Food

Home> Food

Ordos milk wine

2022-03-01

Milk tea is a traditional drink of the people living in the city of Ordos in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

The main ingredient in Ordos milk tea is horse milk. It is produced by putting the horse milk into a wooden barrel and stirring it with a special wooden implement until the dregs sink and the pure whey floats to the top. 

Meanwhile, Ordos also produces a kind of milk wine.

Locals say there are four categories of milk wine in the region, some alcoholic and others non-alcoholic, due to different raw materials and brewing methods.

The first category is called Qige, commonly known as horse milk wine. It features a yogurt directly fermented from fresh horse milk, which locals say is the most superior in the milk wine category. 

The second is Saline Ari Ho, also known as Mongolian wine. Its brewing involves boiling and distilling the yoghurt of cattle and sheep that has been refined with white ghee. 

Its color is transparent, and the taste is sour and sweet. With its low alcohol content, it is not easy to become inebriated after drinking.

The third category is Ariji, distilled from Saline Ari Ho, similar to the erguotou white spirit brewed by the Han people.

The fourth category of milk wine is Jiriji, which is made by distilling Ariji and is contains alcohol. Locals advise that it is recommended people drink one glass at a time.