The origin of brewing:
In China, grain-brewed wine has always been in a dominant position, while the share of fruit wine is very small. Therefore, the origin of brewing is mainly to explore the origin of grain brewing.
The legend of the origin of brewing
In ancient times, the origin of wine-making was often attributed to the invention of someone, who was described as the ancestor of wine-making and became an orthodox view because of their great influence. For these views, Song & gt once questioned the quality, saying that "none of them are enough for textual research, but they are redundant." Although this is not enough to verify, as a cultural identity phenomenon, it may be listed below. There are mainly the following legends.
1, brewing in one place
According to legend, during the Xia and Yu Dynasties, Yidi invented wine making. The history book of the 2nd century BC> As the saying goes, "One brother makes wine". & gt further explained: "In the past, the emperor's daughter ordered Yidi to make wine beautiful, and she was willing to drink it:' There will be a country that drinks in the future. "Therefore, I neglected etiquette and morality, but I never wanted to drink" (Emperor in Xia Nai).
2. Brewing in Du Kang
Another legend holds that wine-making started in Du Kang (also from Xia Dynasty). Eastern Han Dynasty < < Explain Chinese Characters > > Interpretation: Among the entries of the word "wine", there is: "Du Kang makes wine." & lt& ltShiben >> also said the same thing.
Wine-making began in the period of the Yellow Emperor.
Another legend shows that people began to make wine in the era of the Yellow Emperor. & gt recorded the scene of Huangdi and Qibo discussing wine making. & gt also mentioned an ancient wine-fermented cheese, which is sweet wine made from animal milk. The Yellow Emperor is the ancestor of the Chinese nation, and many inventions appeared in the period of the Yellow Emperor. & lt& lt Huangdi Neijing; This book is actually the work of the Yellow Emperor by later generations, and its credibility needs to be tested.
4 wine and heaven and earth at the same time
A more mythical saying is that "there is a wine star in the sky, and wine is also made, which is in harmony with heaven and earth."
Although these legends are different, they generally show that wine-making existed as early as the Xia Dynasty or earlier, which is credible and has been confirmed by archaeologists. The Xia Dynasty was about four years ago. At present, wine-making utensils from many years ago have been unearthed. & lt& lt>8 August 23rd, 1987, "The oldest writing in China was discovered in Juxian County, Shandong Province", with the subtitle "Brewing utensils discovered at the same time five years ago"). This discovery shows that wine-making in China began at least five years ago, and the origin of wine-making was of course before this. In ancient times, people may first come into contact with some naturally fermented wines and then imitate them. This process may take a long time.
Second, modern scholars' views on the origin of brewing
1 wine is a natural product.
Recently, scientists discovered that in the long universe, some celestial bodies are made of alcohol. The alcohol contained in it, if made into beer, can be used by human beings for hundreds of millions of years. What does this mean? It can just be used to show that wine is a natural product of nature. Man didn't invent wine, he just discovered it. The main component of wine is alcohol (scientific name is ethanol, molecular formula is C2H5OH), and many substances can be converted into alcohol in many ways. For example, glucose can be converted into alcohol under the action of enzymes secreted by microorganisms; As long as certain conditions are met, some substances can be converted into alcohol. Nature is fully equipped to produce these works.
Jiang Tong of the Jin Dynasty in China was>, which said: "The prosperity of wine originated from the emperor, or the clouds of Yidi and Dukang." When the food is endless, the mulberry leaves are empty, making it taste fragrant and fragrant for a long time. That's the truth, and it's not a miracle. "Here, the ancients put forward the view that leftovers are naturally fermented into wine, which is in line with scientific truth and actual situation. Jiang Tong was the first person to put forward the theory of grain natural fermentation in Chinese history. In a word, people began to brew cereal wine, not for invention, but for discovery. Mr. Fang described this in detail: "Before and after the emergence of agriculture, the methods of storing food were extensive. Natural grains will be moldy and germinate when they are wet, and the remaining cooked grains will also be moldy. These moldy and germinated grains are natural tillers in ancient times. After they are soaked in water, they will ferment into wine, which is natural wine. People have been in constant contact with natural tillers and natural wine, and gradually accepted the drinking of natural wine, so they invented artificial tillers and artificial wine, and over time, they invented artificial tillers and artificial wine. "Modern science explains this problem in this way: under the action of enzymes secreted by microorganisms existing in nature, the starch in the leftovers is gradually decomposed into sugar and alcohol, which naturally becomes wine with rich aroma. In ancient people's food, the collected wild fruits have high sugar content and are easy to ferment into wine without liquefaction and saccharification. ?
Fruit wine and milk wine-the first generation of beverage wine
Man's conscious winemaking begins with imitating the masterpieces of nature. There are many records about the natural fermentation of fruit into wine in China ancient books. For example, in the Song Dynasty, Zhou Mi was> According to records, Yamanashi was stored in a clay pot and turned into pear wine. In the preface of Yuan Haowen & gt in Yuan Dynasty, it is also recorded that a peach piled up in a jar by a mountain man turned into a fragrant wine because of his refuge in the mountains. There is also a so-called "ape wine" in ancient records. Of course, this ape wine is not consciously brewed by apes, but naturally fermented fruit wine collected by apes.
As early as the Paleolithic, people lived by gathering and hunting, and fruit was naturally one of the staple foods. Fruit contains more sugar (such as glucose, fructose) and other ingredients. Under the action of microorganisms in nature, it is easy to naturally ferment into a fragrant and delicious fruit wine. In addition, the milk of animals contains protein and lactose, which can be easily fermented into wine. Ancestors who lived by hunting may also get milk wine from the retained milk by accident. In << Huangdi Neijing >; There is a kind of "fermented cheese" in Chinese, which is the earliest record of milk wine in China. According to ancient legends and brewing principles, the most primitive wine varieties consciously brewed by human beings should be fruit wine and milk wine. Because fruit and animal milk are easy to ferment into wine, the required brewing process is relatively simple.
3. Did grain wine-making start in farming time or before farming time?
To explore the origin of grain brewing, there are two questions worth thinking about: when did grain brewing originate? What is the oldest cereal wine in China? The latter question is introduced in the beer part of Chapter 5.
There are two diametrically opposed views on when grain brewing began.
The traditional view on the origin of wine-making is that wine-making developed after farming, which was put forward as early as Liu An years in Han Dynasty. There is a saying in China that "the beauty of purity begins with thunder". Many modern scholars hold the same view, and some even think that wine-making began when agriculture developed to a certain extent and there was surplus grain.
Another view is that grain brewing preceded the farming era. For example 1937, an archaeologist in China, Mr. Wu Qichang, once put forward a very interesting point: "Our ancestors first planted rice and millet for brewing, not cooking ... eating really came from drinking." This view is very popular abroad, but there has been no evidence. Half a century later, Dr. Solomon Katz, an anthropologist at the University of Pennsylvania, published a paper and put forward a similar view. He believes that people originally planted grain for the purpose of brewing beer. People first discovered that the collected grain could be used to make wine, and then began to consciously plant grain to ensure the supply of raw materials for wine making. The basis of this view is that in ancient times, the staple food of human beings was meat, not grain, that is to say, the staple food on which human beings lived was not grain, so the explanation of human grain cultivation may also open up a new road. It is found abroad that people in ancient times began to brew cereal wine as early as 10 thousand years ago, when people were still living a nomadic life.
The chemical composition of liquor is ethanol, which generally contains a small amount of fusel alcohols and esters. The concentration of edible liquor is generally below 60 degrees (that is, 60%) (a few are above 60 degrees). After fractionation, liquor is purified to be more than 75% medical alcohol and more than 99.5% anhydrous alcohol. Wine is made from fermented grains. China was the first country to make wine. Brewing technology was invented as early as 2000, and it has been continuously improved. At present, it has developed to produce beverages and alcoholic beverages with various concentrations and tastes, and extracted medical alcohol with a concentration of over 95% and anhydrous alcohol with a concentration of 99.99% for industrial, medical and scientific experiments. Due to the prevalence of alcohol, the crime rate has risen sharply. Drinking makes people easily paralyzed, unconscious and irrational.