The Steeping Process and Production Methods of Snake Wine

Using snake wine to treat diseases has a long history. Modern pharmacology has also proven that snake wine has anti-inflammatory, analgesic and sedative effects. It can enhance the human body's immunity and has a marked effect on treating rheumatoid arthritis. Snake wine has a strong effect of dispelling wind and unblocking collaterals, making it a veritable "chief of a hundred medicines."

1. Choosing the liquor

The liquor used to make snake wine should be baijiu, which can be distilled liquor or blended liquor. In addition to strictly complying with stipulated standards, the liquor must also meet traditional quality standards; for example, liquors brewed from grains such as sorghum can give the finished snake wine a rich and lasting aroma. Grasping the concentration and amount of liquor is also important. If tonic medicinal herbs are also added to the snake wine, the liquor concentration can be a little lower.

2. Steeping methods The most commonly used is steeping with fresh snake. There are three ways to process a fresh snake:

The first is steeping a live snake.

After cleaning the snake, do not feed it and let it go hungry for about a week. Before steeping it in liquor, start from the snake's stomach and grip it with the thumb, then strip downward to the anus to expel all food from the intestines. Rinse it clean, then steep it.

The second method is to first steam fresh snake meat until cooked, dry it, and then steep it in liquor.

Its advantages are that the snake wine has no snakey fishy smell, has a special fragrance, tastes pure, and has a relatively clear color, but the curative effect is often not as good as the first method.

The third method is to make dried snake and steep it in liquor, either as a whole snake or cut into small sections.

Steeping with dried snake has the characteristics of a golden, transparent liquor color and no fishy smell, but repeated steeping will cause turbidity. After steeping, the sealed storage time should generally be at least 6 months or more; in hot seasons it can be appropriately shortened. In terms of ratio, the ratio of fresh snake to liquor is 1:5, and for dried snake it is 1:10. For the first steeping, more liquor can be added; for the second steeping, it should be reduced accordingly.

3. Production process of snake wine

1. Maceration method

This refers to soaking the snake and medicinal materials in a suitable extraction solvent at room temperature so that the active ingredients are leached out. It can be divided into cold maceration and hot maceration. Cold maceration is a common steeping method: the snake wine is covered and sealed at room temperature, stored in a dark place, and when the time is up, the upper clear liquid is poured off, left to stand, and filtered to obtain the product. Maceration can be repeated 3 to 4 times. Hot maceration is basically the same as cold maceration, but the maceration temperature is higher, generally carried out at 40°C to 60°C by heating over water. Because the maceration temperature is higher, the extract often has cotton-like precipitate after cooling.

2. Percolation method

The percolation method is suitable for making liquor from dried snake. The method is to first soak the dried snake in liquor, and after it has swelled appropriately, put it into a percolation cylinder. A percolation cylinder is a cylindrical device with an open upper end and a lower outlet. The liquor flows in from above, slowly percolates through the dried snake, and flows out from the lower outlet. This method can create a good concentration difference, and the extraction effect is better than maceration; the components are extracted more completely, and the production time is short. It can also be percolated repeatedly, and where conditions permit, pressure, heat or countercurrent percolation can be used, but certain equipment is required.

3. Medicinal brewing method

This is a method commonly used in ancient China. This method uses rice, qu and medicinal materials and directly ferments them into liquor, and is the best method for producing snake wine. Through this method, the active ingredients in the snake can be well extracted, and the liquor color is clear and pure.

No matter which method is used to prepare snake wine, its containers and personnel must meet hygiene requirements. Ceramic, glass and similar products are suitable containers; lead and iron utensils should not be used. During the preparation of snake wine, a certain amount of flavor-correcting and coloring agents can be added to soften the medicinal nature, make it convenient to take, and improve the quality of the preparation. The flavoring agents currently used are mainly sweeteners, such as brown sugar, white sugar, rock sugar, stevia sugar and honey. Coloring agents include bamboo yellow and Millettia reticulata.

Before snake wine is filled into containers as a finished product, it must be clarified and filtered to remove suspended and precipitated matter. A common method is to add egg white powder, about 1%, and stir evenly. Another method is filtration through a medium; for large production volumes, a plate-and-frame filter press can be used. Snake wine generally allows a small amount of precipitate, mostly from natural settling.