flipAmazake — sweet fermented rice drink
Amazake — sweet fermented rice drink
Why this dish? Sake born from rice is Amaterasu's liquid offering, poured into her sacred cups. Its sweet, non-intoxicating version, amazake, warmed evening gatherings and celebrated, as once before the cave, the awaited return of light.
A thick, milky, warm drink, naturally sweetened by rice fermentation, without alcohol. Comforting like a ray of sun sipped slowly.
From the same grain I gave you is born this drink of light. Let the cooked rice unite with the ferment, and watch over it for a night, kept warm: by morning, without any fire having sweetened it, it will be sweet as honey. Drink it warm when the cold bites, or pour me a cup on the altar. It is the taste of patience and the sun locked within the grain.
- •Cooked rice — one measure (sweetening base)
- •Kōji (rice inoculated with ferment) — a handful (fermentation)
- •Warm spring water — to cover (fermentation medium)
Amazake — sweet fermented rice drink
A thick, milky, warm drink, naturally sweetened by rice fermentation, without alcohol. Comforting like a ray of sun sipped slowly.
Why this dish? Sake born from rice is Amaterasu's liquid offering, poured into her sacred cups. Its sweet, non-intoxicating version, amazake, warmed evening gatherings and celebrated, as once before the cave, the awaited return of light.
From the same grain I gave you is born this drink of light. Let the cooked rice unite with the ferment, and watch over it for a night, kept warm: by morning, without any fire having sweetened it, it will be sweet as honey. Drink it warm when the cold bites, or pour me a cup on the altar. It is the taste of patience and the sun locked within the grain.
Ingredients (period version)
- Cooked rice — one measure (sweetening base)
- Kōji (rice inoculated with ferment) — a handful (fermentation)
- Warm spring water — to cover (fermentation medium)
Ingredients
- Cooked rice (or rice porridge) — 200 g (base)
- Rice kōji (malted rice) — 200 g (sweetening ferment)
- Warm water (~60 °C) — 400 ml (fermentation)
- Salt — 1 pinch (balance (at serving))
Method
- Mix the still-warm cooked rice, crumbled kōji and water at 60 °C in a clean container.
- Keep the mixture between 55 and 60 °C for 8 to 10 h (yogurt maker, slow cooker on 'keep warm' with lid ajar, or warm water bath).
- Stir occasionally: the mixture sweetens as the kōji converts starch to sugar.
- Once well sweetened, blend for a smooth texture if desired.
- Serve warm, diluted with a little hot water and a pinch of salt; keeps a few days in the fridge.
How it was made : Amazake, 'sweet sake', has been prepared since Japanese antiquity by fermenting rice with kōji, with little or no alcohol. It was offered to the kami and drunk at festivals, the non-intoxicating cousin of the sacred sake poured for Amaterasu.
The contemporary twist : Serve it with a grating of fresh ginger in a small white cup: a spicy 'sun milk' for winter mornings.
Sources : Tradition of amazake and kōji in Japanese cuisine and Shinto rites · Engishiki (10th c.), descriptions of sake offerings to shrines
Amaterasu · Charactorium
