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SakeSake (Japanese: 酒; pronounced IPA: [sɑ.kɛ] Listen (help·info)) is a Japanese alcoholic beverage, brewed mainly from rice. In casual English usage it is widely referred to as "rice wine", although government regulations are more likely to classify it as a malt liquor. The rice wine known in the west as "sake" is a specific type called nihonshu (日本酒) "Japanese alcohol" in Japanese. In Japan, the word sake simply means alcoholic beverage, and regionally, it can take on more specific meanings. In Southern Kyushu, sake usually refers to a distilled beverage, potato shochu (imo-jochu 芋焼酎). Shōchu refers to a distilled spirit made with koji (麹 or 糀). In Okinawa, sake refers to shōchu made from sugar cane. On the other hand, sake can also mean Okinawa's other distilled beverages, awamori (泡盛), literally "bubble top", or kūsū, literally "old drink". These latter forms of sake are distilled from long-grain rice and kurokōji (黒麹) which means black koji. The history of sake is not well documented and there are multiple theories on how it was discovered. One theory suggests that the brewing of rice first started in China, along the Yangtze River around 4800 BC and was subsequently exported to Japan. Another theory traces sake brewing back to 3rd century Japan with the advent of wet rice cultivation. The combination of water and rice lying around together would have resulted in molds and fermentation. Regardless the first sake was called kuchikami no sake, (口噛みの酒) or "chewing-in-the-mouth sake," and was made by people chewing rice, chestnuts, millet, acorn and spitting the mixture into a tub. The enzymes from the saliva allowed the starches to saccharify (convert to sugar). Then this sweet mixture was combined with freshly cooked grain and allowed to naturally ferment. This early form of sake was likely low in alcohol and consumed like porridge. This method was used also by American Natives; see cauim, and pulque. Chinese millet wine, xǐao mǐ jǐu (小米酒), made the same way, is mentioned in inscriptions from the 14th century BC as being offered to the gods in religious rituals. Later, from approximately the 8th century BC, rice wine, mǐ jǐu (米酒) with a formula almost exactly like that of the later Japanese sake, became popular in China. Centuries later, chewing was rendered unnecessary by the discovery of koji-kin (麹菌 Aspergillus oryzae), a mold whose enzymes convert the starch in the rice to sugar, which is also used to make amazake, miso, natto, and soy sauce. Rice inoculated with koji-kin is called "kome-koji" (米麹), or malt rice. A yeast mash, or shubo (酒母), is then added to convert the sugars to ethanol. This development can greatly increase sake's alcohol content (18%-25% by vol.); as starch is converted to sugar by koji, sugars are converted to alcohol by yeast in one instantaneous process. Koji-kin was discovered most likely by accident. Koji spores and yeast floating in the air would land in a soupy rice-water mixture left outside. The resulting fermentation would create a sake porridge not unlike the kuchikami no sake but without the hassle of needing a whole village to chew the rice. This porridge was probably not the best tasting but the intoxication was enough to keep people interested in making it. Some of this mash would be kept as a starter for the next batch. Check out the following recipes that are tagged "Sake":
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