Magic of Sake Yeast

日本酒造りにおける「酵母」の魔法

Sake酒= Rice米 +Water水+Koji麹+Yeast酵母+Lactic Acid乳酸菌 (Although not always)

The only simple thing about how sake is made is perhaps the few ingredients it requires.

Why is yeast necessary?

Koji makes sugar from rice starch and yeast eats the sugar and churns out alcohol.

In the finished product, Yeast imparts mainly the aromas which are prominent in Sake. Sure, they also can affect the flavour but most of their work shows in the way the sake smells.

Once upon a time, Sake was made with just Rice, Water and Koji (A moldy rice, don’t worry, we’ll explain more next time).