Hua Diao

Xiao Shin Hua Diao Jiu (紹興花雕酒) - a type of rice wine originated from Shao Xing, China. It is mainly made of glutinous rice and wheat. Alcohol content by volume: 16% or less. Its name, Hua Diao describes the flowery carved pottery that stored the wine anciently, but the bottle has been mass produced commercially with simpler design in handy bottle, for convenience and more economical purposes. However, there are still many Hua Diao Wine selling in nice flowery carving designed pottery. Seriously, it does not matter how it is bottled to me, all I care is the quality of wine and its taste added to my cooking.

There are different grades of such wine, for different purposes of drinking and cooking. It resembles the taste of dry sherry. The aroma of this Hua Diao wine is vary, depends on its grade and how much it priced. To my knowledge, those available in most supermarkets and sundry shops, ranged from $2 for a big bottle (lower grade) to $15 for only a small bottle (better grade).

The one that I am using costs $9 for a bottle of 380ml. A 5 year vintage wine from Plum Blossom brand (梅花牌). Its quality and fragrance should be great enough for prefect home cooking. Of course, I like this brand, reason being it does not contain any salt! There are some Xiao Shin wines that may be more than RM200 per 500 mls!!

I love to use Hua Diao wine to many of my cooking due to its sweet and pleasant aroma added to my dishes, for instances, fried rice, fried bee hoon, steamed fish, prawns, mushrooms dishes, broccolis, soup, and many more! It has become a staple condiment in my kitchen.

Next time when you cook such dishes, try to drizzle some Hua Diao Wine!