Dark and Delicious: China’s Chinkiang Black Vinegar

Mala Market Hengshun’s 6-year-aged

From the banks of the Yangtze in the Sichuan province to the coast of Fujian, China is a place that celebrates vinegar. In fact, the country is said to have four famous vinegars, which include: Sichuan Baoning, Shanxi, Fujian’s Yongchun red vinegar and the one best known outside of China, Chinkiang black vinegar.

This deep, potent vinegar is named after Zhenjiang City, formerly known as Chinkiang, which translates to (香醋 xiāngcù) “fragrant vinegar,” Taylor Holliday, proprietor of Mala Market, an online store for authentic Chinese ingredients, told me. I’ve always known Chinkiang as a necessary dipping sauce for xiao long bao (soup) dumplings, dunk for many Chinese noodles, but it’s also an all-purpose flavor enhancer for fresh tofu dishes and earthy mushroom alike. On her site, Holliday deals Hengshun’s 6-year-aged version, which starts, like most Chinkiang vinegars, is a fermentation of glutinous rice and wheat bran — this one see a “50-day, 40-step process before it’s aged in earthenware crocks for at least half a year,” Holliday explains. In this time, it becomes a sour, savory elixir, that’s almost as if balsamic meets malt vinegar: dark and delicious.

Christine Lau Chino Grande Shrimp Saltado

Chinkiang doesn’t have to only exist in the Chinese canon. Chef Christine Lau mixes things up at Chino Grande, a Chino Latino restaurant in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Lau’s play on Lomo Saltado, a traditional Peruvian stir-fry of beef, tomatoes and onions, exchanges shrimp for the beef and adds potatoes to the dish. (Lomo Saltado classically comes served with French fries on the side.) Her go-to bottle is Taiwan’s biggest brand Kong Yen, which gets its distinctive sweetness from orange juice, carrot juice and tomato paste. Lau also uses it in a postpartum pork knuckles in ginger vinegar stew (豬脚薑醋) that turns almost black from the amount of vinegar (and sugar) that gets reduced in the braise, in the same breath, she’s excited about the more artisan Chinkiang vinegars now coming to market (e.g. Soeos 3-year aged).

Jon Kung

Cookbook author Jon Kung, an YouTube/TikTok star (see: Kung Food: Chinese American Recipes from a Third-Culture Kitchen), has numerous videos showcasing him adding slivers of ginger to a Chinkiang dipping sauce. “The acidity of Chinkiang vinegar tends to be less harsh [than other vinegars], making it something that can easily be a table condiment without dilution,” says Kung. Kung dresses a wood ear mushroom salad, but loves it as a foil for fattier foods too, like rich pork-laden dumplings. It’s also a way to bring a little lightness to seared fish dishes, which Kung tops with a mountain of herbs (e.g. cilantro, scallions and sage) before dousing it with vinegar, all the while, bolstering the bit of “fruit [Chinkiang vinegar] has at the beginning — which rounds out at the end with depth and touch of umami,” claims Kung.

Kevin Pang Hunger Pangs Sticky Spareribs

Chinkiang can also serve as the base for a simple, but flavorful addition to meat dishes, Kevin Pang, host of Hunger Pangs at America’s Test Kitchen, and author of A Very Chinese Cookbook, adores his dad’s Sticky Spare Ribs with Chinkiang Vinegar. “The Chinkiang vinegar reduces into a sticky glaze intensifying its fruity and sharp flavors into something that pairs really well with pork.” says Pang.t He points to the black vinegar’s sweet-and-sour character as one that’s versatile in numerous less-expected recipes, too “I’ve even used a few splashes in a Bloody Mary!” he says.

Zoey Xinyi Gong

Chinkiang is also used in traditional Chinese medicine, as Zoey Xinyi Gong, a TCM food therapist, chef, and registered dietician, who penned The Five Elements Cookbook, uses the vinegar in a marinade for a pleasantly tart tomato and hawthorn berry salad, which she serves at The Red Pavilion, her nightclub in Brooklyn, NY. “For me, the smell is very nostalgic, sweet and sour pork ribs, west lake fish — these things come from my region,” the latter, is a traditional local specialty dish of Hangzhou in Zhejiang. Whereas every food in China cuisine has one of five thermal natures, ranging from cold, cooler, neutral, warming, hot; Chinkiang vinegar is considered warming. This helps with blood circulation, or as Gong says, “a doctor will prescribe a tablespoon of vinegar for cardiovascular [health], gently warming the body.” Gong also notes that there’s a compound in Chinkiang vinegar similar to Chuānxiōng, a medicinal herb, when boiled into tea, has a dark color like the vinegar as well, which alleviates swelling of the joints. Gong substitutes Chinkiang vinegar for balsamic in many recipes, reducing it down into a glaze with dark brown sugar and osmanthus flower. “It’s so affordable!” she says. “Just $2 or $3 in Chinatown — look for the yellow label (aka, Gold Plum)”.

Gold Plum

Wherever you’re buying your bottles, and whatever you’re using them for, from dumplings to drinks, Chinkiang is no longer just regionally famous — it’s worldwide!