It's just right to step on two volts

Yellow rice wine originated in China. As early as 4000 years ago, our ancestors knew the secret of using microorganisms to make wine. There is a cloud in the Book of Songs of the Zhou Dynasty: "If it is a wine cellar, it is only for the tiller." It means that you can't brew yellow rice wine without koji. The qu and tiller mentioned here are all wine qu. Qu (that is, Qu) is brewed with fermented grains, and the wine brewed with Qu is called wine. Tillers are made of germinated grains, and the wine brewed with tillers is called glutinous rice. Later, people found that tillers were inefficient in brewing wine, so they were eliminated.

Besides the high viscosity of glutinous rice, the quality of koji also plays a key role in brewing yellow rice wine. Wheat is rich in crude protein and soluble digestible fiber, which can produce a large number of microorganisms after fermentation. These microorganisms can secrete various enzymes, which can quickly convert starch and protein in grains into alcohol. Therefore, it is the first choice for making songs. Using wheat as starter is helpful to improve the alcohol content of yellow rice wine and brew high-quality yellow rice wine.

My hometown, Chen Ying Village, Anyang Town, is a famous yellow rice wine village in Yunyang District. For thousands of years, the wind of wine-making has flourished, and the tradition of making koji, brewing rice wine and drinking rice wine with wheat has continued to this day. Every household there has some jars, altars, urns, cans and other utensils, most of which are used for making wine.

Every year after the autumn harvest, when the chrysanthemum is yellow and orange, every household should make wine. Most people grow glutinous rice by themselves, and many families make wine three times a year: once in the ninth day of the ninth lunar month; Make spring drinks on the first day of October; Do it again in the second year of Qingming, and you can leave it until the new rice is connected to ensure that there is wine at any time all year round. As for the ninth day of September, the rice in the new area is fresh and the temperature and climate are suitable. At this time, the autumn grain has been harvested and the winter wheat has been sown, which is the best time to make wine in a hurry, so it is the most grand. People mix, boil and package the gifts and sweat given by God with ups and downs, then let them slowly brew, rise and precipitate in time, and finally sublimate into a room of mellow and meaningful old wine, which will be tasted slowly in the four seasons.

Wheat ripens in May, Qu liquor in June, Daoxiang in August and new wine is brewed in September. The process of brewing yellow rice wine is long, complicated and sacred. If wine-making is compared to an interlocking and wonderful opera, it should be based on the colorful four seasons and the worship and gratitude to heaven and earth. Treading is the most beautiful and elegant rendering and arrangement in the whole process.

How to mix ingredients when stepping on koji, how to control fermentation temperature, and what are the stresses in the middle ... Anyang people who are good at brewing are well aware of this, and they are well aware of the stepping process handed down for thousands of years. It takes about seven processes, which last nearly two months, from starter-making to drying and turning into finished products.

The preparation for trampling begins with harvesting wheat in summer. Every year, when the new wheat comes out in May of the lunar calendar, every household begins to plan how many Qu wheat to keep, how many Qu pieces to tread on and how many altars to make this year. If you have a wedding, a wedding, a house, an old man's big birthday and so on. This year, you should prepare more songs and wine. My grandfather loves to drink, three times a day, and he can't live without it. He has an enamel teapot. Before every meal, he holds an altar of yellow wine and simmers on a charcoal fire, then eats some food and drinks it with relish. He was healthy and lived to be 95 years old. Before he died, he could do farm work in the fields. Generally, more than 20 pieces of Qu are trodden at home every year, which requires 100 kilograms of Qu wheat. After the pickled koji is washed and dried, it is put into two snakeskin bags, then put into a big jar with cracks and several iron wires in the corner, and then a broken iron pot is buckled on it, which can prevent moisture, insects, ants and rats. Grandpa, who loves to drink, used to count when to step on music after the wheat harvest. He often ran over to lift the iron pot cover, grabbed a handful of wheat and put it in front of his nose to smell it, and then watched them slide into the jar through his fingers. His face was full of happiness and satisfaction.

The best time to step on songs is in summer, usually around June 20 of the lunar calendar. At this time, the weather is fine and the temperature is high, which is most suitable for Daqu fermentation. Why not step on the bow and the dog? Because the temperature in the head is not high enough, the koji fermentation is slow, and the koji burning (let the high-temperature fermentation of koji be called "burning") is not fragrant, and the color and taste of the brewed wine are not good. People won't step on Daqu in dog days, because it is near beginning of autumn, during which it often rains heavily and the temperature fluctuates, which is not conducive to Daqu fermentation. If it is cloudy and cannot be dried in time, there will be a layer of green hair on it, and the song will be broken. In addition, the mouth color of "dog days" is not good, and the homonym of "three" and "acid" is a taboo in brewing. Therefore, it is generally believed that it is not good to step on songs in dog days, and it is easy to sour wine.

Pull the wheat one week in advance and prepare to step on the grass. Wash and dry the koji again, and then pull it into the mill for grinding. Sake koji wheat is usually ground three times. The first and second sides are white, very delicate and suitable for a family to eat, and the third side is black and rough, just like wheat bran. Usually, a plant called Daughter Red Root is used to boil water and make wheat flour. This is a perennial herb with odd pinnate compound leaves and oval leaves, which can often be found in grasslands, ditches, roadsides or forest edges on sunny slopes. Its rhizome is short and thick, branched and has fine fibrous roots, and the root surface is brownish red or dark brownish red. In the drugstore, it has a very poetic name called Danshen. Dig in the mountains when the weather is cool. You can dig a small bundle for half a day, go home and wash it and hang it under the eaves to dry. It will be available in a week. The color of the tap water boiled by the mother red root is deep red, and the yellow wine brewed by the tap water is slightly amber, with mellow taste, which has the effects of relaxing muscles and tendons, promoting blood circulation, relieving pain and removing blood stasis. Now some people specialize in planting this plant and then sell it to pharmacies, where they can buy it when necessary. Drugstores sell sliced medicine as well as fresh ones, and the root tubers are much richer than those dug from the mountains.

In addition to the daughter red root, each family will also match some other Chinese herbal medicines according to their own needs and hobbies. Generally speaking, the female Chigen is the monarch and the rest are the ministers. Such as: adding cogongrass rhizome, the wine tastes slightly bitter, which can clear away heat and toxic materials, stop bleeding and diminish inflammation; Adding Radix Angelicae Dahuricae and Radix Glycyrrhizae, the brewed wine tastes sweet and has the effects of relieving pain, promoting blood circulation, relieving asthma and relieving cough. Others will also add some herbs to dispel the wind. Every Daqu grass has different collocation, and the color and taste of the wine are different. At present, most families usually use three kinds of medicinal materials when cooking Qu Shui, namely Salvia miltiorrhiza, Angelica dahurica and Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch. The female red root can promote blood circulation, angelica dahurica can dispel wind and relieve pain, and licorice can promote harmony and taste sweet. Using them as a primer to step on songs, the wine brewed is mellow and sweet. Whenever you drink a bowl, you will immediately feel that Shu Tai is scalded, and Tao Tao is outside the cloud nine.

Boiling Qu Shui is usually done the day before stepping on Qu Shui, because Qu Shui must be cooled before it can be used. Stepping on more than 20 pieces of Qu requires about 100 Jin of Qu water. Put Zi Zi Chai down from the shelf of the cauldron. When the fire is raging and the soup is boiling, add water in the pot several times to continue boiling until the room is full. Open the lid, and the Qu water is dark red, which is regarded as fine. Generally, it takes three pots to cook, and it takes an afternoon.

Pedaling is a purely manual operation, which is the most tiring, time-consuming, energetic and monotonous. Usually two or three people need to cooperate, two people and wheat flour, and one person steps on the song. Then pour the wheat bran and wheat flour into a large basin according to the ratio of 2: 1, stir and knead while bending the water. The mixed wheat flour should not be too dry or too wet. It is most suitable to grab a handful in your hand and squeeze it into a ball, then throw it into a basin to disperse.

The trampling tool is a blank mold with a length of about 30 cm, a width of about 10 cm and a height of about 8 cm, and the shape is a rectangular wooden frame. When stepping on Qu, spread a large piece of plastic directly on the floor of the hall, spread a wooden board with a little attention (in the past, a door panel was directly removed to support it in the middle of the hall), put the mold, put a piece of plastic on the mold, flatten the plastic, then press it down along the four corners, and then spread a layer of fresh tung leaves or shaved leaves inside, and you can put the blended Qu wheat flour in. Add tung leaves. When filling, knead the dough into a ball. After the mold is full, press the four corners with your fist. After pressing the dough in the mold on the porcelain, fold the plastic inward so that people can step on it.

Treading is a technical activity. When stepping on it, you should first tamp the four corners with the heel, then squeeze both sides with the outer edges of the two soles of your feet, and finally flatten the middle protrusion with the soles of your feet. After stepping on one side, turn it over and step on the other side in the same way, then turn it over and flatten the front side, and one side is good. Lift one end of the mold, tap the other end gently on the ground, and then operate the other end in the same way. Soon, a square "curved brick" will gently slide down from the mold. Unpacking the plastic, the green tung leaves are wrapped in yellow and white curved bricks, with the fragrance of wheat and tung leaves.

Because the mold is only a little bigger than the foot, dancers move from one square inch to another, stand on tiptoe, lift their toes and rotate the soles of their feet ... stepping for half a day is equivalent to dancing ballet for half a day in a place about 0.03 square meters, which is not easy. If you don't concentrate a little, you will step over the mold and fall to the ground. Some people tie a rope to the shed and drag it when they step on the song, while others lean on a pestle in their hands. Although it looks funny, it can keep balance and ensure safety, and there is no danger of falling down again. It is even harder for people who eat wheat flour. He has to bend over and keep feeding, adding water, stirring, kneading and molding. After half a day, my back ached, I was sweating and my limbs were stiff. When stomping was thirsty and tired, I scooped up a cup of stomping water with a bucket and drank it with a thump. After a while, my energy returned.

When Song was trampled, it should be neatly packed in the warehouse. Below is a sack with a layer of Toona sinensis leaves and a quilt covered with plastic. Wrapped in layers, Qu quietly gave off heat quickly, fermented under the quilt, and finally spilled juice (commonly known as "sweating"), which lasted for three days. Three days later, the quilt was opened, and a thick, sticky and insoluble sauce filled the whole room and became a beam for three days. When Daqu is fermented, it can be "out of the nest". Carefully move them out and leave them in the sun for half a month. After fully absorbing the essence of the sun, you can tie them up with Chinese alpine rush rope and hang them in rows under the eaves or on the ceiling for later use.

The new wheat with summer breath, after grinding and fermentation, is finally touched by a wonderful hand and becomes a magical medium. When it meets the freshest rice in autumn in the season of cinnamon fragrance, it will surely brew an intoxicating story.