillers (grain buds) to make wine and the time when Babylonia used malt to make wine all appeared in the Neolithic Age. It is impossible to find out whether there is a connection between the two. To be sure, the Babylonians kept the method of making beer because they didn't invent the method of brewing high-quality grain wine. China, as mentioned earlier, invented flexion and eliminated the tillering method.
Cereal wine age
What we usually call the origin of wine refers to the emergence of grain wine, that is, the emergence of fermented wine. The emergence of the second generation of artificial beverage wine should be in the Yangshao culture period around 7000 years ago. Because at this time, human society has entered a primitive society dominated by farming, which has been confirmed by a large number of drinking and brewing vessels unearthed underground.
Development of Quhe Fermented Liquor (Second Generation Liquor)
Daqu is a good way to preserve microorganisms by solid culture. Under dry conditions, microorganisms are in a dormant state, and their activity can easily remain unchanged. The principle of this method continues to this day.
Qu's invention is a great contribution of the ancient working people in China. It was introduced to the west in the19th century, which not only changed the way of using malt grains in the west since ancient times, but also laid the foundation for the alcohol industry. More importantly, Qu has brought far-reaching influence on modern fermentation industry and enzyme preparation industry.
According to the excavation of Yin Ruins, the winemaking place with vats was found, and its scale was considerable, so it can be judged that the winemaking technology has made great progress. Historians' records that "more than 3,000 people drink for the sake of wine and help each other in the same boat" are exaggerated and truly reflect the scale of the brewing industry.
After the establishment of the Western Zhou Dynasty in BC 1 1 century, with the development of social productive forces, the brewing industry has also made great progress. Not only has a special organization been set up and full-time officials have been appointed to manage the production of wine, but also the technological operation of wine-making has been formulated, which has promoted the development of wine-making technology.
In the Qin and Han Dynasties, brewing technology was further developed and improved. First, the raw materials are studied and graded. Secondly, the types of Qu increased rapidly, only when there were dialects in the early Han Dynasty.
Nearly 10 species were recorded. At first, people used Sanqu. As for the time when Daqu appeared, it is generally believed that Daqu was before Qin and Han Dynasties and Xiaoqu was earlier, before the Warring States Period.
The brewing method of the Western Han Dynasty is: "coarse rice has two hooves, curved one hoof, and wine has six hooves. Its formula is close to today's yellow rice wine.
In the 5th century A.D., Jia Sixie of the Northern Wei Dynasty systematically summarized and recorded all kinds of koji-making methods, wine-making operations and technological specifications in Qi Yao Min Shu. These technologies soon spread to North Korea, Nishui, zhina and Nanyang. Yamamatsu Temple, one of the three Japanese wine temples, was built by China sommelier Qin in 70 1 year. Later, a great number of koji-making and wine-making techniques, such as waxing or coloring in jars, were systematically summarized and recorded in the Wine Spectrum by Dou Ge in the Northern Song Dynasty and the Wine Classic by Zhu Yizhong. New wine must be sterilized, and cooking wine should use rosin and yellow wax as defoamers; Press the pressure plate for pressing wine, and the jar should be filled with wine; The raw materials for koji-making are not steamed or boiled, but raw materials, and the last old koji is coated on the outside of the original (new) koji (similar one). All these indicate the progress and development of brewing technology.
Another great progress in the Northern Song Dynasty was the discovery and application of monascus. Li Shizhen in Ming Dynasty and Ying Xing in Song Dynasty have detailed records in Compendium of Materia Medica. The wine mentioned above is not distilled wine, but fermented wine, also called brewed wine, which belongs to the category of yellow rice wine today, so I won't go into details.
The third generation of artificial beverage wine-the emergence of distilled liquor (Tang Dynasty)
Distilled liquor is now called white wine, also called shochu. This is a method that our ancestors used the boiling point difference between alcohol and water to steam and bake wine on the basis of long-term brewing practice in order to improve the alcohol content and increase the alcohol content. The appearance of distilled liquor is an epoch-making progress in China's brewing history, and it is the third generation liquor in China. Scholars at home and abroad want to find out such an extremely important problem, and they are still exploring it. Most western scholars believe that China is the first country in the world to invent distillation technology and distilled liquor. Because distillation technology is closely related to China ancient alchemy, once the distillation method is mastered, it will be applied to the distillation of wine. As far as distillation technology is concerned, China should have mastered it before the 2nd century AD at the latest. So, when should distilled liquor appear in China? In the past, due to Li Shizhen's "non-ancient method of shochu, it was founded in the Yuan Dynasty".
The production method of preserved beer. And China, as mentioned above, invented Qu (Compendium of Materia Medica), which many comrades mistakenly thought started here. Then it was added that "soju comes from the west", or "foreign theory". On this issue, Li Shizhen himself could not justify himself. He wrote in the bar after this: "Like shochu, it is extremely poisonous. ..... The shochu people took dozens of Jin of grapes, brewed them with Daqu, steamed them, and dripped them with utensils. They were red and lovely. The ancients made it in the western regions, and it was not until Tang Gaochang broke it that the law was obtained. " The Tang Dynasty defeated Gaochang in Zhenguan 14 (AD 640), with a difference of six or seven hundred years. To this end, it is recommended to describe it in detail.
A large number of historical documents and unearthed cultural relics deny that "distilled liquor began in Yuan Dynasty". According to Qu Ben Cao written by Tian in the Northern Song Dynasty, there is a kind of wine which is distilled repeatedly for two or three times and has a high degree of drinking. It shows that China has already understood the production method of distilled liquor at this time. 1 163 in the southern song dynasty, Wu CuO noted that Fontaine also recorded a variety of perfect stills. At the same time, the application of distiller in daily life is also recorded in Volume 5 of Zhang Shinan's Travels. 1975 A set unearthed in Shenlong County, Chengde, Hebei Province
The age of Jin Dynasty bronze-burned hip flask shall not exceed 1 16 1 year at the latest. The Xixia wine-making and distillation murals in Dunhuang murals can also prove that distilled liquor appeared in China before the tenth century, that is, before the Northern Song Dynasty, which has been accepted by most scholars.
As mentioned above, in 640 AD, Tang Taizong made distilled liquor in Xinjiang. Therefore, "it was only when the Tang Dynasty broke Gao Chang that it got its way", which indicated that there was already shochu in the Tang Dynasty. In other words, China had distilled liquor in the 7th century.
On this issue, Mr. Fang, an academician of China Academy of Sciences, pointed out in the article "The Origin and Development of Self-brewed Liquor in Qubei" that distilled liquor may appear in the Tang Dynasty. This judgment is not only confirmed by the above-mentioned "Tang people broke Gao Chang and got their laws", but also exemplified by a large number of Tang literature. Bai Juyi (772 ~ 846), a great poet in the Tang Dynasty, said in a poem: "Litchi is newly cooked with a cockscomb color, and shochu smells amber." Tao Yong (805 ~? There is also a famous saying, "I haven't wanted to go to Chang 'an since I went to Chengdu to make wine." Li Zhao's "Supplement to National History" also recorded that Jian Nan burned spring and so on. The above comes from the name of distilled liquor. From the perspective of distillation technology, during the Kaiyuan period of Tang Dynasty (7 13 ~ 755), Chen Zangqi's Notes on Materia Medica recorded "steam water" and "taking it from gas". In addition, among the Sui and Tang cultural relics unearthed in recent years, there are also small wine glasses with only 15 ~ 20 ml. If there were no shochu, such a small wine glass would not be made.
All these fully show that distilled liquor not only appeared in the Tang Dynasty, but also became more popular. As Professor Zhu Baoyong recently pointed out: "There may be soju in the southwest, so Tao Yong drank soju in Chengdu and didn't even want to go to Chang 'an." (foreign trade No.4 198 1),
This judgment is also correct. According to the discovered documents, the fifteenth volume of Southwest Yi People's Records, The Bole Tusi in the Tenth Palace, is a travel note of the Yi people in Guizhou.
When discussing this matter at the end of Sui Dynasty and the beginning of Tang Dynasty, he once said, "Pure rice wine is like dew." This is a record of a simple distillation process. The records in the Records of the Yi People in Southwest China coincide with the records in Tang Taizong's Taking Dew with Vessels, Compendium of Materia Medica and Eating with Good Wine in Yuan Dynasty. Therefore, there is no doubt that distillers appeared in the Tang Dynasty.