Source: Atlas Obscura
Walk long enough through the night market in Hoi An, Vietnam, and you will eventually spot white-eyed cobras in glass bottles, coiled upright in a mass of yellow liquid. These bottles contain snake wine, a strong alcoholic beverage that can be found all over South China and Southeast Asia.
Although this concoction is often sold for its tourist-shock factor, it actually has a long tradition as a medicinal drink, stretching back to China’s Western Zhou dynasty.In traditional Chinese medicine, distilling a snake’s “essence” into wine is said to cure everything from rheumatism to hair loss. Although venomous snakes are considered especially powerful, any venom gets denatured by the ethanol in the wine. The drink is also widely touted as an aphrodisiac that enhances virility.
Wine-makers typically use one large snake per bottle. They might throw…
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