MUZIChinese Matrix
Sour Plum and Other Soft Drinks · FFET10123
The liquid left after mung beans are ground and their starch is taken out, soured by fermentation and drunk hot with fried dough rings and shredded pickles.
A white porcelain bowl holds gray-green douzhi, with two golden-brown fried dough rings on a small white plate beside it and a second small dish of fine shredded pickle.
Sour plum drink and the other non-alcoholic drinks made from plants and grain.
Douzhi is a traditional Beijing drink made by fermenting the liquid left when mung beans are ground and their starch is strained out; it is drunk hot, often with fried dough rings and shredded pickles. It has about 300 years of records and ties to the imperial kitchen during the Qing dynasty's Qianlong years. Its exact origin is unknown, and no dated text was found in the listed sources, so no origin year is given; an April 2025 report dates the addition of the Beijing douzhi eating custom to Beijing's municipal intangible cultural heritage list to 2007, but the official list has not been checked.
Douzhi is a sour drink made from the liquid left after mung beans are ground and the starch is strained out for vermicelli or starch; it is fermented, heated and drunk hot, often with fried dough rings and shredded pickles.1,2,3,4,5
Douzhi has about 300 years of records in Beijing, a story dated 1753 and ties to the imperial kitchen during the Qing dynasty's Qianlong years. Its exact origin is unknown: no dated text was found in the listed sources, and claims of Liao or Song origins lack a source, so no origin year is given.1,2,3,4
Historically, douzhi was found only within Beijing and just outside its moat.1
A Beijing method documented in 2025 calls for soaking mung beans for more than 10 hours, grinding them to a thin paste, filtering, settling and fermenting, then boiling over high heat and keeping warm over low heat. After a starter is added, the slurry ferments into 3 layers: sour clear liquid on top, starch at the bottom and a semi-finished middle layer, which is fermented again to make douzhi. Shops use old douzhi as the starter and heat it in a water bath to prevent scorching. A 2010 study identifies natural fermentation by lactic acid bacteria as the process that sours the mung bean milk.2,3,4,5
People credit douzhi with soothing the stomach, clearing toxins and clearing heat. A 2025 review identifies its distinctive rancid, beany off-flavor as a barrier to wider acceptance.3,4,6
Peking opera performers are fond of douzhi, and the story of Yan Huizhu bringing 1 large jar to Mei Lanfang in Shanghai is often repeated. Douzhi now also comes bottled and in new forms. An April 2025 report dates the addition of the Beijing douzhi eating custom to Beijing's municipal intangible cultural heritage list to 2007; the official list has not been checked.2
Legend has it that in the Qianlong years a starch workshop's mung bean slurry turned sour one summer while it stood; someone tasted it and found it good, and richer still once boiled, it became a drink people loved, and it later reached the palace kitchen.
Told in: Told in Beijing and found in one travel article. The article quotes an edict of the Qianlong years without naming where it comes from, so this is treated as a tale and not as history.
It is said that Yan Huizhu, a student of Mei Lanfang, brought her teacher a big jar of Beijing douzhi in Shanghai; a Beijing article says she did it to honor her teacher. Accounts differ on how she brought it and in which year.
Told in: A story told in opera circles and in Beijing news features, found in a 2025 Xinhua report and a Beijing article that do not quite agree.
Grandma Li
In Beijing douzhi began as the liquid left over from making vermicelli and starch, and it is usually made in workshops and shops and is not a home dish, so this is not a home version: I pass on just the old method from two articles, with no amounts or times, because the articles give none and I will not make them up. To taste it at home, I would buy ready-made douzhi, bring it to a boil, keep it hot to drink, and set fried dough rings and shredded pickles beside it.
Allergens: wheat
