How To Make Amazake by Sandor Ellix Katz
From His Book, Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods. We sell this book in our online store.
The Recipe For Making Amazake
Amazake is a rich, sweet Japanese pudding or drink that is one of the most dramatic fermentations I've seen. Plain rice (or any other grain) is made intensely sweet in a matter of hours by the action of a mold, It astounds me that a grain could be so sweet without any added sugar or other sweetener. The rapid digestion of the complex carbohydrates into simple sugars is the work of Aspergillus oryzae, the same mold used to make  miso.
Aspergillus is most readily available in the form of koji, grain inoculated spores of Aspergillus. We sell Koji right here and also sweet rice too.
Traditionally, amazake is made sweet rice, a variety of rice that is not actually sweet, but high in gluten and thefore sticky when cooked. Amazake can be made from any grain, though. I especially enjoy amazake made from millet.
TIMEFRAME: Less than 24 hours
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT:
- 1 gallon (4-liter) wide-mouth jar
- Insulated cooler big enough for jar to fit inside
INGREDIENTS (for about 1 gallon / 4 liters):
- 2 cups/500 milliliters sweet rice (or any other grain)
- 2 cups/500 milliliters koji
- Water
PROCESS:
1. Cook the grain in about 6 cups (1.5 liters) of water. Use a pressure cooker if you have one. This high proportion of water (3:1) will result in somewhat softer than usual grain.
2. Meanwhile, preheat the insulated cooler and the gallon jar by filling both with hot water.
3. When the grain is cooked, remove from the heat, uncover the pot, and allow the grain to cool for a few minutes, stirring from the bottom to release heat. Don't let it get too cool. Koji can tolerate heat as high as 140°F (60°C). Cool to this temperature or, if you are without a thermometer, until you can hold a finger to it for a moment but it is still steaming hot.
4. Add the koji to the cooked grain and stir well.
5. Transfer the cooked grain and koji mix to the preheated gallon jar. Screw the lid on the jar and place it in the preheated insulated cooler. If the cooler is much larger than the jar, add additional jars of hot water (not too hot to touch), to help maintain the heat. Shut the cooler and place it in a warm place.
6. Check the amazake after 8 to 12 hours. Amazake takes about 8 to 12 hours at 140°F (60°C), or 20 to 24 hours at 90°F (32°C). If the amazake is very sweet, it's ready. If not, heat it up with gentle heat: If your cooler is big and you added extra bottles of water, replace these with fresh hot water; if your cooler is small, add hot water directly to the cooler to surround the jar of amazake. Leave it to ferment for a few more hours.
7. Once your amazake is sweet, gently bring it to a boil to stop fermentation. Amazake left to ferment after it becomes sweet becomes an alcoholic grog (the first step in the process of making sake, the strong Japanese rice wine). Be careful not to burn the amazake when you boil (pasteurize) it. The way I do this is to first boil about 2 cups (500 milliliters) of water in a pot, then slowly add the amazake, stirring constantly to avoid burning the bottom.
8. You can serve amazake as a pudding at this point, thick and with the grains intact, or you can thin it with more water and run it through a food processor to break down the grains into a liquid consistency. Amazake is delicious either hot or cold.
9. Plain amazake has a very distinctive sweetness, or you can season it. Amazake seasoned with a little nutmeg (and perhaps even rum) makes a nice eggnog alternative. Vanilla extract, grated ginger, slivered toasted almonds, and espresso are other flavorings I've enjoyed in amazake. Amazake can also be used as a sweetener in baking.
Amazake can be stored for a few weeks in a refrigerator.
Besides this recipe for making Amazake, Wild Fermentation by Sandor Ellix Katz covers in it vegetable ferments such as sauerkraut, kimchi, and sour pickles; bean ferments including miso, tempeh, dosas, and idli; dairy ferments including yogurt, kefir, and basic cheesemaking (as well as vegan alternatives); sourdough bread-making; other grain fermentations from Cherokee, African, Japanese, and Russian traditions; extremely simple wine- and beer-making (as well as cider-, mead-, and champagne-making) techniques; and vinegar-making. With nearly 100 recipes, this is the most comprehensive and wide-ranging fermentation cookbook ever published.
We sell the book online for $20.99 with free shipping. Wild Fermentation Please follow the link to find out much more about Sandor and all the varied fermentation foods and topics he covers.
Sandor offers workshops all accross the country, here is his up to date list of appearances.WorkShops
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