RFCJ RECIPE ARCHIVE
Posted by : Blanche Nonken Sake - pareve
Thanks to the moderator who gave me permission to post this. This is from the Whole Earth Epilog, September 1974. "MAKE SAKE by Cecily Murphy" "In Japan, retualistic sake drinking was a custom long before the tea ceremony was introduced. An important part of ancestral deity worship, it was one of the few Japanese customs that penetrated all classes -- and the liquor was used medicinally as well as for pleasure or ceremony." "Today, (1974! ..bwn) sake costs about $3 a fifth in most liquor stores, but you can make it yourself for much less. Our best tested recipe: Put three cups uncooked brown rice and four and a half cups sugar into a gallon jug with one package dry yeast and a handful of raisins. Fill with warm water, cover with a cloth. If you prefer a more festive approach, cap it with a balloon which will inflate as the sake ferments." "Set this concoction in a warm place for 10 - 21 days, and it's done (taste to check it). You can drink it plain, or following the customary method, heat it." Reprinted from "San Francisco Bay Guardian." Note from Blanche: I've used this recipe over the years, and will make my suggestions after having retyped this in a more recipe-like format. SAKE 3 cups short-grain brown rice (organically grown if available; use freshest available; check odor and avoid rancid-smelling rice.) 4 1/2 cups white sugar 1 pkg dry wine yeast (Not a sparkling wine variety) or baking yeast, if wine yeast is unavailable (do not use "rapid-rise" types.) 1/2 c dried fruit (chopped apricot or white raisin) OR 1 c fresh fruit (cherries work nicely) Clean 1 gallon jug thoroughly. If using bleach to sterilize, rinse until no odor of bleach is left, then air 24 hours. Pour rice into jug; add water, swirl and rinse until water is clear. (I suggest rinsing rice after putting it in the jug because it's nearly impossible to get wet rice into any small-mouthed container.) Funnel sugar in, then add fruit. Add warm water to about 2 inches below top of jug. Using handle of wooden spoon, stir thoroughly until sugar is dissolved. Remove spoon, add yeast. If you can get one from a wine/beer making supply shop, cap the bottle with a cork or rubber plug, the kind with the hole in the middle, and insert an "S" shaped "airlock" into the hole in the plug. Put water halfway up in the airlock, and leave the bottle in a cool (not warm or cold) dark place. No colder than room temperature, no hotter than 80 degrees (hard to do in summer, I know) If you can't get an airlock, use several thicknesses of cheesecloth or a tight-weave cotton cloth, and seal this on the mouth of the jug with a rubber band. If you have done everything right, bubbles will start in a day or so. After the sugar in the water is metabolized by the yeast, you'll see the yeast work its way down the layer of rice in the bottom. When it's reached the bottom of the bottle and the bubbling stops, it's done. Allow to settle 'til mostly clear, then carefully pour out and strain. You'll have a hard time getting it out without *some* of the yeast particles. That's ok. Filter it into 4 or so clean (!) wine bottles, and cap. However, the yeast may have reactivated with the pouring and straining, so don't lay the bottles on their sides for a few days yet. Wait until all the yeast action has stopped. Cork securely, and store. If you get no bubbles at all and it starts to smell funky, toss it. Right away. Don't wait. It will stink beyond all imagining. I mean this. Any questions, just ask. Really, this is much easier than it looks. Honest. It's a great way to introduce yourself to the art of wine making. --- Blanche Nonken
