Sake may be close to being a perfect beverage. I mean, rice is a perfect food, right? Correct.
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Sake may be close to being a perfect beverage. I mean, rice is a perfect food, right? Correct.
Given Australia’s incredibly diverse culinary landscape, it makes sense that we explore the beverages that come with it. Naturally, sake is a friend to Japanese cuisine, being its traditional and true home. A little junmai number with a spot of nigiri is going to tickle all the right spots in your palate, and your tum. However, given the infinitely malleable ways this humble drink can express itself – from deeply savoury, umami party, forest drenched, sunlight washed, fruit basket, delicate, rustic, complex, simple and sweet, sparkling, honeyed, floral – it makes sense that there are endless situations and meals you can sip this drink with. There’s also a lot of ceremony and artistry to how sake is consumed; it’s a pensive drink, one to take your time with. Not a fan of the pure stuff? Thankfully they thought of that too. Cue yuzushu or umeshu, where yuzu or plum (respectively) have been blended with sake to provide a refreshing and completely addictive aperitif.
But first, some background stats to empower you on your sake journey. Mainly because it’s a truly unique beverage and understanding a few key terms will open your world up to so many different intricacies within the sake world. To make sake you need a few things. Sake rice, for one. It’s different to the rice we eat, harsher and much more aromatic. Most say it's not super good to munch on. This rice is polished, to remove the bran and harsher starches, then steamed, to be made into a mash. Then, water. Cool, calm, crystal clean water that flows from melted glaciers and quiet springs. Most breweries are built near the water source, or sometimes even over the top of them. It is involved in every part of the brewing process. Most importantly, you need koji. Koji is a friendly little fungus used to make many fermented foods, including miso and shoyu. The koji is sprinkled over the steamed rice mash, and it happily converts the starch to sugar. Then, yeast steps in, eating the glucose and turning it to alcohol. All the while allowing all kinds of aromatics to appear. It is a complicated process, involving three fermentations, two of which occur simultaneously – the only fermented beverage in which this occurs.
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