Rice wine is an alcoholic beverage fermented and distilled from rice, it is known for its strong, unique taste, traditionally consumed in East Asia, Southeast Asia and South Asia, it typically has an alcohol content of 18–25% ABV.
Making rice wine involves only two ingredients and a good amount of patience as it ferments from starch and then converts to sugar, then after, You will be rewarded with a wine that is as delicious as it is versatile. Microbes are the source of the enzymes that convert the starches to sugar.
Rice wines are used in Asian gastronomy at formal dinners and banquets and in cooking. They are also used in a religious and ceremonial context.
Wiki How shows us a step by step method, with illustrations, on how to make a rice wine
Ingredients
2 cups (24 ounces) sticky or glutinous rice
wine yeast ball (also called qu, jiuqu or chiuyao in Mandarin)
Part 1: Cooking the Rice
4. Steam the rice. After the water begins to boil, place the rice in the top compartment of a steamer and let it steam for around 25 minutes.
- If you don’t have a steamer, place the sieve of rice above the boiling water, making sure that the rice doesn’t touch the boiling water. Cover the top of the sieve with a pot lid and steam for 25 minutes.
Part 2: Beginning Fermentation
- Make sure that the rice has cooled and is just slightly warmer than room temperature.
Part 3: Testing and Straining the Rice Wine
- If you like the taste, pour out the liquid from the container and keep the rice mixture inside. You can use the small amount of wine you made in recipes, or simply drink it by itself.
- The taste of the wine changes the longer it ferments. When the wine first appears at the bottom of the container, it will taste fruity and slightly zingy. As you let the wine ferment, it becomes less effervescent and more sweet and smooth.
- You will notice that the longer you ferment your wine, the clearer and less cloudy it will become.
- You can drink or use your rice wine as soon as you wish, so if you want to enjoy it as soon as you strain it, you can do so!
- If you wish, pour the clarified wine out of the container and leave the sediment on the bottom behind. Then pour the sediment down the sink and pour the clarified wine back into the container.
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