Sweet rice wine at home: description, composition and recipes

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Japanese wines can be safely attributed to rare and unique drinks with original taste. One of the first mentions of the production of such wines dates back to 1697. The inhabitants of this country have special attention to this drink. It is customary even to bring rice wine as a gift, while wishing a person peace, goodness and a long life. Of these wines, the main place is occupied by the classic, from grains of the Nihonshu variety, which is also called sake. Most Japanese families even have their own homemade recipe for a tasty and he althy drink.

Rice wine - sake

Sake has a strength of up to about 18% depending on the variety. And there are countless varieties of this drink. According to statistics, in the Land of the Rising Sun, there are about two and a half thousand small and large enterprises for the production of sake. In fact, everything is much larger, sinceat home, it is also prepared in almost every self-respecting home. Rice wine is a matter of national pride for the inhabitants of the island and is directly associated with the concept of "small homeland" ("furusato").

A little history as usual

The origin and production of Japanese wine is rooted in ancient times. It was drunk more than two thousand years ago and just like that, and used in terms of divine offerings. In Japan, long isolated from the rest of the world, sweet rice wine was brewed in distilleries at the court of the emperor or in monasteries. And the sake itself was an integral part of the menu of all kinds of Shinto festivities. And since the 12th century, the villagers have been mastering winemaking, and it is gradually becoming an obligatory component of Japanese customs and traditions. Rice wine performs this function to this day, although in modern life it is crowded out by strong and not too foreign drinks - whiskey and beer, rooted in local soil.

Some subtleties of names

Previously, the name "sake" referred only to the rice drink. But over time, with the supply of other alcoholic beverages to Japan, this terminology began to spread to a wider range - applying to all brands that include a certain degree. This name now includes whiskeys, grape brandies, and even vodka. By the way, the locals call rice alcohol “sei-shu” or “nihon-shu” (which means: Japanese wine), distinguishing it from “yo-shu” (wine from Europe).

Japanese rice wine

This drink, which is sometimes also called vodka from the grains of the same name, tastes more like a liquor. Sweet rice wine is widely used in Japanese cuisine. Its alcohol component is not too high: from 14% and slightly higher. And the production of wine is more associated with the process of brewing strong beer. Its taste turns out to be soft and delicate, sometimes notes of sherry are significant, bitterness is barely noticeable, a grape-apple or banana taste is slightly visible. For manufacturing, a type of rice is used, in which rounded, heavy grains with a considerable amount of starch. 'Omachi' and 'Yamadanishiki' are considered the best varieties to produce. Sakedelas pay special attention to the quality of water. Unacceptable iron with manganese. But there should be (in reasonable amounts, of course) calcium and potassium, magnesium and phosphorus.

Cooking at home

It is quite possible to make rice wine at home, although the process will be a hassle, while the results will surely pleasantly surprise you.

Helpful Tips:

1. To produce high quality wine, you need the right basic ingredient. The grains must certainly be round and unpolished. It is impossible to wash them at any time, since natural yeast (koji) is on the plane, which contributes to more efficient fermentation of the wort.
2. Be sure to evaluate the quality of rice before cooking! To do this, put a little cereal in a bowl, moisten with warm water (no more than 40 degrees) so that it coversgrains completely. Set aside for a few days in a warm place. If it dries out or rots, this important ingredient will need to be replaced. If the fermentation has started, the raw material is recognized as suitable for the production of homemade sake.
3. Warning: It is impossible to make high-quality wine without koji disputes. They give a unique aroma and piquant flavor to this sake. Koji converts the starches found in rice into sugars. As a result, the wine comes out tasty without the introduction of sugar into its composition. It is quite realistic, of course, to choose recipes that do not contain this ingredient, but the taste of the final product will be much worse. If you have not been able to get (on the Internet or a store for winemakers) the appropriate spores, then they can be replaced with a natural product - koji rice, on which these fungi live.

How to reduce the degree?

If the wine made from rice turned out to be extremely strong in terms of alcohol content, lowering the degree will be extremely simple: you need to add a small spoonful of sugar to the vessel, close and shake until completely dissolved.

Homemade sake is usually stored for no more than a month. To extend the terms, it needs to be sterilized. To do this, we lower the vessel for a quarter of an hour into water heated to 60 degrees. Then cool and put in the cold for storage.

Recipe. The Right Ingredients

For each glass of grains we take: one and a half glasses of good water, one hundred grams of spore koji, juice of half a lemon, half a small spoonful of baker's yeast. Depending on the intended amount of sake to be prepared, the volumes of ingredientsincrease proportionally.

Cooking

1. Put the rice in a container and fill it with water. Leave overnight, soaking to make the wine more fragrant.
2. Cooking. This process can be done both in a saucepan and in a double boiler. We cook for a long time, on low heat. We cool the finished (even overcooked) product.
3. Squeeze some lemon juice into the water while stirring. Then we put the rice in a fermentation container (we make sure that there is less air).
4. Add water and yeast. Close the bowl and shake until smooth.
5. The wort in the jar is set aside in a cool and dark place, and the lid is slightly opened.
6. The jar needs to be shaken daily. From the moment the fermentation process begins, sake should stand for three weeks (until the bubbles disappear).
7. Drain the wine through cheesecloth and colander, and squeeze the rice. The resulting sake, if we do everything according to the recipe, will be a fortress of 14-21 degrees.