It is expensive to buy, but you can easily cook at your home.
Ingredients
Glutinous Rice (Mochi-gome, もち米) 3 cups
Water About 80% against Glutinous Rice
Rice Flour (Kome-ko, 米粉)
Recipe
Wash the rice、and drain the one using a strainer.
Add the rice and weighed water to the rice cooker and cook as usual.
While rice is cooking, spread rice flour on cutting board. When rice is cooked, stir rice in rice cooker using a rolling pin.
When the grains of rice gathers to some extent, you will pound the rice next.
As you can see below, you have to try hard to pound until the rice become sticky.
Put rice cake on a cutting board.
Roll up rice cake to the size of your choice, and cook for a sticky rice cake (kinako-mochi, きな粉餅) and a rice cake with nori seaweed (isobe-yaki, 磯辺焼き).
Do you know the difference between “Daiginjou”, “Junmai-shu” and “Honjōzō-shu”?
There are many kinds of sake, and you have trouble choosing.
By knowing the difference between each Sake you can enjoy sake more.
Therefore, this time we will introduce the types of the 16 kinds of sake briefly and easily.
Types of Japanese sake
Sake is classified according to “Rice-polishing ratio”, “koji ratio”, “production method such as alcohol addition amount”.
Specific name Type of sake
Among them, specific name sake is classified into the following 8 types depending on the difference between “raw material” and “manufacturing method”.
Sake is basically made from rice and water.
inside that,
It can be broadly divided into two types with or without adding alcohol.
The one without alcohol addition is “Junmai-shu (純米酒)” ,
The one with alcohol addition is “Honjōzō-shu (本醸造酒)”.
【Types of Japanese sake 1 to 4】Junmai-shu (No alcohol added)
Junmai-shu is alcohol made only with rice and rice koji.
“Ginjo-shu” is made by fermenting a lot of polished rice (Rice-polishing ratio less than 60%) at low temperature for a long time.
Because it is a liquor that takes time and labor to manufacture, Ginjo-shu with a low rice-polishing ratio is expensive.
1. junmai daiginjō-shu 純米大吟醸酒
Raw materials: rice, rice koji, water
Features: Rice-polishing ratio is determined to be 50% or less. (Shaving 50% or more of rice and making polishing proportion 50% or less)
These are called daiginjō-shu.
There are many high-priced ones.
Unique flavor and color is particularly good.
2. junmai ginjō-shu 純米吟醸酒
Raw materials: rice, rice koji, water
Features: Rice-polishing ratio is determined to be 60% or less. (Shaving 40% or more of rice and making polishing proportion 60% or less)
These are called ginjō-shu.
Unique flavor and color is good.
3. Tokubetsu ginjō-shu 特別純米酒
Raw materials: rice, rice koji, water
Features: Rice-polishing ratio is determined to be 60% or less. (Shaving 40% or more of rice and making polishing proportion 60% or less)
These are called tokubetsu ginjō-shu with a special manufacturing method.
It is characterized by different raw material types and manufacturing methods.
4. Junmai-shu 純米酒
Raw materials: rice, rice koji, water
Features: Japanese ancient alcohol. There is no provision of rice-polishing ratio.
It is also called Junmai-Jozoshu, there are many types of rich taste.
Also, there is a difference in taste depending on the level of provision of rice-polishing ratio.
Unique flavor and color is particularly good.
【Types of Japanese sake 5 to 8】Honjozo-shu (Alcohol attached)
What adds alcohol for brewing is called “Jozo-shu”.
“Jozo-shu” is different from “Futsu-shu (普通酒)”, it is stipulated that the amount of brewing alcohol to be added must be kept to less than 10% of the total weight of white rice.
Alcohol for brewing seems to emphasize the taste and aroma of Sake and to have a mellow taste.
5. Daiginjo-shu 大吟醸酒
Raw material: rice, rice koji, water, brewed alcohol
特徴：Rice-polishing ratio is 50% or less（Shaving 50% or more of rice and making polishing proportion 50% or less.）。
it is also called Ginjo-zukuri 吟醸造り.
Unique flavor and color is particularly good.
The purpose of adding brewed alcohol is not to increase weight.
It will affect yeasts during fermentation making it possible to make a good sake brew.
Therefore, the quantity is small.
6. Ginjo-shu 吟醸酒
Raw material: rice, rice koji, water, brewed alcohol
Features: Rice-polishing ratio is less than 60%.（Shaving 40% or more of rice and making polishing proportion 60% or less.）
it is also called Ginjo-zukuri 吟醸造り.
Unique flavor and color is good.
7. Tokubetsu-honzo-shu 特別本醸造酒
Raw material: rice, rice koji, water, brewed alcohol
Features: Rice-polishing ratio is less than 60%.（Shaving 40% or more of rice and making polishing proportion 60% or less.）
It is characterized by different raw material types and manufacturing methods.
8. Honzo-shu本醸造酒
Raw material: rice, rice koji, water, brewed alcohol
Features: Rice-polishing ratio is less than 70%.（Shaving 30% or more of rice and making polishing proportion 70% or less.）
Sake that added brewing alcohol of 120 liters or less per ton of raw material rice.
What is Rice-polishing ratio 精米歩合?
“Rice-polishing ratio” means the ratio of the core of rice used for manufacturing.
For example, if it is written as “Rice-polishing ratio 精米歩合 70%”, that liquor will be discarded as Nuka outside 30% of brown rice and 70% of the inside as raw material.
It is said that the lower the numerical value like “Rice-polishing ratio 50%”, the higher the quality.
The Rice not polished (the higher the number of Rice-polishing ratio), the more conspicuous are “taste depth, rice flavor, weight, dullness, fatigue”.
The more polished rice (the lower the number of Rice-polishing ratio), the more noticeable features such as “refreshingness, gorgeousness of fragrance, lightness, thinness”.
Of course there are individual differences in your preference, so please check the taste while comparing drinking and find the rice-polishing ratio that suits yourself.
What is not classified as the above-mentioned 1 to 8 specific name sake is called ordinary liquor (general liquor) and accounts for 70% of the total liquor.
In conclusion
In the above, I briefly introduced 8 types of sake.
Each has slightly different features, there are individual differences in preference, so please try discovering your favorite sake while trying on what you care about little by little.
Japanese sake (日本酒) is the Japanese traditional rice wine, and the only alcoholic beverage in the world, which can be drunk in a wide range of temperature from 5 to 60 degree, depending on your mood or the season.
Thanks to one of the most popular and well-known Japanese food Sushi, Sake has been recognized by the people from over the sea and its popularity is now increasing steadily worldwide.
Sake was first made thousands of years ago, and its taste was sweeter and the color was not as clear as now. However after years and years of experiments, its quality has reached to the one we know.
The vest way to know about Sake while you are in Tokyo is to visit Sawanoien (澤乃井園) where has a Sake cellar, shops, restaurants, and also beautiful garden.
It will be one of the best destinations to visit from the heart of Tokyo.
Sawanoi has more than 300 years of history of making Sake, and its quality is enormous despite the fact the place is situated in Tokyo.
There are free guided tour of the Sake cellar, which operates four times a day at 11:00, 13:00, 14:00, and 15:00. The tour required 45 minutes. Unfortunately, the tour is in Japanese only, but there are English brochures available which explain everything. To join this tour, you can purchase the ticket on the spot, but advance booking is recommended since the spaces limited.
After you get to know about the Sake better, why don’t you do some Kikizake (Sake tasting)? There are 10 different varieties of Sake to try it out and you could check from the color, smell and the taste with a charge.
To get to Sawanoien, take JR Ome line bound for Okutama , get off at Sawai Station, and walk fot 5 minutes. It will take approximately an hour and 20 minutes form Shinjuku.
The History of Ozawa Shuzo Co., Ltd
Sake brewing tours
The place where you are is called Sawai, one long famous for its fresh and abundant water. Our brand name, “Sawanoi” is based on the name of our village.
Ozawa Shuzo Co., Ltd. was established in 1702. In the Japanese system of designating years by number of years into the Imperial reign of the then-Emperor, the year 1702 is referred to as “Genroku 15th.”
This was a time when the Samurai governed Japan.
Sakabayashi
Sakabayashi in front of Brewry
You might notice a ball-shaped object hanging under the eaves of the brewery building. This is called a “Sakabayashi” and made of cedar leaves.
We brew sake from September to middle May. Every year in autumn a new Sakabayashi id made of fresh green leaves to replace the old one, whose color well before turned brown.
The display of the new Sakabayashi informs those seeing it that the first sake of the year is ready for sale.
Genroku-gura
元禄蔵 (Genroku berewry)
The first part of the cellar is called a “Genroku-gura.”
Ours was bult at the time of the founding of the company. The Genroku-gura has thick mud walls. This structure prevents the intrusion of light and keeps the temperature inside almost constant without need for heating of cooling. Light and rapid temperature variation adversely affect the brewing sake, so our cellar is ideal.
This part of the cellar was built with traditional Japanese building techniques, affording considerable endurance although made of wood.
The Tank
Porcelain- enameled steel tanks
Traditionally, big wooden casks were used to store sake.
But today we use porcelain- enameled steel tanks, or ones of stainless steel, to assure hygienic conditions inside.
Polishing Rice Grains
Japanese sake is made from rice, the staple grain in the typical diet of japanese people. Rice is central to the very culture of japan and its cooking.
The Sake brewing process starts with polishing rice. The more rice grains are polished through the outer parts into the core, the better quality of the starch obtained.
To make sake with a particularly clear flavor and fragrance, the rice grains need to be polished a lot. In the case of our top-of-the-line sake, ‘Daiginjo Koh’ , the rice grains are polished down until 64 percent of the original weight is removed.
The Well
The Well (Kurano-ido)
“Kura-no-ido” is one of the main water sources for us.
This well in actually is a tunnel dug almost horizontally 140 meters toward the north, under the big hill behind the brewery.
although dug 170 years ago, it is still very much in use for the clear spring water obtained from it very little iron, manganese or organic matters, and is a most suitable water for brewing sake.
To brew fine sake, good water is essential. And to get good water, the right natural environment is needed. With the advantage of the wonderful environment here, we have worked to improve our skill in making sake as our predecessors did.
And we intend to pass on to future generations this wonderful environment, the skill we have acquired and soul of fine making as we have come to know it.
I went to “Nishimura fruit parlor” at shibuya with my wife the other day.
“Nishimura fruit parlor” is a delicious parfait shop located in front of Dogenzaka in Shibuya.
It is a place that is easy to visit near the station so it seems to be useful for rainy days.
It was Thursday afternoon so I put it in line.
My wife is a strawberry parfait, I ordered a strawberry fruit sandwich.
Strawberry fruit sandwich 900 Yen (excluding tax)
I am not eating sweet things so much, but I thought that the clean sweetness sandwiches are easy to eat and eat as a meal.
My wife’s fruit parfait was also delicious.
Let’s various seasonal sake tasting！
Yuba kaiseki and brewery tour that is preeminent in the restaurant with sake brewery in Tokyo.
Date:
Sunday, December 16, 2018
13:10 until 14:10
Tour summary:
In this event,
You can eat homemade tofu and yuba kaiseki while watching the beautful valley in the restaurant operated by Okutama ‘s sake brewery, and you can experience a tour to learn about sake manufacturing process at the neighboring 300-year old sake brewe “Sawanoi”.
Of course it is possible to taste the sake fresh from the brewery at the end of the tour.
After the tour,
You can also enjoy a variety of freshly brewed sake while watching clear blue flow of Tama river at “Sawanoi Garden” on the open terrace.,
It is also recommended to visit “Sawanoi Kanzashi Museum” which exhibiting pretty and delicate “Kanzashi Art”.
If the weather is okay, it is also recommended to walk along the stream course to Mitake station next door.
valley of okutama
How about a luxurious day for relaxing and learning the sake while being healed by magnificent nature that you can’t believe that you are in Tokyo?
· Seasonal sake tasting
· Yuzu juice
· Silk tofu
· Tofu skin and green cooked walnuts
· Unohana, smoothened tofu, Gisei tofu, Petit potato, Pacific saury yawata-role, Hajikami
· Sliced raw fish
Okutama Salmon, Sashimi Yuba, Ashirai Complete
· TOKYO-X Hoba-Miso Grill
· Ginkgo nuts bun with kikuka starchy sauce
· Millet okowa, soup, ko no mono
· Soy milk caramel plum
※ Cooking content may change partly depending on the season.
Entry Fee:
6,500 yen
( If you do not need Seasonal sake tasting 5,500 yen )
Meeting place and time:
Let’s meet at the gate near the ticket gate at 13:10 at Sawai station on the Ōme Line.
Schedule of the day:
Sawai station on the Ōme Line ( 11:40 )
↓
Restrant “Sawanoi Mamagoto-ya” ( 12: 00 )
↓
Sake brewery tour at “Sawanoi” ( 14:00 )
↓
End of this event ( 15:00 )↓
After the event end:
This event is over after the a sake brewery tour ends.
Around this area,there are lots of sightseeing spots such as hot springs, delicious buckwheat shops and cafés please do not hesitate to ask me about this area.
After running:
If you don’t visit hot spring, I will guide you to the most convenient bus stop according to our arrival time.
Waiver of Liability/Disclaimer: Please read before signing up for this event.
These organizers are not professional trained leaders. By participation in this event you agree to not hold these organizers liable for any harm that may come to you, or your property.
Cancellation must be made at least three days in advance of the event, Cancellation after that will be subject to a cancellation fee for the convenience of booking a restaurant.
