Guo Fu Aijie Sweet Rice Wine in Small Clay Bowls

　　Sweet rice wine in small clay bowls is made by mixing steamed glutinous rice with crushed wine yeast balls and then putting the mixture into small clay bowls for fermentation.

　　When the weather is sizzling and people are vulnerable to get heatstroke, a bowl of appetizing sweet rice wine can be a soothing choice. The wine is very low in alcohol content and tastes sweet and mellow. It is believed to be able to relieve summer heat.

　　The making techniques of Guo Fu Aijie Sweet Rice Wine in Small Clay Bowls (Aijie is an honorific term commonly used in Changsha dialect to refer to an elderly woman.)

　　Step 1 : Make wine yeast balls

　　1. Pick Chinese herbs.

　　2. Mix Chinese herbs with early rice flour.

　　3. Sprinkle with aged wine yeast powder.

　　4. Wine yeast balls after fermentation process.

　　Step 2: Make sweet wine

　　1. Wash the glutinous rice thoroughly and soak it in local ground water until it becomes soft enough to be easily crushed by hand.

　　2. Put the soaked glutinous rice into a wooden rice steamer and steam it.

　　3. Cool the steamed glutinous rice with cooled boiled water.

　　4. Break up the cooled glutinous rice into smaller pieces and evenly mix them with crushed wine yeast balls.

　　5. Put the mixture into clay bowls.

　　6. Place the bowls in a wooden box and keep them warm and fermented until wine appears in the middle of the bowls.

　　Chinese source: Changsha Intangible Cultural Heritage Exhibition Hall

　　Photo source: Wangcheng District Cultural Center