The Double Ninth Festival or The Double Yang Festival (重阳节), observed on the ninth day of the ninth month in the Chinese calendar, is a traditional Chinese holiday that celebrates nature by going on a hike and paying respect to the seniors by visiting them. It got its name from the I-Ching, which mentions that 6 is the number for Yin and 9 is the number for Yang. The ninth of September, thus, is the “Double Ninth” day that has special meaning in Chinese culture.
This year, the holiday falls on October 25, 2020. We encourage you to visit your senior family members or go on a hike to celebrate!In China, it is also around the peak season for golden chrysanthemum. Therefore, we want to share a chrysanthemum wine recipe today! It is a must-have on this holiday to eliminate bad luck and to achieve longevity!
2-3 tbsp Dried Chrysanthemum or fresh, edible chrysanthemum petals 菊花
Approximately 2-3 cups of filtered water 纯净水
Special Equipment
Steamer or steaming vessel 蒸笼
A few super clean containers/jars 干净容器
Directions
To make from Scratch
Rinse rice 3-4 times and soak over night. If using purple sticky rice, you might need to soak for two nights. The goal is to get the grain soft enough so it can be easily crushed by hand after soaking. You can also use half white-half purple.
When the rice is finished soaking (2nd or 3rd day), drain water and steam the rice in a steamer until cooked (about 20 minutes for 2 cups of rice). Sprinkle the flowers on top in the last 5 minutes of cooking. A rice cooker will not work here.
*** From here on, all the water needs to be filtered/bottled/boiled cold water. Your hands/tools/containers need to be CLEAN***
Break up the wine yeast ball and dissolve the powder in 2-3 cups of water.
Once the steamed rice is cooled, mix well with yeast water, and put in your container of choice to let it ferment. Add additional water if needed to make sure the mixture is wet, and the grains are separated from each other.
Store in a shady, warm environment (90 F/ 30 C) and let it ferment for 24-72 hours. You will see the liquid start to increase and bubble on the second to third day! If you ferment longer than 72 hours, your wine will be sweeter, with a higher alcohol content.
When it’s ready, open the jar and enjoy!
*You can use a cheese clothes to squeeze the liquid out and bottle it as sweet rice wine. The leftover lee can be used to ferment tofu or protein. You can also just eat the liquid and rice grain together, which is called 酒酿 (Jiu Niang), fermented sweet rice. However, I found the sweet rice I'‘ve purchased in the U.S. sometimes doesn’t give the best texture as Jiu Niang, so I recommend to separate liquid and solids!
If you want to use Purchased Spirit…
Low-proof rice wine or sake (<15 vol) or high proof grain-based spirit like Bai Jiu (around 50 vol)
Optional to add sugar of choice, especially if you are using a high proof spirit for better taste
Soak chrysanthemum in the liquor for at least 1 week
