Qingxu County, about 40 km south of Taiyuan, is the main production centre for Shanxi's famous aged vinegar. The town has a visitor trail through several of the traditional vinegar workshops, where the multi-stage fermentation and ageing process — using sorghum, bran, and various grain mixes — is demonstrated and explained. The smell of a Qingxu vinegar warehouse, rich with lactic acid and the particular funk of aged grain fermentation, is one of the more unusual sensory experiences available in Shanxi.
Several of the larger producers have opened visitor centres where you can taste aged vinegar at different stages of maturation and buy directly. The price difference between factory-gate purchases and what is sold in Taiyuan shops is significant for the better-aged products. The town also has a small museum dedicated to Shanxi vinegar culture and its history.