Baoning Handcrafted Black Vinegar, 20 Year

Sichuan's Baoning vinegar is one of the Four Famous Vinegars of China and is the vinegar of choice for Sichuan dishes. We are the exclusive importers of three handmade Baoning vinegars, a 3-year blend, a 10-year single-batch vinegar and this super-premium 20 year. 

This very small-batch 20-year Baoning is the most complex and fullest bodied the company makes, being richer and thicker though not sweet. 

All of the Baoning vinegars are deep red-brown and full-bodied, and the taste is more savory than sweet. The multigrain composition—rice, bran, wheat, corn, sorghum and buckwheat—hits the nose and palate in unfamiliar but intriguing ways. Each of the vinegars has a slightly different mix of the grains, and they all have a very small amount of sugar. No caramel color or flavor additives or preservatives are necessary. 

Part of the intrigue also turns out to be the fermentation starter, which, uniquely among Chinese vinegars, is created from more than 60 Chinese spices and medicinal herbs. The vinegar then ferments in aged earthenware crocks that carry decades of microbes in their walls, infusing it with the unique taste of the Baoning terroir.

(While we, and others, have previously understood the age on Chinese vinegars to represent the years the vinegar is aged, it actually represents the age of the crocks or cellars the vinegar is fermented in, with the top-of-the-line vinegar stored in the oldest crocks with the most flavor-enhancing fermentation microbes.)

While eastern China's Zhenjiang vinegar is more well-known outside China, Baoning can be substituted in most Chinese recipes. Baoning is less sweet and slightly less sour than Zhenjiang. 

The pride of Langzhong, a 2,300-year-old city in northeastern Sichuan that was formerly called Baoning, Baoning vinegar traces its history to 936 A.D., during the Five Dynasties period. Its modern accolades begin with a gold medal at the 1915 San Francisco World's Fair, and since then it has racked up China's highest honors, including China Time Honored Brand, Sichuan Intangible Cultural Heritage, and gold-medal Green Food, China's organic designation.

While this kind of history for a food brand is kind of unfathomable in the West, we believe it can be tasted in today's product. It's hard to describe Baoning vinegar's smell, but whiffing a 10- or 20-year vinegar smells a bit like walking into an ancient vinegar workshop and breathing in the centuries.

Baoning vinegar is used in almost all Sichuan cold sauces for noodles and vegetables and is a must-have ingredient for yu xiang and gong bao (kung pao) and other sweet-and-sourish dishes.

This 20-year vinegar should be reserved for cold dishes with few other sauce ingredients (such as smashed cucumbers), where it can really shine, and for dipping sauces. 

For more information on how the four famous vinegars are made and a thoughtful taste-test comparison, check out this video by our affiliates at Chinese Cooking Demystified. 

Producer: Sichuan Baoningcu Co., Langzhong, Sichuan
Size: 500 ml (16.9 ounces)
Ingredients: water, bran, wheat, corn, rice, sorghum, buckwheat, sugar
Contains: wheat
Shelf Life: Naturally brewed vinegars do not expire; dark sediment is normal
Non-GMO, Vegan, China-certified Green Food

• Trump tariff, partially reflected in price: 45%
• A Mala Market Exclusive
• Handmade vinegar from Langzhong, Sichuan, in a style dating to 936 A.D.
• Brewed from 6 grains and a starter yeast of Chinese medicinal herbs
• Aged in 20-year crocks 
• No additives or preservatives
• A China Green Food