Do you mean this label?
If so, this label is not the ingredient list. It is the name of the organization which is the translated from the Chinese.
This is from the import and export organization from Zhe Jiang province for cereals, oil and all food related.
I second dry sherry as a substitute.
Too bad that American puritanism so complicates availability of good and unsalted Chinese Xiaoxing wine: too niche for liquor stores; too expensive for Asian grocers who seldom want to go through the hassles and costs of getting a liquor license.
I think I can get puritanism AND unsalted Chinese Xiaoxing wine here!
Looking it up!
Okay, no I’m not. I was just looking for rice wine for a pork belly recipe.
Sweet. Where is “here” for you?
My understanding of the salt in cooking wines was to bypass liquor laws. Without the salt those stores would need liquor licenses to sell it.
So most of us don’t have a no salt option unless you’re in an actual liquor store. (Maybe that was clear in an earlier post but if it was I missed it).
IIRC “cooking wine” in the U.S. came about due to the Volstead Act in 1920. The great failed experiment from 1920 to 1933. The concept was that by making it so salty it would be undrinkable.
Agree
In Northern California, between San Francisco and Sacramento. The store is “County Square Market”. I believe they sell other liquor too, or at least beer and sake.
Agreed - to make it undrinkable and it continues to this day because it also now allows stores to sell it without a liquor license because it is classified differently … doesn’t matter, a tangent anyway.
It’s not really about a liquor license, per se.
The fight for a spot on a grocery store – be it for a mainstream product like Bud Light or a niche product like Moutai wine – is fierce. Slotting fees, or fees charged by grocery stores for a manufacturer to place their product on the shelf, can be upwards of 250,000.
So, if you’re a maker of Chinese rice wine, like Qian Hu or Ying Feng, are you really going to pay something like 100k just to have the privilege of putting your product on the shelf with no guarantee of any actual sales?
So it’s really not “too expensive for Asian grocers” to carry them. In fact, it’s the converse. More often than not it’s too expensive for the rice wine manufacturers to have the grocers – Asian or otherwise – carry their products.
Blame it on the retail system in place that shifts the risk of carrying a product on grocery shelfs from retailer (grocery stores) to manufacturers.
Wow! Had no idea.
Found your rice liquor today. Now they put the ingredients on the front (instead of the import and export company)
Sharing some photos too. Many Chinese supermarkets tend to separate the drinking liquor from the cooking liquor. In this supermarket, there is the drinking liquor selection where Chinese liquors are next to other liquors.
It all looks so neat and clean!
Neat! Are there ones in the cooking section that don’t list salt in the ingredients?
I will check next time, and let you know.
Thank you, but not just for me please!. I know others have asked about it. Here is what I currently have on hand. I keep them in the refrigerator.
I don’t remember what I paid, but less than $5.00 USF.
I’ve too have never encountered a salted Shao Xing, but I live in the SF Bay Area where Asian imports are easy to find. One thing I have run into, however, is Shao Xing loaded with so much fenugreek that it ruined everything I used it in. At least that’s what it tasted/smelled like to me. Has anyone else noticed this? Unfortunately I didn’t keep track of the brand after I dumped it down the sink, so I can’t tell you which one to avoid. Here’s the bottle that I’m using now - it’s OK:
I most often use it as a substitute for dry sherry when sauteing mushrooms. It has some of the same oxidized notes as sherry, but without the grape tartness.
I made two recipes of this for my friend to take to his wife and 4 kids. He wants me to teach him how to make it; they love this. Some of them were leaving for vacation to Jordan and the youngest, 13, wanted to take some on the plane! They talked her out of it but I’d have let her!
