Tangchi Aged Sauce

Tangchi Aged Sauce

Tangchi Aged Sauce is a protected geographical indication product.

　　Tangchi Aged Sauce

　　Tangchi Aged Sauce is a highly distinctive local product, a culinary seasoning that is hard to replicate elsewhere. With over 300 years of production history in Tangchi, it enjoys a renowned reputation and outstanding quality both domestically and abroad. In addition to traditional craftsmanship, its excellence also stems from the superior water quality, geographical environment, and natural conditions, making it one of the rare high-quality local specialties in Yunnan.

　　The quality of Tangchi Aged Sauce benefits from the natural environment, unique water resources, and rare climatic conditions of Tangchi. The area has an average annual temperature of 16 degrees, the optimal temperature for human habitation. The plateau pearl Yangzonghai Lake helps regulate the hot summer, keeping it free from intense heat, while the hot springs moderate the cold winter, ensuring it remains free from harsh chill. Such natural conditions foster the growth, nourishment, creation, and preservation of all things.

　　Moreover, as the hot springs are sulfuric and rich in calcium and many other mineral elements beneficial to the human body, this has contributed to the unique medicinal quality of Tangchi Aged Sauce—an irreplaceable specialty product.

　　The birth of Tangchi Aged Sauce is based on ancestral traditional sauce-making techniques, refined through modern processes, and gradually innovated and developed. Combined with hot spring water as the liquid base, local ingredients as the core material, and produced under the constant temperature of Tangchi’s unique geographical environment, Tangchi Aged Sauce has naturally become the signature and byword of the region—a perfect convergence of factors.

　　Tangchi Aged Sauce is a specialty of Yiliang County in Yunnan, with a long history. As early as the Chongzhen era of the Ming Dynasty, it was customary for households in the Tangchi area to steam and make aged sauce, among which the sauce workshop founded by the ancestors of the Zhao family was the most famous. During the Qing Dynasty, the aged sauce from the “Zhao Family Sauce Workshop” in Tangchi was presented to the emperor in the capital as a Yunnan specialty by local officials and was listed as a court tributary condiment. Today’s “Yiliang County Dianquan Food Factory” was founded by the descendants of the Zhao family’s sauce workshop.

　　Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Tangchi Aged Sauce and fermented bean curd have been widespread among the local community. It became customary for rural families to make tofu and aged sauce during winter. People of different surnames and ethnic groups also eagerly imitated the practice. This was because, at the time, productivity was low, and people lived in poverty. Many laborers relied on congee mixed with aged sauce or fermented bean curd for meals. This made homemade aged sauce and fermented bean curd not only a means of survival but also something deeply cherished by the working class.

　　However, the raw materials and production techniques used in homemade sauces varied greatly, inevitably leading to differences in quality—ranging from sour to sweet, bitter to spicy, dark to moldy—with no identifiable brands, making it difficult to judge their quality.

　　Before liberation, the most reputable makers of aged sauce and fermented bean curd in Tangchi were Zhang Hushi, the wife of Hu Zhengyi from West Street. It was said that her aged sauce could reduce fever, detoxify, and treat bee or insect stings; it was even applied to minor burns before blisters formed, with the sauce proving effective. Hence, the saying: “Tangchi Hot Springs heal wounds, while Hu Family Aged Sauce can be used as medicine.” Her fermented bean curd had a bright color, a unique flavor, and was fragrantly spicy and aromatic, stimulating appetite and aiding digestion. In the 1960s, due to historical and living conditions, despite the high quality of Hu Family’s aged sauce and fermented bean curd, they failed to achieve further improvement or brand expansion.

　　Classic Brand of Tangchi Aged Sauce: Zhang Ying Aged Sauce.

　　The Origin of “Sauce”

　　Aged Sauce: Sauce is a paste-like condiment primarily made from beans, spices, chili, and other ingredients. Sauce appeared early in ancient Chinese literature, such as in the “Book of Rites · Inner Chapters,” which records: “Soaked chicken with minced meat sauce, soaked fish with roe sauce.” Another example is from Confucius’ “Analects”: “Not having the right sauce.” Also, the “Rites of Zhou · Director of Food” states: “One hundred and twenty jars of sauce were used.” This shows that the history of sauce spans over a thousand years. Analyzing the character “酱” (sauce), it is composed of “将” (will/chief) and “酉” (wine/alcohol), where “将” originally meant “a wooden slice coated with meat juice,” later extended to mean “to apply”; “酉” refers to fermentation. Together, “将” and “酉” depict a type of spreadable auxiliary food created through fermentation.

　　China is the birthplace of sauce. According to Ban Gu’s “The Inner Biography of Emperor Wu of Han” in the Han Dynasty, when the Queen Mother of the West visited Emperor Wu of Han, she mentioned that the heavens had “linked pearl cloud sauce,” “jade rhythm gold sauce,” and “formless sauce.” Hence, it’s said that the method of making sauce was passed down by the Queen Mother of the West. Another legend claims that sauce was created by Duke of Zhou, as evidenced by the “Hundred Sauces” mentioned in the “Rites of Zhou.”

　　Sauce originally emerged as an important food. According to Zhang Dai of the Ming Dynasty in “Night Voyages by Boat,” it is recorded: “The Nest Builder taught people to eat fruits, Suiren drilled wood to make fire and brew liquor, Shennong taught people to eat grains cooked on heated stones. Suiren made dried meat, the Yellow Emperor roasted meat; Cheng Tang made minced meat sauce (the earliest form of meat sauce).” When “Cheng Tang made minced meat sauce,” meat was the main ingredient. The meat was ground up, mixed evenly with brewing yeast, put into containers sealed with mud, and sun-dried for half a month until the yeast gave off the smell of sauce and was ready to eat. Alternatively, the meat could be ground, mixed with yeast and salt, sealed in a container, then buried in a hole dug into the ground with fire-heated rocks, covered with seven or eight inches of soil, and heated overnight with cow dung until the next day when the sauce seeped out and was cooked. This type of sauce was then called “醢” (minced meat sauce) or also known as “橘” (tangerine). “Shuowen” (an ancient Chinese dictionary): “橘” means sauce. Because sauce is a fusion of wine, meat, and salt, it has a great taste. According to Ying Shao of the Eastern Han Dynasty in “Fengsu Tongyi” (Common Customs): “Sauce is born of salt but saltier than salt; the transformation of things sometimes becomes weightier.” Therefore, it was once considered a delicacy. Later, people discovered that grains, plants, and other ingredients could also be made into sauce, leading to an increasing variety of sauces, which became an essential part of daily meals. By the Ming Dynasty, the production of soybean sauce had further developed, while fish and meat sauces gradually declined, and sauce-making techniques became widely practiced among urban and rural populations.

　　It is said that Tangchi Aged Sauce and fermented bean curd were first created during the Hongwu era of the Ming Dynasty. In the 29th year of Hongwu (1396), Mu Chun visited Yiliang and noticed that the irrigation channels were only one meter wide, unable to supply water to the flat plains, leaving large areas of land barren. That winter, he ordered Wang Jun, the Yunnan Regional Commander, to deploy 15,000 soldiers to dig channels, drawing water from Yangzonghai Harbor, extending 36 kilometers southwest to Yiliang County, 25 kilometers away, with a width of one zhang and two chi (approximately 4 meters), and completed in over a month (recorded in “The History of Ming · Biography of Mu Ying, Annex Biography of Mu Chun,” and also referenced in the “Tangchi Canal Record” stele written in 1402 by Hang Xian, a native of Hangzhou). The daily meals of these 15,000 soldiers became a major issue. At the time, a camp cook named Hu brought the locally produced steamed aged sauce and dried tofu to the military camp, greatly improving the soldiers' appetites—they could eat their meals even without vegetables—and Mu Chun was very pleased. Later, recommended by Mu Chun, Tangchi Aged Sauce was sent to the capital as a Yunnan prefecture specialty and was briefly listed as a court tributary condiment. Afterward, as per orders, the soldiers who dug the canal did not return to their hometowns. The cook Hu and a small number of soldiers settled in Tangchi and Yiliang, laying the foundation for the origin of Tangchi Aged Sauce.

　　At that time, the origin of fermented bean curd was also linked to dipping dried tofu in sauce. It tasted good and was easy to store. This invention is akin to today’s grilled tofu dipped in chili salt, except that Tangchi’s unique water sources and natural climate created such a naturally delicious food.

　　As for the origin of Tangchi Aged Sauce and fermented bean curd, there is such a story. It is said that before liberation, soldiers came to Tangchi to conscript young men into the army. A young man from West Street in Tangchi was forcibly taken away. Before leaving, his mother hastily packed a bundle of sauce powder, chili powder, and a few pieces of dried tofu for her son to eat during the journey. The journey was tough and long, with inevitable exposure to wind, rain, cold, and heat. When the new recruit finally settled down and craved some home food, he opened the bundle his mother had given him and found that the sauce powder and chili powder had been soaked by rain into a paste, and the dried tofu was completely coated in the sauce mixture. Unwilling to discard this homemade food from his mother, he dipped a bit into his mouth and found it incredibly delicious. He immediately wrote home to tell his mother the news. His mother, combining local conditions, followed her son’s advice and brewed a jar of sauce and a jar of fermented bean curd using sauce powder, chili powder, and spices like star anise. When she tried them shortly after, they turned out to have an excellent and unique flavor. Since then, Tangchi Aged Sauce and fermented bean curd have become widely popular, turning into a beloved local delicacy.

　　The current administrative region under the jurisdiction of Tangchi Sub-district Office, Yangzonghai Scenic Area Management Committee, Yiliang County, Kunming City, Yunnan Province.

　　“Letter from Kunming Municipal People’s Government on Defining the Protection Scope of Tangchi Aged Sauce as a Geographical Indication Product,” Kunming Government Letter [2015] No. 106

　　Yunnan Food Safety Enterprise Standard: Q/YXF0001S-2014

　　“Tangchi Aged Sauce”