提到醋，你会想到些什么呢？深褐色液体，略带有些清亮，打开瓶盖时一阵酸味扑鼻，不仅有助于消化，还可以养颜美容……

When you mention the province of Shanxi to Chinese people, one of the first things that comes to their mind will be - vinegar.

Lao Chen Cu, or mature vinegar, produced in Shanxi is usually considered the No. 1 vinegar in China.

Meiheju is one of the major producers of Lao Chen Cu. A tour guide here tells us more about the vinegar.

"Shanxi's vinegar is mostly mature vinegar. It has a purple-black color and tastes fragrant and mellow. It can help clean people's blood and prevent cardio- and cerebro-vascular diseases."

This Meiheju vinegar factory comprises of five big rooms.

According to Guo Junlu, president of Shanxi Mature Vinegar group, these rooms are designed for the five stages of mature vinegar brewing, namely, steaming, fermenting, fumigating, filtrating and air-drying.

"The two key steps are fumigating and air-drying. The fumigating process darkens the color and creates nutrients. The air-drying process includes evaporating in the sun in summer and dehydrating by freezing in winter. So it takes at least one year to produce Lao Chen Cu mature vinegar."

In the rooms, big jars line up orderly. Some of them are filled with sorghum and other raw materials, some with purple-black vinegar which is not yet mature.

Unlike the other four rooms, the air drying room only has a glass cover so that the sunlight can penetrate.

What's also special about this glass room is the especially strong sour smell in it. Although the smell makes many people cough, the tour guide says, it is good for health.

After the long air-drying process, the sour and mellow mature vinegar is finally ready.

Since 3,000 years ago, Chinese people have been brewing vinegar. In addition to Shanxi, there are three other places known for vinegar production.

Guo Junlu explains the differences between their products.

"Shanxi's Lao Chen Cu uses sorghum, peas and barley as raw material. Zhenjiang's rice vinegar is made from rice and it looks light in color and tastes light, too. Fujian's red vinegar uses a different technique. Baoning's vinegar originated in Shangxi, but it tastes differently as it uses local materials."

At the same time, factories have developed new types of vinegar to go with different food. For example, garlic vinegar should be eaten with baozi and dumplings, spicy vinegar goes with noodles, and seafood should be eaten with ginger vinegar.

Although many countries in the world produce vinegar, Guo Junlu says foreign vinegar is usually much lighter in color and also tastes sweeter than Chinese vinegar.

"In European and other western countries, people use fruit instead of corn to make vinegar. For example, Germany produces white vinegar or fruit vinegar, France brews apple and grape vinegar, and Italy also makes fruit vinegar."

At the moment, Lao Chen Cu mature vinegar has been exported to Japan, US, Canada, Australia and UK. However, the export accounts for only a little part of the total output.

"We should study foreigners eating habits and develop vinegar accordingly. At same time, we need adequate promotion."

So, why don't you go and check the Asian store in your neighborhood to see if you can find a bottle of Lao Chen Cu?

For CRI, I'm Xu Weiyi.

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