Vice Japan tracked down a story about a wine, used in traditional Korean medicine, called Ttongsul. The key ingredient in it is human feces, preferably from a kid age 4 to 7. Because, as the doctor who brews the wine for Vice says: “It doesn’t smell because it’s from kids.” He also says it will help heal patients who have had a traumatic fall — out of a tree, for instance — recover more quickly.
So that you don’t have to watch a 19-minute video detailing this process, we’ll boil it down for you:
1. Mix the feces with water. Leave it to ferment overnight.
2. Add rice — non-glutinous rice that will up the alcohol content, glutinous rice for its anti-inflammatory properties. And to improve the taste.
3. Ferment for a week or more at about 86 to 98.6 degrees F.
4. Don’t think about what’s in it when you drink it.
According to the doctor, once it’s fermented, everything that’s in the feces has turned into “good bacteria.” Also, it’s about 9 percent alcohol. Also, he keeps insisting that it’s delicious. But if you fast-forward to around the 15-minute mark in Vice’s video, you’ll find that the host/guinea pig does not agree. Usually we’re all for reusing waste, but this might be beyond even our limit.
