Sake

Although sometimes misnamed Japanese wine by the Japanese themselves, sake, in the strict sense of nihonshu, is a “rice beer.” Spring water that is used to steam rice that sprinkled with the mold called kōji-kin. During the fermentation process of 40 hours, starches will be broken down into sugars.  By adding yeast strains, another enzymatic reaction takes place in which the sugars are broken down to alcohol and carbon dioxide. This fermentation lasts from fifteen days to a month, depending on the type of yeast used and the final quality of the sake.