Soaked glutinous rice is sprayed with cold water to cool it down. [Photo/WeChat account: hafbwx]

Hai'an, a county-level city in Nantong, East China's Jiangsu province, has been home to numerous century-old glutinous rice wine-making families since ancient times.

Local winemakers are very particular about the ingredients, and they use the glutinous rice grown in Lixiahe village, water from Tongyang Canal, and the distiller's yeast inherited from former generations to make mellow glutinous rice wine.

Years of winemaking have helped winemakers in Hai'an develop their own unique winemaking procedures.

A hollow is placed in the middle of the mixture of glutinous rice and distiller's yeast to allow for fermentation at a room temperature for three to four days. [Photo/WeChat account: hafbwx]

Soak the glutinous rice for 10 to 16 hours, cool it down to 30 to 32 degrees centigrade by spraying it with cold water, put the glutinous rice into a vat, mix it with distiller's yeast, and make a hollow in the middle of the mixture to allow for fermentation at a room temperature of between 25 and 28 degrees centigrade for three to four days. As it sits, the hollow is filled with milk white rice wine, which gives off a faint scent of rice and sourness.

A winemaking workshop in Hai'an. [Photo/WeChat account: hafbwx]

The mellow glutinous rice wine features a clear white color and a refreshing, sweet, and mellow taste. It is also rich in nutrients and especially good for pregnant women.

In 1986, the mellow glutinous rice wine made in Hai'an won the title of high-quality food in Jiangsu, and in 1990, it won the gold medal at the National Light Industry Expo.