Research
How Chinese brewers refined their booze 5,000 years ago
Phys.org ·
The Brief
- Microscopic residues on ancient pottery in eastern China suggest brewers more than 5,000 years ago used red mold to make rice alcohol.
- The same evidence indicates the drink was strained through cloth to separate the liquid.
- The source reports the findings as appearing to show these methods, based on pottery residue analysis.
Why it matters
The findings add concrete evidence about early fermentation and filtering techniques in prehistoric China, relevant to archaeologists studying ancient food processing and residue analysis.
Who’s affected
- archaeologists and researchers studying ancient food and fermentation
- readers interested in the history of brewing
- #archaeology
- #ancient china
- #fermentation
- #pottery residue
- #brewing history
More than 5,000 years ago, brewers in eastern China appear to have used red mold to make rice alcohol, then strained the drink through cloth. Microscopic residues on ancient pottery show evidence of both the fermentation method and the filtering process to separate the liquid…
Timeline
Science News reports the research on ancient Chinese brewing with red mold and cloth filtering
Science News - Mathematics, Economics, Archaeology, Fossils
How Chinese brewers refined their booze 5,000 years ago