Sake

I have discussed various food items. And because I have been at a japanese market last month, I decided why not try to write about Sakè.

This is a japanese alcoholic beverage obtained by the fermentation of rice (Nihonshu o Seishu). It can be consumed at a dish, the alcohol grade is similar to wine varying from 12° C e i 18° C. Something that I find interesting is that it can be served cold, hot or just room temperature.

The ingredients for producing Sake are:

• rice – Sakamai is the rice used for Sake production but because of technology they started to develop other types of rice. And in 2010 they have cultivated 95 types of rice used to produce sake.
• water – 80% of Sake is water, and the quality used is extremely important, because the minerals contained affects the final taste. High iron and manganese minerals contained in the water is not good. A reduced mineral content is the ideal water for making sake.
• Koji fungus (Aspergillus oryzae) which is fundamental to transform the rice starch in simple sugar. This is present in plants most especially in rice plants transforming starch in sugar which is necessary for the fermentation process. Three variations are white, yellow and black. They chose yellow Koji for sake production because of its rich, pleasant, fruity and it doesnt leave any color.
• yeast is also an important ingredient of Sake. It is equivalent to the bread yeast. For producing sake the yeast is Saccharomyces cerevisiae, this has the capacity to ferment in very low temperature and reach alcoholic concentration superior to 20° vol. and produced aromatic compounds. And during the process of fermentation, this particular yeast convert sugar in alcohol.

Just like all wine, it goes from 2 weeks up to a year as it becomes old wine.

I am really not an expert when it comes to wine. But I have drank Sake a bunch of times and i like it. It is not as strong as the other wine I have tried. Even the taste is really tender and I like it warm more than cold. What do you think? have you ever tried Sake? Did you like it? Let me know!

In the meantime, if you are curious about the Japanese market. check out my vlog!