Zuza Fun

Snake wine is a Vietnamese alcoholic beverage that includes a whole venomous snake in the bottle. The snakes, preferably venomous ones, are not usually preserved for their meat but to have the snake poison dissolved in the liquor. However, the snake venom is denatured by the ethanol and therefore inactivated. In many countries in the Far East, snakes are believed to possess medicinal qualities and the wine is often advertised to cure everything from hair loss to eye troubles.

There are two varieties of snake wine:

• Mixed: body fluids of snake are mixed into wine and consumed immediately in the form of a shot.
• Steeped: a large venomous snake can be placed into a glass jar of rice wine, often with many smaller snakes, turtles, insects, or birds, and left to steep for many months. The wine is drunk as a restorative in small shots or cups.