Fruit and Infused Wines

Steeping fruit, roots and herbs in strong spirit is a household practice found across China, kept in the kitchen as a seasonal store rather than made in a distillery or brewery. The base is most often a grain spirit of the baijiu family, and the practice sits alongside the older tradition of drinking huangjiu warmed with additions such as dried fruit or ginger. Families carry it from one generation to the next, and the jar on the shelf is understood as a domestic preparation, offered to guests and taken at the table on particular occasions.

The fruit wine of the home is made by layering whole fruit with rock sugar in a wide-mouthed glass jar and covering it with baijiu until the fruit is submerged. Plum (Prunus mume, the green mume), bayberry (Morella rubra), lychee (Litchi chinensis) and goji berries (Lycium barbarum) are the usual fruits. The infused wines of the Chinese dietary tradition use the same method with roots, seeds and dried herbs, and are counted by that tradition as warming or fortifying. The jar is sealed and left in a cool, dark place for months, the liquid taking colour and perfume from its contents and softening as the sugar dissolves.

Fruit wines are drunk in small cups, either at the end of a meal or beside rich, braised or fried dishes, where their sweetness and acidity cut through fat. The infused medicinal wines are taken in small measures at seasonal moments, which Chinese dietary tradition counts as warming, particularly in cold weather. The structural reason is balance: sugar and fruit acid soften the harshness of the strong spirit, and the spirit holds the fruit in a stable, concentrated form.