Every day is so cold that I'd love to make something hot to keep me cozy. What should I drink? Hmmmmm...... hot coffee, hot tea, hot milk, or....?
Today, I'd like to introduce my favorite hot drink in winter. Since I got rice kōji (Rice koji is a preparation obtained by growing a kind of mold on boiled rice. This has usually been used as a starter for fermentation in sake, soy-sauce and miso), I made amazake (a traditional sweet, non-alcoholic Japanese drink made from fermented rice) to use the rice koji.
The picture below is rice koji.
I measured out 200g of koji and placed it into a container. It has such a lovely aroma and I absolutely love it.
Next, I added 400ml of water to the container and mixed the koji with the water.
This is my favorite kitchen gadget, my farmenter!! I usually use it to make homemade yogurt. I much prefer my homemade yogurt over store-bought yogurt because it's fresh and more tasty.
If you have a yogurt maker, and it's possible for you to get rice koji, you can make amazake too! You set the timer for 8 hours and the temperature at 60°C . Let the rice koji ferment to make amazake. After about one hour, I recommend you to open the lid to check and give it another stir to ensure smooth fermentation.
After seven hours, your fresh amazake will be ready!!!
Since I love ferment ginger too, I like adding some to amazake because the convination of ginger and amazake is absolutely delightful. I'll share how to ferment ginger some time soon!
Making amazake is amazingly simple and easy, but the taste is so good. Since I don't use any sugar, I don't need to have a guilty pleasure either. Even without sugar, it’s naturally sweet. Amazake is a super healthy drink because it's fermented. We should take fermented food to make our guts healthy. If this sounds interesting, give it a try!
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That's so interesting. I always assumed that amazake was alcoholic. I guess it makes sense now why I've seen middle-school students drink it in some anime that I've seen.
Woah, I really want to try this now ! I was slightly put off by the fact that the fermentation process uses "a kind of rice mold", but after my mum made kombucha, I realize that it is a completely natural, and necessary step.
@Ersatzjello Amazake has two different types, one is non-alcoholic and the other one is low alcoholic. The non-alcoholic one which I make is from rice koji, but the low-alcoholic one is from sakekasu (sake lees). If you're interested, I've written more about sake lees here: https://journaly.com/post/42516
@bakerboy001 I highly recommend it to you!!! I've heard about kombucha but never try it yet. It sounds super healthy too!
今日、酒粕で甘酒を作って飲みました。寒い日はこれでポカポカです。たぶんアルコールのおかげ :)
@Aki_ ここ一番の冷え込みですよね～ 私は酒粕で作る甘酒は好きじゃないので作らないのですが、きっと米麹の甘酒よりもぽかぽか感はあるでしょうね。お酒が入っている分！暖かくしてお過ごしくださいね～
Very interesting, Yumi @yumiyumayume ; especially, the fermentation process in Japanese cuisine. I have read that fermentation techniques were developed mainly in Japan during the Edo period due to the need to preserve food and the political isolation from the outside world that was established by the leaders of Japan.
In Spain, to warm the body in the winter, people prefer to drink ‘caldos’ (broths), which are very typical in all traditional cuisine. Here is an example I found on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbYG6gd3X9I
@druida Thank you for educating me again! I've known our fermentation culture has existed since the Heigan period but I didn't know that during the Edo period, we developed because of sakoku (shut down our country). It's fascinating to know! I love eating fermented food. The soup you introduced me looks delicious! It must be moms' homemade soup and make families very cozy!!