In primitive society, due to improper preservation, grain will be moldy or germinated after being wetted, and moldy or germinated grain can be fermented into wine. Therefore, these moldy or germinated grains are the most primitive koji and raw materials for fermentation.
Perhaps for a period of time, moldy grains and germinated grains were indistinguishable, but there was a strict difference between flexion and tillering at least in Shang Dynasty. Because germinated grain and moldy grain have different appearance and functions, people can easily make them in different ways, so in ancient times, there were two things that could be used to make wine. Moldy grain is called qu, and germinated grain is called tiller.
Judging from the technique of making music, China's most primitive musical form should be Sanqu, not Qupai.
Sanqu, that is, the loose state of distiller's yeast, is made of ground or crushed grains, and microorganisms (mainly molds) grow on it at a certain temperature, air humidity and water content. Sanqu has been used for thousands of years in the history of making music in China. For example, ancient Huangziqu and Miqu (especially red koji).
Block music, as its name implies, is a music with a certain shape. Its preparation method is to add a proper amount of water to raw materials (such as flour), knead them evenly, put them into a mold, compact them to fix their shapes, and then cultivate microorganisms at a certain temperature, moisture and humidity.
There are several words written in the book of the Eastern Han Dynasty, all of which are annotated as "cake songs". The book of the Eastern Han Dynasty also records the method of making a song, which shows that the formed song is very common in the Eastern Han Dynasty.
In the Northern Wei Dynasty, China's starter-making and tillering techniques, represented by >, and China's starter-making reached a relatively mature position in variety and technology. Mainly reflected in the following aspects: (1) established the dominant position of block music (including southern rice music); The variety of koji increased; The saccharification and fermentation ability of Daqu was greatly improved. China's koji manufacturing technology began to spread to neighboring countries.
Further development of wheat koji production technology
(1) Chinese herbal medicines are widely used.
In the Northern Wei Dynasty, although some Chinese herbal medicines were also used, there were few kinds and most of them were natural plants. In the Song Dynasty, great changes had taken place in koji. Almost every kind of more than a dozen distillers' yeast in Song Dynasty has different quantities of Chinese herbal medicines, many of which have sixteen flavors, and at least some of them pay special attention to the aromaticity of the drugs used. The types of drugs are:
Radix Cynanchi Paniculati, Semen Armeniacae Amarum, Rhizoma Atractylodis Macrocephalae, Rhizoma Chuanxiong, Rhizoma Typhonii, Radix Aucklandiae, Cortex Cinnamomi, Radix Saposhnikoviae, Rhizoma Arisaematis, Areca catechu, Flos Caryophylli, Ginseng Radix, Pepper, Osmanthus fragrans, Nutmeg, Ginger, Radix Aconiti, Glycyrrhrizae Radix, Rehmanniae Radix, Xanthium sibiricum, Folium Mori, Poria, Semen Phaseoli, Mung Bean, Polygonum hydropiper
Medication: one method is decocting, which mixes the raw materials of koji-making with the medicinal juice, and the other is powder method, which grinds various drugs into powder and adds them to the raw materials of koji-making. The purpose of using medicine in Qu, Press >: The use of fragrant medicine in music is probably just the divergence of spices. In the Ming Dynasty, a large number of Chinese patent medicines were added to distiller's yeast, and according to the compatibility principle of traditional Chinese medicines, the medicines were divided into monarch, minister, assistant and envoy, which was another matter. The original intention of using Chinese herbal medicine in distiller's yeast is to enhance the aroma of wine, but objectively some Chinese herbal medicine components have a subtle influence on the reproduction of microorganisms in distiller's yeast.
(2) Improvement of the stacking method of curved blocks.
During the Northern Wei Dynasty, distiller's yeast was generally arranged in a single layer on the ground, and the utilization rate of distiller's yeast room was low. Moreover, objectively, because the number of koji in the same space is small, the heat emitted is small, and the culture temperature of koji is not very high, so in general, the interval between shifts is seven days. According to the modern point of view, it should belong to moderate temperature qu.
Written in the Late Tang Dynasty >: It is the first time to mention an improved overlapping method, which may be called zigzag overlapping method, that is, the vertical bending is like a sub-eye in the original book. Obviously, by using this method, the number of bending blocks stacked in the same space is obviously increased. In the same space, with the increase of the number of koji, the heat and moisture will increase greatly, which will accelerate the rise of temperature and humidity in the closed space, and the ecological environment of microorganisms in koji will also change, thus affecting the species and quantity of microorganisms. In principle, it is speculated that the formation of high temperature curve has met the conditions. High temperature koji will have a significant impact on the flavor of wine.
Since the Song Dynasty, there have been more and more kinds of Qupai songs, including hanging songs and straw bag songs. These songs are still used in some famous wineries. Since modern times, mechanized koji-making has also begun. The essence of traditional koji-making technology was retained and pure koji-making was developed. A large number of microorganisms were isolated from koji, and excellent microorganisms were inoculated into the culture medium after screening, which further reduced the dosage of koji and improved the quality of liquor.
The production technology of four ditties
In addition to wheat qu in the north, there were a large number of rice qu in the south of Jin Dynasty at the latest. This paper records the grass songs in the south, that is, rice songs, which is the earliest record of rice songs in the south.
Xiaoqu is generally unique to the south. Since it first appeared in the literature in the Jin Dynasty, it has had many names. Song >: There are four situations. Its preparation method is similar: using glutinous rice or japonica rice as raw materials, first soak the leaves of Polygonum cuspidatum or snake twist, or juice. Mix juice and rice flour and knead into dough.
Since the Yuan Dynasty, distilled shochu has become popular, and a large part of wheat koji has been used to brew shochu. Therefore, a kind of Daqu was differentiated from the traditional Maiqu. Although the raw materials used are basically the same as those used in yellow rice wine koji, there are certain characteristics in the production method. In modern times, Daqu and Maiqu used in yellow rice wine have become two different types of koji. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Henan and Huai 'an became the main production bases of Daqu in China.