On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 1421

enzymes, and generate trace byproducts that
contribute flavor. Once the grain cakes have
been well permeated with microbes, they’re
dried for storage. When needed forchiu
production, they’re soaked in water for
several days to reactivate the microbes and
theirenzymes.
PasteurizationBeforePasteur
UnlikeEuropeanwinesandbeers,chiuwas
usually served warm or hot. Perhaps
because they noticed that heated leftovers
kept better than the original batch, by
1000CE the Chinese had developed the
practice of steaming containers of newly
fermentedchiutoslowitsdeterioration.In
the16thcentury,Japanesebrewersrefined
this method by lowering the heating
temperature to 140–150ºF/60–65ºC, which
is high enough to kill most enzymes and
microbes, but does less damage to the
flavorofthesake.Asianbrewerswerethus


“pasteurizing” their alcohols centuries
before Louis Pasteur suggested gently
heating wine and milk to kill spoilage
microbes.
JapaneseKojiandMoto:OneMold,
SeparateYeastTheJapanesekoji,by
contrast,ismadefreshforeachparticular
sakebrewing,isbasedonlyonpolished,

ungroundrice,andisinoculatedwitha
selectedcultureofAspergillusoryzaealone,
withnoothermolds.Themoldpreparationfor
sakethereforedoesn’tprovidethecomplexity
offlavorthattheChinesepreparationdoes,
withitsroastedwheat,varietyofmicrobes,
andperiodofdrying.
Becausethekojicontainsnoyeasts,the
Japanesesystemrequiresaseparatesourceof
yeast.Thetraditionalyeastpreparation,the
moto,ismadebyallowingamixtureofkoji
andcookedricegrueltosourspontaneously
withamixedpopulationofbacteria,mainly
lacticacidproducers(Lactobacillussake,