China News Service, Urumqi, December 31 (Pan Qi) In Xinjiang, there is a saying, "When you come to Xinjiang and don't drink musalais, it's like eating roast lamb and forgetting to put cumin. It's a pity." What is Musalais?
Recently, the reporter visited many places to learn about her past and present life.
Brewed beverages are placed in tanks for guests to drink.
Photo courtesy of the Propaganda Department of Awati County Party Committee, Xinjiang
Moussalais is not your average wine
Yang Xingyuan, Dean of Grape Modern Industry College of Xinjiang Agricultural University, introduced that Musalais is a wine with very traditional characteristics. During the brewing process, local people often add cistanche, pigeon blood, deer antler, wolfberry, saffron and other nourishing ingredients. Chinese medicinal materials.
According to the report "Musalaisi Functional Component Analysis and Pharmacodynamics Research" of Xinjiang Medical University and Awati County Science and Technology Cooperation Project, Musalaisi has the functions of enhancing the body's immune function, strengthening the body and strengthening the kidneys, anti-aging, promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis, Lowering blood fat and many other health effects.
In Awati County, Xinjiang, which is known as the "Hometown of Musalais in China", it is very common for local folks to brew and drink musalais. Almost every family still uses the ancient traditional way to brew musalais. However, different The musalais brewed by different people are not the same, and everyone's brewing skills and brewing taste are unique.
Along the alley, looking for the smell of wine, the reporter opened the door of a Musales tavern.
The boss greeted us warmly, and the air was filled with the smell of Musalais.
The taste of Musalais is mainly sweet and sour, with some bitterness, slightly astringent and round body.
The local people say that the taste of wine is related to the age, personality and mood of the winemaker.
The wine of the strong is strong, the wine of the warm is soft, the wine of the elderly has a long aftertaste, the wine of the young is domineering and masculine, the wine of the lover has the fragrance of roses, and the wine of the frustrated makes people feel depressed after drinking.
The local people vividly integrate their heroic and unrestrained life temperament into Musalaisi.
With the development of the times, today's musalais brewing technology is also moving towards standardization and science while retaining its original characteristics.
"Mousalais brewed by traditional methods has a high pulp content, turbid color and burnt aroma," said Lao Yugen, deputy secretary-general of Xinjiang Wine Brewing Association. Compared with traditional musalais brewing technology, today's brewing technology pays more attention to Food safety has a higher degree of mechanization, and machinery replaces part of labor, which not only greatly improves production efficiency and raw material utilization, but is also more scientific and standardized to a certain extent.
Workers in the factory are washing and sorting grapes.
Photo courtesy of the Propaganda Department of Awati County Party Committee, Xinjiang
Guarding the fragrance of musalais for generations
Musalais is known as the "living fossil of Chinese wine". In 2007, Xinjiang included the "Awati Musalais Brewing Technology" in the list of intangible cultural heritage for protection.
In 2008, Aisha Gayiti was identified as the first batch of autonomous region-level representative inheritors.
He has been learning brewing technology since he was 18 years old, and the road of inheritance has not been smooth, and there are also many hardships.
At first, the brewing of Musalais lacked technical conditions and standardized specifications, and it was almost "one flavor per tank".
In order to break through the problem, he visited experts and scholars everywhere. After years of painstaking research and repeated pondering, Aisha Gayiti established the Ruby Musales Factory in Awati County in 2001, and promoted the standardized production of Musales products for the first time. to the market.
In 2005, Aisha Gayiti submitted an application for "Musalaisi Patent", and the State Patent Office granted it a "Technical Innovation Patent".
Today, 79-year-old Aisha Gayiti is passing on the craft to his grandson Sharezati Usman.
Influenced by the family, the fourth-generation inheritor Xiarezati Wusiman has a special feeling for the brewing of musalais since he was a child. As early as his childhood, under the influence of his family, he began to learn the brewing of musalais early. It has been nearly 10 years.
"I returned to my hometown after graduation. Making moussalais is a traditional craft that should be passed on."
The 26-year-old Sharezati Wusiman gave up his original music major and decided to take over the "old craft" that his grandparents have always adhered to, and continue to brew fine wine in his hometown.
Today, like Sharezati Wusman, more and more highly educated young people are joining the ranks.
They hope that Musalais from their hometown will be introduced to the national wine market, so that people from all over the world can taste the mellowness of Musalais.
Display of finished products of Awati Musales.
Photo courtesy of the Propaganda Department of Awati County Party Committee, Xinjiang
From brewing skills to getting rich
Yang Xingyuan said frankly that the development of the Musalaisi industry still faces bottlenecks such as imprecise technical standards and lack of professional talents.
In response to these practical difficulties, the Awati County government organized production enterprises to establish the Musalais Association, and cooperated with Xinjiang Medical University, Xinjiang Institute of Technology, Tarim Agricultural University and other universities to implement Musalais brewing technology and product research and development projects. The "ancient brewing process" is modernized.
At the same time, the county actively invests funds, continuously increases the training of professional talents, and organizes training courses on the inheritance of musalais brewing skills and theoretical seminars on musalais brewing techniques.
"Nowadays, the musalais industry in Awati County has gradually shifted from self-produced and sold in private workshops to a modern development path led by the government and produced by enterprises." Wang Yali, president of the Musalais Association of Awati County, said.
In April 2019, Awati Musales was included in the key development of the "Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Wine Industry Development Plan (2019-2025)".
Since then, Musalasi has entered the lives of more and more people as one of the Xinjiang business card products.
At present, Awati County has 8 processing enterprises of a certain scale, more than 120 small workshops (households), and more than 40 kinds of products. The annual output of the county is about 5,000 tons. The products are exported to Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. and many other cities.
A large number of surplus labor in farming and pastoral areas in Awati County have increased their income and become rich because of their engagement in the Musalais industry.
During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, Xinjiang fully explored the history and culture of traditional wine, encouraged and supported the integrated development of "traditional wine + cultural tourism", promoted the innovation of traditional musalaisi industry, and made it an important way to drive local people of all ethnic groups to realize rural revitalization .
(use up)