Yongfeng chili sauce () or Yongfeng hot sauce is a traditional product made at

Yongfeng, Shuangfeng Yongfeng () is a town in Shuangfeng County, Hunan, People's Republic of China. The Chinese government in 2007 approved an application for Geographical Indication Products status for Yongfeng chili sauce, specifying the ingredients and their pro ...

County,

Hunan Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to ...

, China. It is recognized by China as a Geographical Indication Product. Yongfeng chili sauce is made of Yongfeng chili, polished glutinous rice, wheat, soybeans, and salt. It is prepared by boiling, grinding, mixing, fermenting, and aging, and produces a dark red, spicy sauce.

Characteristics

The finished sauce is a translucent reddish-brown with an amber luster, fragrant with Yongfeng pepper and wheat, and has a mellow sweet and spicy flavor.

History and culture

People began to make chili sauce in the Yongfeng area during China's

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

during the reign of

Chongzhen Emperor The Chongzhen Emperor (; 6 February 1611 – 25 April 1644), personal name Zhu Youjian (), courtesy name Deyue (),Wang Yuan (王源)，''Ju ye tang wen ji'' (《居業堂文集》), vol. 19. "聞之張景蔚親見烈皇帝神主題御諱字德� ...

. The chili sauce has been made in Yongfeng for more than 300 years. Annual production starts after the

Dragon Boat Festival The Dragon Boat Festival ( zh, s=端午节, t=端午節) is a traditional Chinese holiday which occurs on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese calendar, which corresponds to late May or June in the Gregorian calendar. Names The Engl ...

as the rainy season ends. Home cooks make their own sauces, and rooftops of houses often have a sauce tank fermenting in the sun. Along with Xiangtan lotus seeds and

Changsha stinky tofu Changsha stinky tofu or stinky dry food (), known in Chinese as ''Changsha chou doufu'', also translated as Changsha-style stinky tofu, is a traditional snack in Changsha, Hunan, which belongs to Hunan cuisine. It is one of the renowned stinky ...

, Yongfeng chili sauce is known as "Hunan Sanbao" or one of Hunan's three treasures.

Business and economics

According to a government report, Yongfeng chili sauce sales revenues were nearly 100 million yuan in the year 2000, representing taxes and profits of 30,000,000 CNY (4,469,550 USD) for Shuangfeng county. By the year of 2009, there were more than 100 chili sauce production enterprises in Shuangfeng county, including 3 enterprises with an annual production capacity of over 2,000 tons.

Ingredients and production

Yongfeng chili sauce can be made with bell pepper, cow-horn pepper and line pepper.

Industrial production

The Chinese government in 2007 approved an application for Geographical Indication Products status for Yongfeng chili sauce, specifying the ingredients and their proportions for industrial production. These are: * 50% fresh Yongfeng red pepper, bell pepper, horn pepper * 7% wheat flour * 3.5% glutinous rice flour * 2.5% soybean powder * 25% water * 9% salt. The specified process calls for boiling the soybean, wheat, and rice flours, crushing or grinding the chili pepper, adding salt, then a natural fermentation process in which the sauce is set in the sun in open containers to ferment and form koji.

Home production

Local farmers and many families each have an inherited family recipe, which they adjust according to family members' flavor preferences. For example, some local vegetables named Dao Dou (sword bean ''

Canavalia gladiata ''Canavalia gladiata'', the sword bean or scimitar bean, is a domesticated plant species in the legume family Fabaceae. It is used as a vegetable in interior central and south central India, though not commercially farmed. The unripe pods are al ...

'' (Jacq.) DC.) and Di Can ('' Stachys geobombycis'' C. Y. Wu) are added into the chili sauce in Yuan Xiao village. The quality of the sauce relies on the weather. The mixed materials need to be exposed under strong sunshine for about 40 days until the color of the sauce is dark red and the aroma is overflowing. Usually, the sunshine near the summer season in Shuangfeng county is qualified. Traditionally, the fermentation is taken under sunshine, but for some industrial process, temperature controlled fermentation technology is usually a guarantee of production and quality.