Fermented black (soy) beans

[liuzhou]

Fermented black soy beans (豆豉 -dòu chǐ) are a local specialty, with the nearby town of Huangyao being said to have the best. How they measure that, I don't know.

 

A couple of days ago, I visited the town and saw part of the process. Thought I'd share where and how your Chinese black bean sauce starts out. These images were taken by a press photographer friend who was with me. Here the already fermented beans are being laid out out to try in the sun.

 

 

 

 

 

I'll just add that the bottled black bean sauce is rare in China. People buy the beans and make their sauces in the wok along with the other ingredients.

 

 

Edited 7 hours ago by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

Here, for anyone who doesn't know them, are the beans pre-fermentation.

 

 

It is important to note that they must be soy beans. American black beans, Spanish: frijoles negros as used in Latin American cuisine are not suitable. However, although black soy beans are used to prepare fermented beans, not always. Any soy bean can be used and will turn black as a result of the fermentation process.

 

 

Traditionally, the beans are salted and left under high heat to ferment in their own enzymes. Industrially produced typesbare often soaked in brine or salted rice wine to speeden the process. Irrespective of how they are made, they are then dried. Those I saw this week and showed above are the traditional sort.

 

Here, I usually see the beans in bags like below, but I know they come canned in the west, too.

 

 

These umami laden beans have been used in China for over 2,000 years, predating soy sauce. Archeologists have found remains of douchi in Hunan dating back to the 2nd century BCE. The preparation method was first described by Jia Sixie around 540 CE in his 齐民要术 (qí mín yào shù) "Essential Techniques for the Welfare of the People".