Posted 2018/9/5
It had been popular in China to brew chrysanthemum wine as early as the Han and Wei Dynasties. Drinking Chrysanthemum wine later became a folk custom, especially during the Double Ninth Festival. In the bygone days, chrysanthemum wine was brewed on the Double Ninth Festival for the next year. On that very day, people picked chrysanthemum that had just blossomed and some green leaves just had come out, mixed them with grains for the brewing, and then put the mixture aside until the next Double Ninth Festival. It is said that people drinking the wine can prolong their life. On the Double Ninth Festival, besides ascending heights and wearing dogwood branches, people usually drank chrysanthemum wine with their friends and relatives while appreciating chrysanthemums. In particular, poets would improvise and chant poems when enjoyed the flowers and drank the wine, and they left behind a lot of beautiful lines for later generations.
As chrysanthemum wine can dispel pathogenic wind and clear heat, nourish the liver and improve eyesight, it has high medicinal values. From the perspective of medical science, the chrysanthemum wine can improve eyesight, treat dizziness, bring down the blood pressure, reduce fat, relax one’s body, replenish liver qi, soothe the stomach, and promote blood circulation. Li Shizhen, a medical scientist of the Ming Dynasty, pointed out that chrysanthemum was effective in curing headache, improving hearing and eyesight, and treating various diseases. Later, many herbal medicines were added to the chrysanthemum wine and promoted its effects. The chrysanthemum wine is made by first simmering chamomile in water, brewing with yeast or rice, or adding glutinous rehmannia, Chinese angelica, Chinese wolfberry, etc.
