Dit Da Jow, A Fine Wine
There is an age old question, inevitably asked by a large percentage of martial arts students as they are initiated to the idea and wonder of dit da jow, and this question usually has something to do with the passage of time: "Will it go bad after a long time?", "How long has it been aged?", "How long *should* it be aged?"
It is generally accepted that the most common type of dit da jow (alcohol based) tends to become more potent the longer it ages. This is a true statement: As the herbs sit in alcohol, the alcohol works to dissolve parts of the herbs that are in contact with the alcohol. As time passes, more herbal "goodness" is released into the alcohol, raising the concentration of medicinal molecules per unit mass of alcohol. But it is a very slow process, taking a number of months to acheive a very high percentage of possible extraction. But can a liniment age too long? Is there a most efficient aging time, where the extarction curve drops off almost completely? As I always say...Its all about objective:
The Equation
The type of alcohol that SHOULD be used in dit da jow is ethanol (usually 30-50% or 60-100 proof). Ethanol is the alcohol that is present in "white wine", vodka, or any other alcoholic beverage, as well as the highly pure alcohol used at PlumDragon (that is not available at liquer stores). Dit da jow should NOT be made with isopropyl rubbing alcohol.
Chemically, ethanol is C2 H5 OH and visually looks like this:
H H
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H--C--C--OH
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H H
There is one other thing present in any given jar of dit da jow that the alcohol will react with other than the herbs: Air! Vacuum sealing a jar of jow after making it will remove most of the air, but most people dont have this luxury. Ethanol will react with some of the constituents in the available air. One of a variety of possible reactions follows:
H H H O
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H--C--C--OH + O2 ---> H--C--C--OH + H2O
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H H H
The alcohol molecule above reacts with oxygen to create water and acetic acid, sometimes called...Vinegar!
The reaction above is not always the same, but what is generally accepted by the Chemistry community is that ethanol almost always breaks down into acetic acid given a natural environment.
So...Dit da jow DOES change composition over time (aside from the herbal extraction of course); alcohol slowly breaking down into acetic acid (vinegar) and water, as the years roll by and the jar is opened and used, even to a small degree if it is not opened. The question now becomes: Is this breakdown, this change into different chemicals a bad thing?
For many, yes...but not necessarily. Stay tuned...
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