Reborn in a small mountain village in 1991

Chapter 108 Brewing Orange Wine

Two days after Xu Chunsheng stored the sweet potato vines away, it was the time of Frost's Descent.

At this time, the local red mandarins that have been touched by frost are undoubtedly the perfect choice for making mandarin orange wine.

"Are so many tangerines enough?"

Mr. Xu put down a basket of tangerines, sat on a stool, and watched Xu Chunsheng select the best tangerines: "I've picked almost all of your uncle's tangerines. If it's not enough, I'll go to the village and find other people to buy some."

Xu Chunsheng tossed the selected fruit into the basin, nodded, and said, "That's enough, Dad. You should rest for a bit. Let's practice with these first. If it works, we can go and harvest more. The fruit won't rot on the tree. If we harvest too much, it will rot more easily if we leave it at home."

When the distillery was embroiled in controversy last time, Xu Chunsheng realized that his family could not rely solely on brewing baijiu to open up the liquor market; they also needed other specialty liquors to truly establish themselves.

So, from that time on, Xu Chunsheng began to think about brewing fruit wine.

As for the "Beverage Processing Manual" at home, he's practically worn it out from reading it so many times.

It is said that oranges are the easiest fruit to obtain at this time of year, making them the perfect choice for winemaking.

Sure enough, after the first frost, Xu Chunsheng led his family to pick all the fruit from their trees.

Uncle Xu heard that they were going to make orange wine, so he asked them to pick all the fruit from their own trees.

This made Xu Chunsheng very happy, and he also picked some fruit from his uncle's house.

These days, every household plants a few tangerines, right by the field ridges and roadsides. It doesn't really affect the crops in the fields. Even if it's just two families' tangerines, the number they collect is quite considerable.

That day, following Xu Chunsheng's instructions, Xu's mother took a packet of salt and kept pouring it into the water, stirring it with chopsticks as she poured.

As she did this, she asked Xu Chunsheng, "Erwa, why did you decide to brew orange wine?"

After the first frost, the tangerines were fully ripe. Xu Chunsheng selected the tangerines to be used for winemaking. He put the tangerines that had not been bumped, had no mold, and were not soft or rotten into the salt water basin.

Damaged fruit was placed separately in a dustpan and kept for personal consumption.

After his mother asked, he answered while picking and choosing, "What I'm thinking is that after brewing the fruit wine, I'll put it in my own winery and sell it along with the spirits, instead of just selling baijiu."

"Besides, we have so many tangerines at home that we can't eat them all every year. We wouldn't make much money selling them. Making them into wine might actually make them easier to sell."

The older woman, wiping the soaked tangerines with gauze, also raised her question: "I haven't seen any other two shops in town selling fruit wine either?"

"Aren't all the people who come to buy alcohol farmers who like to drink strong liquor?"

"Can this sweet fruit wine really sell?"

Xu Chunsheng patiently replied, "Farmers drink strong liquor so that they can have a sip after finishing their work at noon to refresh themselves and relieve their fatigue, so that they will have the energy to work in the afternoon."

Xu Chunsheng tossed a rotten tangerine into the dustpan and continued, "But whether it's sorghum liquor or corn liquor, the taste is very strong, and not everyone can drink it."

"Our orange wine isn't sold to farmers; it's sold to people who can't handle strong liquor."

"Moreover, during holidays and festivals, when visiting relatives and friends, bringing a bottle of fruit wine to add to the festivities allows people of all ages to have a taste, and many people are willing to pay for it."

"In this way, there will be no worry about selling the fruit wine."

"Besides, there's no harm in trying."

The method of brewing orange wine is simple, but it requires a large amount of rock sugar and high-proof sorghum liquor.

In order to save money, many families don't bother to prepare liquor at all. Only the men in the family will buy some strong liquor to drink, while the women are often reluctant to spend extra money to buy some for themselves.

The whole family chatted and did their work at the same time.

These selected good fruits need to be soaked in salt water for about ten minutes.

Next, you have to use gauze to scrub away the dust from the fruit peel.

Xu Chunsheng and his father carried the washed tangerines to the water vat, scooped up several basins of water and poured them on top, then rinsed them again.

Finally, take them out and spread them out in a bamboo basket to dry under the persimmon tree to remove the surface moisture.

The eldest sister brought out another basket of tangerines. Seeing the basket under the persimmon tree, she couldn't help but wonder, "Why don't you put them in the sun to dry? Wouldn't they dry faster in the sun?"

Mr. Xu replied with a smile, "You young kids don't understand. The tangerines used for making wine can't be dried in the sun, otherwise they'll easily turn bitter."

The older sister seemed to understand but not quite; she only knew that sun-dried food would taste bitter, but she didn't know why it tasted bitter.

Xu Chunsheng explained, "The reason why it can't be exposed to direct sunlight is because the sun is too strong, which will cause the bitterness of the tangerine peel to seep into the pulp, making the wine bitter."

"Moreover, sun exposure can only dry the surface of the fruit peel. The water trapped in the wrinkles and folds cannot be completely dried. When peeling, the water can easily splash onto the flesh, and the remaining raw water can easily grow mold and bacteria, which will cause the wine to turn sour and spoil."

The eldest sister listened to Xu Chunsheng's explanation, which sounded very reasonable, and no longer had any doubts.

During this time, the older sister often saw Xu Chunsheng reading a book and thought that he must have learned it from the book: "Is this what the book teaches?"

Xu Chunsheng nodded.

He had to admit that books nowadays were easier to understand and more detailed than those of later generations.

At that time, the technical books used simple and easy-to-understand language, without complicated technical terms, and the steps were written in detail.

Just like the books Xu Chunsheng has been reading recently.

The "Fruit Wine Brewing Techniques" and "Beverage Processing Manual" clearly explain every step, from how to process the fruit and the proportions of ingredients to how to store it, making them very easy to learn.

After the poles had completely dried the surface moisture, Xu Chunsheng and his family carefully peeled the yellow skin off the tangerines.

Xu Chunsheng took a small knife and carefully peeled off the outer oily skin, then tore off the white layer.

As he worked, he said, "This white layer will make the wine bitter and astringent, so you must peel it off completely. Then you also need to remove the rice (fruit seeds)."

Pick them all out.

While the family was doing this delicate work, they would wipe their palms with a dry cloth to make sure they were dry and sweat-free.

"Are you almost done?"

That day, Tang Yongnian came to the Xu family carrying a small wine jar and walked up to the group of people.

Xu Chunsheng and his older sister both looked surprised and quickly greeted each other in unison, "Hello, Uncle Tang."

Mr. Xu wiped himself clean, stood up, and carried his own stool to Tang Yongnian's side: "Master Tang, please sit down and rest. It's such a long way, Chunsheng should have picked you up."

After sitting down, Tang Yongnian waved his hand and said, "He didn't know I was coming today. Taking a walk will be good exercise for him."

It is said that from the moment Xu Chunsheng began preparing to brew fruit wine, he recorded all the parts of the book he did not understand.

He wrote down everything on paper, from the principle of gas production during fermentation to the differences in taste due to different sugar ratios, and even questions like why the oily skin on the tangerine should be peeled off before the white pith is removed. He saved them up one by one.

Afterwards, Xu Chunsheng even set aside a day to visit Tang Yongnian at the Tang family home.

That's how Tang Yongnian learned about Xu Chunsheng's plan to brew fruit wine.

He also explained to Xu Chunsheng once again the precautions that needed to be taken during the brewing process.

But he had no intention of going to the Xu family to help keep an eye on things.

Tang Yongnian believed that with Xu Chunsheng's skill level in brewing baijiu, brewing these fruit wines would not be a problem, and he would not need to supervise him.

However, after Zhang Xiulan learned that Xu Chunsheng was going to brew fruit wine, she urged Tang Yongnian to help: "You have nothing to do at home all day. You either watch people play chess or watch people fish. Go and help Chunhua's brother check things out."

After Tang Changping confessed to his family that he and Xu Chunhua were dating, Zhang Xiulan would occasionally ask Tang Changping to bring some things back to the Xu family when he went to school.

He just wanted the Xu family to have a good impression of his son, and he was also worried sick about not letting Xu Chunhua think that Tang Changping was a boring and dull person.

That's why Tang Yongnian came to the Xu family.

Tang Yongnian handed the small wine jar to Xu's father: "Brother Xu, this is some jujube wine that I brewed myself. You two can try it in a bit."

Mr. Xu took the wine jar and carried it, saying, "Brother, you've come all this way, why did you bring anything?"

"I brought these over for you to try. If you like them, you can go to the mountains and find some jujubes to try."

Tang Yongnian picked up a peeled tangerine, slowly peeling off the white pith, and asked Xu Chunsheng, "The most important thing about fruit wine is that it doesn't get oily or wet. Have you washed and dried all your tools?"

Xu Chunsheng continued peeling the tangerines, answering simply, "I prepared these a couple of days ago. Once I've peeled them all, we can use them right away."

Tang Yongnian nodded.

With Tang Yongnian joining them, the group peeled the tangerines even faster.

"Chunsheng, I think it's about time. Let's go fill a jar first."

After Tang Yongnian picked out the tangerines from his hands, he called out to Xu Chunsheng.

"Yes, I'll carry these over first."

Xu Chunsheng carried some cleaned tangerines toward the bamboo shed where the wine was brewed, and Tang Yongnian followed behind him, carrying some with him.

"It's best to use sorghum liquor for making fruit wine, not corn liquor. Corn liquor has a stronger grain flavor, which can easily mask the taste of citrus."

Tang Yongnian watched as Xu Chunsheng turned over two wine jars that had been soaked in alcohol, explaining to Xu Chunsheng why he used sorghum liquor instead of corn liquor: "The aroma of sorghum liquor is cleaner and less pungent, which can better highlight the sweet fruity aroma of citrus and preserve the flavor of citrus, unlike the mixed flavor produced by corn liquor."

Tang Yongnian stood beside the bamboo shed where the Xu family brewed wine, watching Xu Chunsheng operate the wine step by step.

Xu Chunsheng was layering rock sugar and dried tangerines into a wine jar. He alternated between layers of rock sugar and dried tangerine pulp.

Tang Yongnian continued to instruct Xu Chunsheng: "Each jar of wine should only be filled to seven or eight tenths full. If it is filled too full, the fermentation gas will burst through the jar, and then your jar of wine will be ruined."

After filling the jar to about seven or eight-tenths full, Xu Chunsheng stopped, then took the sorghum liquor that had been prepared next to him and poured it in. After the sorghum liquor covered the fruit, he poured in another one or two centimeters of sorghum liquor.

Then, Xu Chunsheng took a clean and dry piece of coarse gauze from the side, folded it several times, and then covered the mouth of the jar tightly with the coarse gauze. He then pressed down the inner lid and fastened the surface of the gauze to the mouth of the jar.

Tang Yongnian watched his movements and nodded in praise: "That's right, that's how it should be done. It seems you've memorized all these steps and put your heart into it."

Xu Chunsheng smiled.

After he covered the jar, he poured clean water into the water trough at the mouth of the jar.

Tang Yongnian watched Xu Chunshan's meticulous movements and felt somewhat superfluous standing there, but he was very satisfied.

He then explained the reasoning behind this: "The process you're doing is called a water seal. After the jar is sealed, the water trough at the mouth of the jar must be filled with clean water. This will effectively shut out insects and prevent dust and bacteria from getting into the jar, thus preventing it from turning sour and moldy. If you do this step well, your wine is already more than halfway to success."

Xu Chunsheng nodded as usual, listening very attentively.

After Xu Chunsheng finished doing all that, Tang Yongnian helped him, and the two of them moved the jar to the corner of the wall together.

The temperature has been around 20 degrees Celsius recently, so there's no need to insulate the wine jars. Just place them in a corner where they won't get in the way.

After another three to five days, fine bubbles will appear inside the jar, and fermentation will begin.

After placing the wine jars, Xu Chunsheng thanked Tang Yongnian: "Uncle Tang, you've really gone to a lot of trouble by making this special trip. But your visit today gives me more confidence."

Tang Yongnian quite liked Xu Chunsheng's personality. He was ambitious and straightforward. No matter how simple or difficult the question was, he wouldn't be afraid of being laughed at and would ask directly without hesitation.

Tang Yongnian reached out and patted Xu Chunsheng on the shoulder, brushing off some dust that had somehow gotten on his clothes: "Even if I hadn't come today, you would have done a great job. I didn't need to remind you about the amount of sugar you used; you were able to control it quite well."

"Wait another three to five days, then observe the condition of the jar. Press down what needs pressing, stir what needs stirring, and add water to the mouth of the jar if necessary."

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After fermentation, every morning and evening, Xu Chunsheng would use a clean spoon to press the fruit residue floating on the surface into the wine to prevent it from coming into contact with air and getting moldy.

At this time, as the bubbles continue to rise, most of the rock sugar will sink to the bottom of the jar. Stir it when you come to press the fruit residue every day so that the rock sugar can be evenly dissolved into the wine.

In this way, the fruit pulp is soaked evenly from top to bottom, allowing the aroma of wine, fruit, and sugar to blend together without creating an uneven taste.

Once the bubbles have significantly decreased, the pulp in the jar will slowly sink, indicating that fermentation is complete.

Finally, filter out the fruit residue from the jar with gauze, pour the wine into a new jar, and let it settle for a period of time. The wine will then become clear, and then it can be bottled and sold.

However, it should be noted that the preservation effect of such fruit wine is not as good as that of pure white wine, and it is only suitable for short-term storage.

Based on what Tang Yongnian taught him and what he had learned from reading, Xu Chunsheng also carefully repeated the precautions for brewing fruit wine in his mind.

Three days later, when Xu Chunsheng opened the wine jar as scheduled, he saw bubbles rising continuously inside, which delighted him: "It's done!"