Qichun Sour Fermented Rice Noodles 蕲春酸米粉
Qichun Sour Fermented Rice Noodles is featured among the local specialties of Hubei.
Qichun Sour Fermented Rice Noodles (蕲春酸米粉) are rice noodles from Qichun County (蕲春县) in Huanggang (黄冈), Hubei, made from early indica rice fermented twice in local earthenware vats. They became a national geographical-indication protected product in 2017.
How it is made
Two local materials are needed: Qichun's earthenware vats and good early indica rice. The rice is soaked in the vats for about seven to fifteen days until it ferments and turns sour, then scooped out and ground to a slurry, which goes back into the vats to ferment a second time. The second fermentation is the key step, and misjudging it affects the texture. Qichun has more than a thousand years of pottery-making, and according to Chutian Metropolis Daily (楚天都市报) only rice soaked in local vats gives the authentic sour aroma.
Done by hand, the traditional process has 24 steps and needs the whole family: a row of large vats, a stone mill grinding the soaked rice and a big iron wok over the fire. Xu Meng (徐猛), who opened a noodle factory in Jiahe (夹河) village in 2007, says ten people once made 100 jin (斤) a day. With machines for grinding, pounding the rice into cakes and turning out the noodles, the count has fallen to 15 steps and ten people make 3,000 jin. His factory works every clear day from September to November to stock up for Spring Festival, the peak selling season.
Flavour and texture
The finished noodles are translucent, sour and refreshing, springy and supple, with no food additives. They do not cloud the water when boiled and do not break easily when stir-fried.
How it is eaten
They are boiled or stir-fried, as a staple or, fried with plenty of vegetables, as a dish. One family routine is to soak the noodles overnight and stir-fry them the next morning with egg and greens for breakfast.
Where it comes from
Qichun is the hometown of Li Shizhen (李时珍), revered in China as the "sage of medicine" (医圣). Wang Deyin (王德银), a Pengsi (彭思) town official, says the most authentic noodles come from Pengsi, and that in the past, when every batch took 24 hand steps, families brought them out only for banquets. Wang says research shows people in Qichun were already making rice noodles in the Ming dynasty, and that under the Qing the noodles went to the imperial kitchen as tribute.
Sources & reading
Written from the linked sources and fact-checked against them on 2026-09-25. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.
Image credits & notes (1)
- Reference photo of a similar dish · 同类菜品参考照片A similar preparation is pictured; the local version may differ. 同类菜品参考照片，当地做法可能不同。Photo: Mystery6002 · CC0Resized for the web; the photo itself has not been edited. Thumbnails may show a cropped view.
