Zaoyang Noodles in Fermented Sour Broth 枣阳酸浆面
Zaoyang Noodles in Fermented Sour Broth is featured among the local specialties of Hubei.
Zaoyang Noodles in Fermented Sour Broth (枣阳酸浆面) are thin wheat noodles served in a fermented sour vegetable broth and topped with a pork-fat sauce. They began in Juwan (琚湾镇), a town of Zaoyang (枣阳) in the hill country of northern Hubei, and are one of the best-known dishes of Xiangyang (襄阳). The making technique has been on Hubei's provincial intangible cultural heritage list since 2013.
How it is made
The sour broth (酸浆) is the key step. Fresh local celery, or small bok choy, is washed, blanched until about a third cooked and packed into a crock. Water is boiled with spices, a little flour batter is stirred in, and the hot liquid is poured over the vegetables and sealed to ferment: about a week in summer, half a month in winter. Each time broth is drawn off, the same amount of fresh noodle-cooking water goes back in, so the crock keeps going. Each family also adds a secret mix of Chinese medicinal herbs.
The topping (臊子) starts with chopped pork intestinal fat rendered in the wok. The white part of spring onions is fried in it until pale yellow, then minced ginger and fermented bean paste go in with ground star anise, Sichuan pepper and pepper. It is fried for 40 minutes until golden and boiled briefly with water. To serve, chopped pickled vegetables go in the bottom of the bowl, then the boiled noodles, boiled sour broth and the topping, with chilli powder for those who want it.
How it is eaten
The noodles usually come last, after a table of braised dishes such as beef, tripe, pig's ears, trotters, duck necks and tofu skin. Blanched bean sprouts with beef tendon are called the soul of the meal, and fried bread crisps are another common partner. In Zaoyang the noodles are a summer dish for entertaining guests, eaten in groups in the evening. Because fermentation depends on warmth, the noodles were traditionally served only from April to September; since 2024 two restaurants have kept the pickle fermenting all year.
Where it comes from
Local accounts date the noodles to the Jiaqing reign of the Qing dynasty. A Peng family from Huangpi (黄陂) settled in Juwan and ran a noodle business, keeping summer and autumn greens to sour in crocks for winter. One day they ran out of vegetables to go with the noodles and poured the sour pickle water over them instead. From the early 1980s many people trained at the Peng family shop and opened their own. The technique entered Zaoyang's first municipal heritage list in 2006, and in 2012 the dish was chosen for Hubei's first list of famous food-culture dishes (湖北省首届食文化名食). In 2022 Juwan was named in Hubei's first group of intangible-heritage towns.
Sources & reading
Written from the linked sources and fact-checked against them on 2026-09-24. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.