Guizhou's sour soup makes taste buds zing

The site houses more than 30,000 fermentation jars with an annual capacity of 100,000 metric tons. It supplies authentic Guizhou flavors to consumers in Beijing, Shanghai and beyond, and partners with national restaurant chains including Haidilao and Yangguofu — both of which have introduced sour soup products in recent years, a move that has proven popular among consumers.

Last year, Yumeng Group recorded a total output value of 413 million yuan and produced more than 27,800 tons of sour food products.

Yang credits a turning point to 2023, when the province's Village Super League soccer tournament went viral on social media. "Since then, Guizhou has become a popular tourist destination. Sour soup has become better known and loved, and demand for our products surged," he said.

According to Qiandongnan's sour soup task force office, from January to October, the Kaili sour soup industry chain generated 6.27 billion yuan in output value, up 196.87 percent year-on-year. The region has also expanded main and auxiliary sour-soup crop planting to 32,533 hectares.

"We support enterprises working with research institutions to tackle key technologies such as microbiome regulation, flavor standardization, preservation and intelligent production," said Pan Ningxian from the task force.

Yang said he is optimistic about sour soup's potential in the health-food market, pointing to a recently launched additive-free version.

"Compared with traditional hotpot and many Chinese dishes, sour soup hotpot uses less oil and sugar, which fits young people's expectations for healthier food. Our future research and development will follow that direction," Pan said.