Vinegar diet for health

the invention of the vinegar 醋

For the Chinese people, there are seven daily necessitates namely, firewood, rice, cooking oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and tea. Among them, Vinegar is one of the most critical sauces for Chinese people. In their daily lives, vinegar is a daily necessity.

A famous winemaker named Du Kang, whose son invented Vinegar in the Zhou Dynasty (1046-256 BC). Du Kang’s known far and wide as the God of Wine. Du Kang was a native of Henan Province. He was already widely recognized at the time for his winemaking skills. Later on, he and his family moved to somewhere near present-day Zhenjiang City.

He had a son called Heita. Heita happened to find that after they made the wine, the wine lees were all wasted. To make better use of the lees, he put them into a vat and sealed for fermentation. On the night of the 20th day during the fermentation, he had a dream in which an old man enlightened him. He was instructed to open that vat between 5 and 7 p.m. the next day the 21st day, he got up and opened the vat. As soon as he removed the cover, a gust of sweet smell greeted him - it was from vinegar! The earliest vinegar in China comes from the fermentation of wine lees.

And then, Heita tried to give a name to his newly invented condiment. He created a new character by putting the character “酉you” on the left and putting the character “昔xi” which is itself comprised of characters of 21 days”二十一日.” The components forming the character “xi,” then the character “醋cu" (vinegar) came into being. So vinegar was invented as early as that time in China. By the way, the ancient Chinese created many Chinese characters use the same methods during their daily lives.

Sour condiment before vinegar

Just like the tea culture and liquor culture, vinegar culture here in China is also profound in its connotation. Vinegar and fermentation, that vinegar is a condiment made through fermentation and that it is a beverage wholesome to our health. There’s evolution about Chinese vinegar.

The sourness of vinegar is out of fermentation. But, before the birth of fermentation technology, ancients used to acquire sourness through a particular kind of ants. Ants produce a type of acid usually nests on branches beside rivers. They look just like those ordinary ones. The only difference is the small transparent ball filled with formic acid behind the thigh. Even today, the Jino nationality and the Dai nationality in Yunnan Province still inherit the tradition of eating acid ants. “Acid and wine” and “acid ant mixed vegetables” are their first-class food for treating distinguished guests.

Later on, the ancients used the Mingjia plant. Mingjia is a plant that tastes sour, so the ancientor used this plant as a condiment, used oxalic acid as a substitute for vinegar. All this happened in the earliest times.

And then, people used green plums. So plums were used. About plum, a legend circulated among the people for a long time, concerning Emperor Yao. Emperor Yao suffered from anorexia and lost all his appetite. All the ministers were at their wit's end. Now a man called Peng Zu came over and said that he'd prepared a thick soup called "Five-Flavor Soup" Its ingredients included soybean paste, meat paste, and plums. Having taken in the soup, Emperor Yao soon recovered miraculously. And after that, Emperor Yao considered that since the man was able to make such a right balance between the five flavors, he must be able to maintain good relations among all the tribes. And so in Pengcheng, Peng Zu was awarded fiefdom. It is known as“Being Conferred Because of the Soup 制羹受封” And in ancient China, chefs held a high social status. Apart from him, Yiyin from the Shang Dynasty used to be a chef and finally was appointed chancellor. The story about Peng Zu implied that back at that time, vinegar had not yet come into being and plums were used as its substitute. Use plums for sourness. Such tradition is still maintained here in China.

Chi Cu 吃醋 story

How did the best-known “chi cu” (feel jealous) story happen? For example, when a girl finds or knows that another girl is very nice to her boyfriend or husband, she would probably “chi cu”(feel jealous). This is a cultural and etymological derivative from the vinegar.

As for the phrase “chi cu,” the Chinese originally called it “he cu”(literally, drink vinegar). And the phrase “chi cu” can sometimes be confusing. This saying originated during the reign of Emperor Taizong of Tang. One of the emperor’s ministers was called Fang Xuanling(A.D.579-A.D.648) who made significant contributions to the empire. Shortly after the emperor ascended the throne, Fang Xuanling was appointed chancellor. And the emperor also proposed to create him King of Liang and grand him two concubines. Fang Xuanling replied that the title “King of Liang” was acceptable but the concubines were not because his wife would surely protest. It said the Fang Xuanling’s wife was a very staunch and unyielding woman. And the emperor said: “Really? Then summon her to have an audience with me.” So then he asked Fang to summon his wife. And the emperor prepared a pot of poisoned wine beforehand and asked her if she’d accept the two women as her husband’s concubines or would instead take in poisoned wine. Without any hesitation, Fang’s wife chose to drink the wine. It was after she drank it that she realized that it was not a cup of poisoned wine but vinegar. As she was so determined, the emperor had to give up and canceled his offer.

That's where the phrase originates. And the phrase is used to describe a woman who's jealous because of love.

Vinegar diet in ancient China

In the Zhou Dynasty vinegar used to be very precious

During the Zhou Dynasty, “xi ren”(vinegar makers ) were designated. So what does the character “xi” mean? They were hired in the palace to manage vinegar, the officials in charge of vinegar. In ancient times, vinegar used to be very precious. The standard of a banquet was often determined by the amount of vinegar used. They were responsible for controlling the amount used. So it was then that vinegar came into being.

In the Three Kingdoms Period Vinegar used for treating diseases

Vinegar had already been used in the general public back in the times of Confucius. As history progresses, it used for treating diseases. Hua Tuo (A.D.145-A.D.208) is a renowned physician during the Three Kingdom Period. Once, while he was walking, he suddenly found someone feels illness. The patient was lying on the ground due to bellyache. And then, he got off his cart and took a look. He told the patient to immediately go to a shop to buy a condiment made of vinegar added with mashed garlic. He instructed the patient to drink 3 liters of that. Shortly after that, the patient spat a worm from the mouth, and then he feels good.

So actually, the patient was suffering from biliary ascariasis. As vinegar functions to soothe roundworms, they stop making trouble as soon as encountered with vinegar. That’s how the vinegar cured the patient.

In the Song Dynasty vinegar was widely used

During the Song Dynasty came the notion about the seven necessities namely firewood, rice, cooking oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and tea”. That means nearly all the households used the vinegar widely.

In Yongchun County during the Songting Dynasty, there’s a man surnamed Zhuang. He became a successful candidate for the highest imperial examination. And then, he has appointed a post in the royal college, being a mentor of the crown prince. There came a day when the crown prince got mumps. So Zhuang used some vinegar from Yongchun County and prepared it for medicine and applied the paste to the crown prince’s cheeks. The crown prince soon recovered. So even as early as during the Song Dynasty, people have already realized that vinegar is a cure for mumps.

In the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties

During the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, there’s a remarkable scholar in Shanxi Province, whose name is Fu Shan. And this man, Fu Shan, was well acquainted with a merchant surnamed Wang who was the inventor of mature vinegar. The merchant had to be on the go every day, ride a horse and transporting and delivering vinegar. And he somehow got cold and fell victim to arthritis. He went to Fu Shan for help, asking him for treatment. So Fu Shan took some vinegar sludge and steamed it and applied the paste onto the patient’s joints. This treatment yielded an excellent effect.

Vinegar diet for health - helps to stimulate the appetite

There are two old prescriptions, which are indeed very old. One is the classical prescription from Dunhuang, and the other found in the silk manuscript named the Fifty-two Ailments. Anciently used vinegar as an ingredient in many medicines. So the vinegar is quite significant, for it helps to stimulate the appetite and also functions as a means for sterilization.

In ancient China, there’s an exciting story about the empress-regent in the Tang Dynasty Wu Zetian(A.D.624-A.D.705). Wu Zetian made Luoyang the capital of her empire. One day, she felt sick and lost her appetite. Besides, her belly was swollen and discomforting. Treatments by the imperial physicians all proved to be ineffective. Wu Zetian became discontented and had one of the physicians beheaded. And then a Taoist priest presented to her vinegar made from millet from Luoyang. Several days after taking the vinegar, she recovered. Vinegar made from millet is beneficial in enhancing digestion and stimulating appetite. And after her recovery, she draws lessons from it, and she had one pot of millet vinegar as condiment every time she had a meal.

How does vinegar stimulate appetite?

Science research shows that the reason why vinegar promotes appetite is that it contains some critical volatile matters and amino acids. After drink down, its amino acid can directly stimulate the nerve center of man’s brain, which in return gives instructions immediately to digestive organs to secrete a lot of digestive juice. Digestive juice is conducive to the digestion and absorption of food and can also increase the appetite, which modern scientists have proved in the experiments.

Scientists in modern times conducted an experiment. They arranged three dogs and given each dog the same amount of water, lemon juice, and vinegar. The results showed that the dog perfused with vinegar secretes the largest amount of gastric juice. Since the gastric juice promotes digestion, it naturally shows that vinegar works up an appetite. This is an experiment that convincingly indicates the result that vinegar functions to eliminate indigestion. And our ancestors had already realized that vinegar helps to digest, they made remarks in the “Compendium of Materia Medica.”

Furtherly in modern times, experiments in a scientific approach have also confirmed its function to stimulate the secretion of gastric juice.

Vinegar diet for health - sterilize

In Chinese history, many medical books recorded foods including vinegar that promote health. Ancestors documented the effectiveness of vinegar in “Compendium of Materia Medica,” that vinegar functions to eliminate abscesses, dispel dampness, detoxify the body, enhance the efficacy of medicines and also sterilize. And the vinegar contains a large number of organic acids, all varieties of organic compounds as well as biologically active substances.

The vinegar is useful in sterilizing more than 8 kinds of bacteria, including staphylococcus and pathogenic Escherichia coli. And also we discovered that the flu virus is sensitive to PH value, the flu virus lives at approximately PH 7.2, while the PH-value of vinegar, is between 5 and 6. If it is diluted and used for fumigation, it can destruct the environment suitable for the survival of viruses entirely. Plainly it shows vinegar functions to sterilize.

It said, in a mature vinegar factory, no worker among the recent three generations has ever got cancer. Besides, the morbidity of heart attack is very low. It is also the case with their families.

Vinegar and Black Death

In AD 1348，the rare Black Death broke out. According to incomplete statistics, this widespread plague caused a death toll of about 75 million. Among them, 1/3 of the Europeans died of others. Some scholars pointed out that the harm of the then Black Death was even comparable to that of the modern nuclear weapon. This plague also declared the end of the Middle Ages. Based on the study of relevant records of Black Death, scientists and historians believed that the source of this human disaster was right the plague. It was right the Yersinia pestis, a germ parasite on fleas made people sick through the distribution of animals like black rats.

While in Marseilles, a gang of burglars repeatedly succeeded in stealing wherever they went even though Black Death was plaguing the region. But they were just immune to the deadly disease. What’s more, they made use of sewers as the passage of their burglary. And those sewers were infested with mice. At last, the police caught the burglars, and then interrogated and asked why they were immune to the disease despite their contact with mice. They confessed that they drank vinegar every day and added some herbs to the vinegar. Besides, every night, they’d sniff vinegar vapor for an hour before they went down into the sewers.

This story reflects how effective vinegar is in sterilizing.

Vinegar diet for health - antioxidant

It said that one of Cleopatra's knacks for her beauty is that she often takes in vinegar-soaked pearls. Vinegar in itself possesses a high capacity of antioxidation. Vinegar is an explanation for Cleopatra's beauty.

As for Imperial Consort Yang (A.D.719-A.D.756), she didn't take in vinegar, but she loved the lychee. Back in the Tang Dynasty, the emperor ordered his subordinates to transport lychee from south China to Xi'an, the capital, by relaying from one courier station to another. And after litchis were delivered, fresh ones were eaten straightly while those less new. Those whose color had slightly changed were immersed in water by maids in iced water. And then they were fermented into the specific sour beverage. Legend has it that litchi beverage partly explains Imperial Consort Yang's beauty.

Vinegar diet for health - relieving fatigue

If you feel fatigued and if we are tired from a long walk, we can just use some vinegar for a foot bath, and that relieves fatigue. Food bath using vinegar functions to stimulate blood circulation and reduce fatigue. While you have such a food bath, we need to mind the depth of water. The water containing vinegar is supposed to reach your Zusanli Acupoint. It’s entirely a high water level. People feel tired after having exercise because of lactate accumulate in the muscles. So lactate makes you feel tired. Vinegar, however, promotes the metabolism of lactate and decompose lactate into water and carbon dioxide. With the reduction of lactate, the body feels less tired. 

Vinegar for health - heal burns

A vice-director was celebrating his birthday. So a banquet was held in his house. As quite a lot of guests were attending it, much vinegar was supposed to be used. So a large pot of vinegar was placed in the kitchen. The son of the lord was naughty. He played around everywhere and somehow dropped into the furnace and got his cotton-padded trousers burnt. The pants were on fire. The maid was anxious. She grabbed the boy over but found nowhere for placement. So she just put the boy into the vinegar basin. Unexpectedly, the burns soon were cured. Thus if you are burned or scalded, you are suggested to soak the wound into vinegar spat that you can quickly recover.

Vinegar diet for health - prevention hypertension

Besides, since ancient times, vinegar has been used to treat a variety of illnesses.

An old man used to receive a bypass surgery. And his blood pressure is abnormal, taking in pills for years. And then a veteran TCM (traditional Chinese medicine) practitioner made a phone call to him and told him to eat vinegar eggs as a therapy. He followed the instruction, and the food therapy went on for a month. And now he doesn’t have to take in antihypertensive drugs.

Vinegar eggs used to be famous across the world. Usually, we use vinegar with 9% alcohol content. Wash eggs clean and put them in the vinegar. Make sure the eggs thoroughly cleaned without moisture. And then, soak the raw eggs in the vinegar.

And after that, on the surface of the eggs are a lot of bubbles which shows that calcium carbonate. So after 48 hours, the shells can be easily torn by a pair of chopsticks. The shells become as tenacious as cow leather. The shells are torn, and you agitate the content. That’s what happens 48 hours later. And after agitation, they need to be soaked for another 24 hours. So the fluid inside has become pulp. Yes, though the membrane is still there. But the content has become a paste. And the membrane has not disappeared. After they are soaked for 72 hours, the material is quite even. You eat a spoonful of such vinegar egg every morning. You add some honey into it and pour it into a bowl, and also add some warm water before you take it. Just take it on an empty stomach. So it helps to bring down high blood pressure.

Vinegar play roles in Chinese cuisines

The earliest condiment for cuisines is salt. And after that, soybean paste was invented. And it was not until during the Zhou Dynasty that “xi” came into being in some royal banquets. And the character “xi” means vinegar. So the invention of vinegar plays an important role in improving and promoting the quality and flavor of Chinese foods and the Chinese culinary culture as well. That’s why Chinese chefs knew that “Vinegar holds a primary status among all the condiments, while salt is the chief condiment for stewing, deep-frying, and quick frying.”