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Sauces and condiments from Shuangfeng County, Loudi, Hunan, China

Yongfeng chili sauce (永丰辣酱)永丰辣酱

Yongfeng chili sauce is a Hunanese fermented paste of local red lantern chillies with a mould-grown base of wheat, soybean and glutinous rice. Aspergillus moulds first grow on the cooked grain base, which is then mixed with crushed chilli and salt and left in open containers in the summer sun. Yeasts and lactic bacteria then ripen it.

Fully documentedSauces and condiments40 days

Recipe

Yongfeng chili sauce (永丰辣酱), a photo from Wikimedia Commons
Photo: Elena0100, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Amounts from a sourcePercentages of the whole mix, from the quality and technical requirements of the 2007 national geographical-indication announcement (AQSIQ Announcement No. 182); household recipes vary.
Fresh red Yongfeng chilli (lantern and horn types)50 %[gi2007]
Wheat flour7 %[gi2007]
Glutinous rice flour3.5 %[gi2007]
Soybean powder2.5 %[gi2007]
Water25 %[gi2007]
Salt9 %[gi2007]
Starterspontaneous koji (moulds grow on the cooked wheat base, 麦酱, by natural fermentation)

Total time across the recorded steps: 40 days

Start
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What changes: Wheat, glutinous rice and soybean flours are boiled

Step 1 of 4
Boil the grain and bean flours
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Aspergillus oryzae
Zygosaccharomyces rouxii
Tetragenococcus

Output: cooked wheat, glutinous rice and soybean base.

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

At a glance

Yongfeng chili sauce is a Hunanese fermented paste of local red lantern chillies with a mould-grown base of wheat, soybean and glutinous rice. Aspergillus moulds first grow on the cooked grain base, which is then mixed with crushed chilli and salt and left in open containers in the summer sun. Yeasts and lactic bacteria then ripen it. Made in 4 steps over 40 days. The longest step, ferment in the summer sun (伏天晒酱), takes 40 days (English Wikipedia). Salt is 9 % (AQSIQ (General Administration of Quality Supe…). Aspergillus oryzae, A. sojae and A. niger and Zygosaccharomyces rouxii do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step40 daysReported[wp]Ferment in the summer sun (伏天晒酱)
Salt9 %Set[gi2007]Mix with crushed chilli and salt

What makes this one different

Unlike chilli mashes made from chilli and salt alone, Yongfeng sauce has a mould-grown base of wheat, glutinous rice and soybean, so it ferments like a jiang. It is ripened in open containers in the full summer sun rather than sealed.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Industrial Yongfeng sauceMade to the GI recipe of 50 % chilli and 9 % salt; workshops judge cooking, fermentation and drying by experience.

Safety

The GI text limits the finished sauce to at most 2 % total acid (as lactic acid) and at most 55 % moisture (as drained matter), and gives salt as "≤10-12" % NaCl.

History and sources

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

Made in Yongfeng since the Ming dynasty, for more than 300 years. The China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network says Zeng Guofan presented it to the Xianfeng Emperor, after which it became a court tribute product. It is one of Hunan's "three treasures", a Hunan provincial intangible cultural heritage item and a national geographical indication product (approved by AQSIQ Announcement No. 182 of 2007).

  1. [s1] Su Donglin, Zhang Zhonggang, Chen Liang, Tan Huan, Zhou Xiangrong 2009, Dominant microbes and dynamic analysis of chemical components during spontaneous fermentation of Yongfeng hot pepper sauce (永丰辣酱自然发酵过程中主要优势菌及化学成分的动态变化分析), Food Science (食品科学) 30(17):212–216 (abstract read)paper
  2. [s2] China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network, 永丰辣酱制作技艺 (Yongfeng chili sauce making technique), from Hunan Public Culture and Tourism Cloud, 26 May 2020; names the steps (select, mix, ferment, dry the base, sun the sauce, pack) and the saying 伏天晒酱 ("sun the sauce in the dog days")web
  3. [gi2007] AQSIQ (General Administration of Quality Supervision) Announcement No. 182 of 2007, 关于批准对永丰辣酱 实施地理标志产品保护的公告 (quality and technical requirements; text as republished on foodtest.cn)spec
  4. [s4] Yin H., Chen M., Li P., Wang R., Xie S., Jiang L., Liu Y. 2022, Study on the potential contribution of bacterial community on the volatile flavour of Yongfeng chilli paste, International Journal of Food Science and Technology, doi:10.1111/ijfs.15906 (abstract read)paper
  5. [wp] English Wikipedia, Yongfeng chili sauce (outline; used for the sun-drying time and the open containers)wiki