Snake Wine

Snake Wine is an alcoholic beverage produced by infusing whole snakes in rice wine or grain alcohol. The drink was first recorded to have been consumed in China during the Western Zhou dynasty and considered an important curative and believed to reinvigorate a person according to Traditional Chinese medicine[1]. It can be found in China, Vietnam and throughout Southeast Asia.
The snakes, preferably venomous ones, are not usually preserved for their meat but to have their "essence" and snake poison dissolved in the liquor. However, the snake venom is denatured by the ethanol; its proteins are unfolded and therefore inactivated.
Snakes are widely believed to possess medicinal qualities and the wine is often advertised to cure everything from farsightedness to hair loss.Snake wine in Vietnam is widely believed by some individuals to improve health and virility. A similar drink is made with geckos or sea horses rather than snakes.[4] Snake wine, due to its high alcohol percentage, is drunk in shot glasses traditionally. Braver drinkers may eat certain parts of the snake or snakes such as the gall bladder, the eyeballs and stomach.[citation needed]

It is illegal to import snake wine to many countries because the cobras and other snakes killed in the production are often endangered species.

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