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Fermentation Atlas

Alcoholic drinks from Hakka areas of Fujian, Guangdong

Hakka niangjiu (Hakka huangjiu)客家娘酒

Hakka niangjiu is a glutinous-rice wine brewed in Hakka homes and workshops of southern China. Steamed rice is fermented with a rice-flour starter (jiuyao or jiuqu), often with red yeast rice and wheat qu, then left to mature for weeks; some makers add distilled rice spirit. It is cooked into dishes for women recovering after childbirth. Made in 6 steps over 28 days – 50 days. The longest step, add rice spirit and mature, takes 23–42 days (Cheng L. et al. 2026) and runs at 19–21 °C (Cheng L. et al. 2026). Rhizopus and Saccharomyces and Saccharomycopsis, Pediococcus, Weissella and Limosilactobacillus do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step23–42 daysMeasured[cheng2026][zheng2020]Add rice spirit and mature
Temperature19–21 °CMeasured[cheng2026]Add rice spirit and mature

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceA Guangdong Hakka huangjiu brewed to the traditional method in a 2020 study, using the mixed starter that scored best in tasting. A Meizhou recipe instead uses 1000 g rice, 10 g jiuqu and 300 g rice spirit of about 50 % vol (Cheng et al. 2026).
200 gGlutinous rice[zheng2020]
10 gHongqu (red yeast rice)[zheng2020]
10 gWheat qu (maiqu)[zheng2020]
5 gJiuyao (rice-flour wine starter)[zheng2020]
Starterkoji/qu/mold-starter (jiuyao or jiuqu, often with hongqu and wheat qu)

Total time across the recorded steps: 28 days – 50 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
Close-up: water moving into a piece20–25 °C

What changes: The glutinous rice soaks in water for a day

Step 1 of 6
Soak the glutinous rice
Time
24 h
Reported
Temperature
20–25 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Rhizopus
Saccharomyces dominant
Pediococcus
Weissella
Moulds

Output: soaked rice.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

What makes this one different

Shaoxing wine is brewed with wheat qu and a yeast mother and fermented dry. Hakka niangjiu is started with a rice-flour starter, often with red yeast rice, stays very sweet, and in some recipes is fortified with rice spirit during maturation.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Hongqu-only Hakka wineBrewed with red yeast rice alone; in the 2020 study it had 27.72 g/L total organic acid at day 30, against 22.67 g/L for the mixed starter.
  • Jiuyao and wheat qu, no hongquThe most acid of the three, 33.83 g/L total organic acid at day 30, with a paler colour.

Safety

Heating the pressed wine to 90 °C for 20 minutes kills yeast and bacteria before it is jarred. The fortified Meizhou wine measured 20.7 % vol alcohol after maturing.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

Hakka huangjiu serves as a food for postnatal recovery and as a cooking wine in parts of Guangdong. Chinese Wikipedia lists 客家娘酒 (also called 宁化酒酿) among Chinese rice wines by name only.

  1. [zheng2020] Zheng M., Hong Z., Zhao W., Qian M., Ling H., Bai W. 2020, 红曲改善客家黄酒的品质 (Quality improvement of Hakka rice wine by adding Monascus), Modern Food Science and Technology 36(2):78–84paper
  2. [cheng2026] Cheng L. et al. 2026, Microbial communities, volatile flavor profiles and metabolomic characteristics during traditional Hakka huangjiu fermentation, Foods 15(6):999paper
  3. [wang2024] Wang J. et al. 2024, Effect of microbial communities on flavor profile of Hakka rice wine throughout production, Food Chemistry X 21:101121 (abstract)paper
  4. [zhwp-huangjiu] Wikipedia (zh), 黄酒 (outline only)wiki