Fermented Glutinous Rice (Jiu Niang)

Fermented glutinous rice or glutinous rice wine, is a kind of food brewed with cooked glutinous rice and Chinese yeast. 

Fermented glutinous rice has a long history in China. Mijiu (Rice wine) can be obtained from it after filtration and purification. So, fermented glutinous rice was created at the same time period when wine was first produced. The making of fermented glutinous rice dates back to the Shang Dynasty. According to historical records, people of the Shang Dynasty were fond of wine, especially King Zhou of Shang, who led an extremely extravagant life and had "a pond of wine and a forest of meat".

The wine in the pond was actually unfiltered fermented glutinous rice. That's why ancient people also called fermented glutinous rice "sweet wine" or "rice wine". With low alcohol content, fermented glutinous rice tastes sweet, tinged with a wine aroma.