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Sake is a Japanese alcoholic drink, brewed from rice. The word (酒) is
pronounced as SA-KEH (the E sound like the A in CARE.) Its history can be
traced back to the 3rd century. The first sake was called kuchikami no sake,
(口噛み酒) or chewing-in-the-mouth sake, and was made by an entire village
chewing rice, chestnuts, and millet and spitting the mixture into a tub to
ferment.
Centuries later, the use of yeast was discovered, which greatly
increased the sake's alcohol content. World War II also altered the recipe,
when rice shortages forced brewers to develop new ways to increase their
yields. By government decree, pure alcohol and glucose were added to small
quantities of rice mash, increasing the yield by as much as four times. 95%
of today's sake is made using this technique, left over from the war years,
though connoisseurs say that the best sake is still made with just rice,
koji (麹) (Aspergillus oryzae, a fungus whose enzymes convert the starch in
the rice to sugar), and water only.
There are four basic types of sake, created by slightly varying the
brewing method:
- Junmai-shu - (純米酒 lit. pure rice wine) made from rice only; no
alcohol added.
- Honjozo-shu - with a slight amount of distilled alcohol added.
- Ginjo-shu - (吟醸酒) from highly milled rice; alcohol may or may not be
added.
- Daiginjo-shu - (大吟醸酒) from even more highly milled rice; again
alcohol may or may not be added.
Sake that has not been pasteurized is referred to as namazake (生酒), and may
be made with any of the above methods.
The most common way to serve sake in the United States is to heat it
to body temperature (100°F/40°C), but professional sake tasters prefer room
temperature, and chilled sake (50°F/10°C) is growing in popularity.
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