On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 1420

throughoutthemass.Peopleeventually
noticedthatmoldyricetastedsweetand
smelledalcoholic.Sometimebeforethe3rd
centuryBCE,thesesimpleobservationsledto
aregulartechniqueforproducingalcoholic
liquids.By500CE,aChinesesourcelistsnine
differentmoldpreparationsand37different
alcoholicproducts.
Today,fewpeopleoutsideofChinahave
heardofchiu,butmanymillionshaveheard
ofitsJapanesecounterpart,sake(pronounced
“sa-kay”).Ricecultivationandprobablychiu
productionwerebroughttoJapanfromthe
Asianmainlandaround300BCE.Overthe
followingcenturies,Japanesebrewersso
refinedchiuthatitbecamesomething
distinctive.
Starch-DigestingMolds

Thoughmodernindustrialproductionhas
broughtanumberofcommonshortcutsand


simplifications,ChineseandJapanesebrewers
havetraditionallyusedverydifferent
preparationsforbreakingricestarchdown
intofermentablesugars.
Chinese Chhü : Several Molds and Yeasts
The ancient Chinese preparation,chhü, is
usuallymadefromwheatorrice,andincludes
severaldifferentkindsofmoldaswellasthe

yeasts that will eventually produce the
alcohol.Someofthewheatmayberoastedor
left raw, but most is steamed, coarsely
ground, shaped into cakes, and then left to
mold in incubation rooms for several weeks.
Species ofAspergillus grow on the outside,
and species ofRhizopus andMucor on the
inside.Aspergillus is the same kind of mold
usedtodigestsoybeanstomakesoysauceand
Rhizopusisthemajormoldinsoybeantempeh
(p. 496, 500), whileMucor is important in
some kinds of aged cheeses. All of them
accumulate starch-and protein-digesting