Benefits of Eating Seaweed

Many skin problems, such as sunburn and dryness due to ultraviolet rays, and acne due to excessive secretion of sebum, tend to occur in summer. In such a case, I would like to take care of my daily diet, eat a lot of foods that are good for the skin, and take care of my skin from the inside. We will see the benefits of eating seaweed here.

Low-calorie and skin-friendly “seaweed.”

When it comes to foods that are good for the skin, many people think of citrus fruits rich in vitamin C. Still, seaweed, which Japanese people eat casually daily, is also a food that improves the skin’s condition. Seaweed is low in calories, so even people on a diet can safely eat it. In addition, you can expect a beautiful skin effect. It is just what we want to take into our daily diet.

What are “alginic acid” and “fucoidan” contained in seaweed?

As other benefits of eating seaweed, it contains ingredients such as vitamins and minerals that help maintain skin health.
In addition, attention is also increasing to ingredients such as “alginic acid,” which has the effect of lowering blood pressure, and “fucoidan,” which activates natural killer cells (NK cells).

Alginic acid is a natural dietary fiber, a component of the stickiness peculiar to seaweed. Alginic acid is good at moisturizing the skin, and people say that it leads to trouble-free skin by protecting it from dryness and the skin from friction.
In addition, you can expect alginic acid to bind with salt (sodium) in the body and excrete it outside the body. You can also expect it to slow the absorption of sugar. It supports people concerned about lifestyle-related diseases.

Fucoidan has an antioxidant effect and is said to prevent oxidation of the body and prevent aging of the skin.

(Find seaweed recipes here!)

Why are Japanese fermented foods good for your health?

Three benefits of Japanese fermented foods

The action of microorganisms (lactic acid bacteria, koji mold, yeast, etc.) changes foods. It turns them into fermented foods that are good for your health. Fermentation offers three main benefits. (We focus on Japanese fermented foods as a Japanese health product supplier, but they are also applied to other fermented foods in the world.)

1.Improves food preservation

There are methods to preserve foods, such as “drying,” “salting,” and “smoking.”  “fermentation” is another course to improve preservation. Increasing the number of microorganisms that promote fermentation keeps spoilage bacteria at bay. In the world of microorganisms, if there are more than a certain number of specific organisms in an environment, other microorganisms cannot reproduce.
In addition, the lactic acid, acetic acid, and alcohol produced by fermentation also have a bactericidal effect, suppressing the growth of bacteria and preserving food taste.

2.Enhances flavor and aroma

Japanese fermented foods change their taste and aroma, making them more delicious and easier to eat. One of the tastes a Japanese scientist found and defined is umami, and the fermentation brings you this umami. The process of decomposition and fermentation of raw materials by the power of microorganisms produces components such as amino acids, inosinic acid, and guanylic acid. They are the source of umami.
The unique aroma of fermented foods is also due to the aroma components produced by the action of microorganisms during the fermentation process.

3.Increased nutritional value and health regulation

Fermenting food significantly increases nutritional value and health regulation function. Microorganisms produce various nutrients, such as vitamins, during the fermentation process. For example, Natto, made by fermenting soybeans, contains about ten times more vitamin B2 than boiled soybeans and almost three times more folic acid. Natto is rich in vitamin K2. Soybeans, the source of Natto, don’t have it. The fermentation added new nutritional components.
In addition, fermentation makes substances with health-regulating functions like anti-oxidant action more easily absorbed into the body. With the shape of Natto and miso, the body is easy to absorb the isoflavone, as it is already disolved through the fermentation.

Why Japanese fermented foods are good for you?

Now that we’ve discussed the benefits that fermentation brings to food. Let’s consider the help we receive from eating them from a health standpoint.
(However, the nutrients in each fermented food differ, and the same is not necessarily for all.)

1.Easily absorbed into the body

During the fermentation process, microorganisms break down the starch and protein, the raw material nutrients, so there is no need to break them down in the body, reducing the burden on the body.

2.Boosts immunity

Lactic acid bacteria and natto bacteria contained in fermented foods have the function of adjusting the intestinal environment. Incorporating fermented foods will increase your immunity and help you maintain your health.

3.Supports youthfulness

They say that aging causes active oxygen in the body. The intake of antioxidants is effective in suppressing its occurrence. Fermented foods such as miso, red wine, and chocolate are rich in polyphenols as antioxidants.
In addition, they say that the amino acids and enzymes produced in the fermentation process promote the formation of new cells, which is said to have a beautiful skin effect.
Improves metabolism and prevents lifestyle-related diseases

B vitamins, found in many fermented foods, help boost metabolism.

In addition, isoflavones in fermented soybean foods such as miso, soy sauce, and Natto reduce bad cholesterol in the blood and contribute to the prevention of arteriosclerosis.

4.Helps reduce stress

Fermented foods such as miso, Natto, bran pickles, kimchi, and yogurt contain a substance called GABA, a type of natural amino acid. As a neurotransmitter, GABA is said to have an anti-stress effect that calms the excitement of the brain, suppresses irritability, and relaxes.

The Natural menopause supplement from fermented soybean

Some clinical researches have reported that Japanese women have far lighter menopause experience. One of its key is Miso, fermented soy paste. (It is a commonsense in Japan.) Juveriente®’s Effisoy, launched in 2016, brings you the essence of it to you.

Fermented foods are often hard to eat for people of other dietary cultures. But you can take the essence easily through the supplement. Effisoy is the only supplement brand to bring you fermented soy extract outside Japan. This is only natural food, and we don’t call it “therapy,” but it may be your answer to how to treat menopause depression naturally.

Here are some of the real product reviews in our Amazon shop.

“Restful sleep finally!!”, “I Am Now Free of Hot Flashes!!”, “Lifesaver”

LEARN MORE About Effisoy, made of fermented soy bean germ
The only supplement to contain fermented soy isoflavone beside Japan.

How can I restrict eating at Hara-Hachibunme (by 80% full)?

Benefits of “Hara-Hachibunme” (restricted eating)

As I explained in “Restricted eating lengthens your life?”, restricted eating only up to 80% or so helps your health in addition to weight management.

While it prevents obesity and disease by suppressing dietary calorie intake, it is also helpful as an anti-aging.

There is something called the “sirtuin gene” in our body.
Another name for the sirtuin gene is the “longevity gene” because it works to suppress cell aging, and a certain amount of calorie restriction activates it. In other words, you can expect the effect of preserving youthfulness by eating the eighth half of your stomach.

Tips for stopping your eating at “Hara-Hachibunme” (80% full)

If you are overeating and always fall feeling full, try incorporating the following into your diet.

Increase chewing frequency

It is very effective to chew food well and eat it to suppress it at 80% of the stomach.
A longer time to savor and eat will stimulate the satiety center and prevent overeating.

Also, by chewing well, a large amount of the digestive enzyme called amylase is secreted, which improves digestion and reduces the burden on the stomach and intestines.

Put down your knife, fork, and spoon after each bite.

To increase the number of chewing times, try to put your tableware down after each bite.

Fast eaters keep their tableware on from the beginning to the end of their meal.
Carrying food to your mouth one after another leads to overeating.

Once you are used to putting your tableware down after each bite, you will naturally become conscious of chewing well, and your eating pace will slow down.
As a result, the signal of the satiety center will be transmitted well, and it will be suppressed with only 80% of your stomach.

Cut the material hard and large.

Cutting food materials such as vegetables hard and large creates a chewy texture in your cooking. You can naturally increase the number of chews and prevent overeating.

We also recommend adding chewy nuts, beans, sesame seeds, etc., to accent your dishes.

Anyway, chewing well and eating are effective in keeping your stomach full.

Increase vegetables, seaweed, and mushrooms

Vegetables, seaweed, and mushrooms contain a lot of dietary fiber, so it’s hard to swallow them if you don’t chew them well.
Taking advantage of this feature, you can naturally increase the number of chews by increasing the amount of these in your meal.

Most of them are healthy, so let’s use them in your meals and connect them to your beauty and health.

Drink Soup, water or tea

Liquid will pass your stomach shortly, but your restricted eating. It will swell your stomach temporarily and mitigate your hunger until your satiety center begins to woks.

Serving for one person will also restrict your eating

First, it is effective to prevent overeating by arranging an amount of food that does not cause overeating and deciding “I will not eat anymore”.

Dishes on a platter tend to overeat while picking up this and that.
There are also people who force themselves to eat, saying things like, “It would be a waste if I leave it behind,” or “It’s rude to the person who made it.”

If you decide “only this” from the beginning, such as serving this on a single plate or dividing it into portions for one person instead of serving it on a large plate, you should not end up eating too much.

It is especially effective for those whose satiety center signals are dull.
Let’s prevent overeating by serving the amount that will make you 80% full from the plating.

Let’s finish the meal at the timing of “Hara-Hachibunme” (80% full).

 

The best time to finish your meal is when you feel like you can eat a little more.

In order to go on a diet without overdoing it, and to maintain beauty and health, let’s make it your everyday habit.

Restricted eating lengthens your life?

Japanese health wisdom: Restricted Eating by 20%

The idiom “Hara-Hachibunme” in Japan means “80% full” as a healthy eating habit. They say You don’t need a doctor if you keep “Hara-Hachibunme.” A similar saying in English will be, “Light suppers make long life.”
Since the 1980s, many countries have been scientifically investigating why “Hara-Hachibunme” is good for your health. This study compares the life expectancy of small animals such as rats between a group that eats a limited amount of food and a group that eats as much as it pleases.
For example, in one study conducted in Japan, the average lifespan of mice fed all-you-can-eat was 74 weeks, while that of mice restricted to 80% of their diet was 122 weeks, more than 1.6 times longer. (*1).

(*1) Research by Professor Kazuo Hashimoto and Lecturer Masayoshi Tazume of Tokai University School of Medicine, published in 1990. The study also points out that calorie restriction boosts immunity.

Slowed Cellular Aging

Since then, various studies have confirmed that the “Hara-Hachibunme,” constant restricted eating, can slow cellular aging. They point out that 80% of the stomach is effective in preventing cancer caused by dysfunction of cells, vascular disorders caused by arteriosclerosis (high blood pressure, stroke, myocardial infarction, etc.), and many lifestyle-related diseases such as diabetes.
An American study on monkeys, which are more similar to humans, reported that a 30% calorie restriction (at the 7th minute of the abdomen) improved body fat, blood pressure, blood sugar levels, triglyceride levels, etc.

The same benefit for human

So, does the benefit of “Hara-Hachibunme” apply to humans? There is an interesting report about this.
Since 1991, in the United States, a survival experiment has been carried out in which eight researchers live a self-sufficient life in a dome called Biosphere 2. Initially, it was an investigation related to space development, premised on living in an artificial environment called a dome when humans migrate to a planet other than Earth.
This experiment failed in its original purpose, but on the other hand, there was an unexpected by-product, regarding restricted eating.
The low harvesting yield in the dome limited the researchers’ diet by 25% less than their planned meals. The daily energy intake was about 1800kcal. As a result, not only did they lose weight, but almost all values ​​related to lifestyle-related diseases, such as blood sugar, cholesterol, and blood pressure, also decreased.

Restricted eating extend your life expectancy as well as your healthy life expectancy.

In this way, they found from monkey studies and reports in Biosphere 2 that “Hara-Hachibunme” (restricted eating) may extend not only life expectancy but also healthy life expectancy (healthy period without disease). (*2).

(*2) Professor Emeritus Roy Walford of the University of California, who participated in the Biosphere 2 project, later focused on the relationship between calorie restriction and health and proposed a diet menu that would prevent malnutrition even with calorie restriction, etc.

(from https://www.healthcare.omron.co.jp/resource/column/life/35.html)

What is Umami? The key to reduce your calories

Reduce your calories by utilizing umami

Do you know the term “Umami“? It is from a Japanese term, meaning the taste element to add or deepen tastefulness in foods. If you know it from brand names like “Umami burger”, you may not have a healthy impression about it. Apart from such a commercial utilization, though, it is actually a key to reduce your calories. It adds thickness and tastefulness to your dishes without oil, sugar nor salt.

Umami is an independent basic taste

Umami is one of the five basic tastes.
Umami is one of the five basic tastes.

We have traditionally known 4 basic tastes, sweetness, saltiness, bitterness and sourness.

Japanese people have traditionally used “dashi”, some food extracts to add or amplify tastefulness in their cooking. The essence of dashi is Umami and it is actually the 5th basic element.

How Japanese people use “dashi”?

3 major dashi (umami extract) bases in Japan are konbu seaweed, dried bonito shavings and dried shiitake mushroom. The usage is simple. For example; They put some dried bonito shavings in to boiled water for a minute or two. Then they take out the residue after the extraction. They cook miso soup with this hot water. Miso, fermented soy paste, has nice taste and flavor on it’s own. But the dashi will deepen and organize the whole taste of the miso soup.

How scientists found it as actual substances and an independent basic taste?

Japanese scientists found umami as actual substances in the major dashi bases in the early 20th century. Glutamic acid from konbu seaweed, isonic acid from dried bonito shavings and gualynic acid from konbu seaweed.

They considered it as an independent taste element beside other basic ones like saltiness, sweetness, etc. But Western scholars didn’t believe it. According to their thought then, it was merely the tastefulness by the complex of other basic taste elements.

In 2002, they found the receptor of umami on human tong. It is a common recognition now that umami is the fifth basic taste element after saltiness, sweetness, sourness and bitterness.

How can you reduce your calories with umami?

They found it from the Japanese “dashi” culture. But Western foods also has their own umami bases, like fond or broth.

It may be hard for you to try new tastes from a foreign dietary culture. It will be easy for you to utilize vegetable broth and reduce sugar, salt and oil.

Japanese dietary habits are natural appetite suppressants

When you input “natural appetite suppressants” in a search engine, you will be seeking for some special supplements or food materials. It will be mostly for your weight management.

But it’s difficult to cook a delicious dish based on bad food materials. In like manner, you can’t establish your good health only with such special agents if without healthy dietary habits.

Japanese foods are famously healthy and support the good health of Japanese people.

But not only the foods, they traditionally have healthy dietary habits and tips. The following tips work as natural appetite suppressants and you can take them into your life easily. Try them from today!

  1. Hara-Hachibunme
    This Japanese term means that you stop eating when your appetite is satisfied by 80%. Stop eating when your appetite is eased before you feel full and wait for a while. It will take about 20 minutes before the taken food satisfies your satiety center. If you still need more food after that, take a little more. If you habitually always take food up to the maximum, you will learn that you can be satisfied with less food. As an extra benefit of such a new habit, you can be more active without suffering from the glut.

  2. Take more water as a beverage or soup to fill your stomach with less food. It will provide you the same effect as Hara-Hachibunme without the intensional patience. Is water a natural appetite suppressant? Yes!

  3. Take various dishes on small plates, and take them alternately, little by little. It Take various dishes on small plates, and take them alternately, little by little. It will satisfy your satiety center with less food by taking time, dietary fiber, and water in the middle. It will also help your health by taking balanced nutrients from the various foods.

  4. Take foods containing much dietary fiber at first. It will slow your digestion and moderate appetite and blood sugar spike. Vegetables, mushrooms, beans, etc., will be good.

  5. Use less cooking oil and sugar. Dashi will help your dish taste better and satisfy the eaters with less cooking oil and sugar. Dashi is an “Umami” extract. Umami is already an English term for elements of taste like bitterness, sweetness, or sourness, which makes you feel tasty.

All these dietary habits are easy for you to take into your life and work as natural appetite suppressants. I like to stress here that you should do them gradually to the extent you can try without stress. The most important thing is to make them your natural habit instead of chasing the benefits in the short term.

Take Best Fermented Foods In An Easy Way

Skin healing with fermented foods

I watched a TV program in Japan for health, where a researcher of fermented food advised a woman to take a bit of fermented food every meal for one week. She had a problem with her bowel movement, and it led to her skin problems. After the week of the trial, she got a significant improvement. She was excited about the excellent condition of her skin.
The fermented food she tried in that trial were yogurt, wed kimchi, miso soup, natto, fermented rice, onion, etc.

Umami is global, flavor is local

Maybe you can try. They are some of the best options. But there is a problem. Dr. Fushiki of the University of Kyoto, a famous scholar for fermented food, says, “Umami (savoriness) is global, but the flavor is local.”
Fermentation generates rich umami in food in most cases, but it usually accompanies a specific flavor, which often smells and tastes odd to people from other dietary cultures.

For example, as an ultimate example, most Japanese love natto (fermented soy with bacillus natto), but most people other than the Japanese will think of is “rotten” by its gooey outlooking and probably stinky smell.
Even such Japanese people can’t eat the “surstromming” of Sweden. (It’s a fermented canned fish called “the world’s most stinking canned food.”)

Those 2 are ultimate examples, but any fermented food presents the same challenge more or less to people from different dietary cultures.

Start with your familiar flavor

But, it will be better that you keep a healthy diet with less challenge than trying something too special and can’t continue. It will be good for you to take your familiar fermented food every day, even by a little.

Yogurt is already popular in the USA.
You may not see wine as a fermented food, but it’s a fermented grape extract. Wine has rich polyphenols as the following;
(1) From the skin: Anthocyanin, Resveratrol, Tannin
(2) From the pulp: Anthocyanin
(3) From the seed: proanthocyanin, tannin, quercetin, catechin
Some people may be happy to find that wine makes you healthy as well as feeling good!
But, you can have too much of a good thing. Be careful to drink it just for your health, and never drink too much.

Supplements As Oriental Medicine’s Dietary Therapy: That’s Juveriente®

Juveriente® Have Received A Lot Of Great Reviews since 2017

We, Juveriente®, have received various feedbacks for our 2 products, Effisoy® and Bone Strength Complex. We are happy to see in many reviews that our effort is helping so many women.

Effisoy®;

“Oh wow. Thank you for this product. I was suffering. Suffering! After a couple of weeks most of my hot flashes and night sweats are gone.”

“I have severe hot flashes for the past 7 years. After watching Dr Melissa YouTube video, I’ve been taking this product plus other supplements (Milk Thistle, Iodoral) and it completely took my hot flashes away. (Nothing else worked for me.). I’ve been using this product for over a year. I ran out of it and the hot flashes returned. I recommend watching Dr Melissa YouTube video it was a life changer for me.”

Bone Strength Complex;

“I had been diagnosed with osteopenia in my hips several years ago and had been taking calcium/magnesium supplements with little effect. I have now been taking Bone Strength Complex for 4 months and the results from my recent scan show perfectly normal bones, no more osteopenia!”

“Great product. Had osteopenia. Improvement when I had my bone density test.”

We also receive some negative feedbacks claiming that a few weeks or even a few days dosage doesn’t help them. We always explain to such customers by saying they need more patients with continual taking, and the duration before they see certain effects will vary depending on individuals.

The Concept of Oriental Medicine

The above explanation may sound obsolete to you. You might have already heard the same from a lot of supplement brands.

But such notices, “It may take time” and “The duration before you feel certain effects will vary depending on individuals”  are never define the supplement as weaker versions of medicines for us. They are rather the key concepts of the basic of Juveriente’s supplements, Oriental Medicine.

The standard, or modern medicine, which we call Western medicine hereafter, specifies the deceased part and remove it or fix it directly. Drugs for it are often made of a single chemical.

But the idea of Oriental medicine is totally different. It will pursue the root cause of decease in the disorder or imbalance of your daily life and health. It may be in your imbalanced diet, a disorder of your discharging like sweat or bowel movement, or a disorder of circulation and metabolism.

Then it will aim the recovery of such imbalances sometimes with a little help of herbal medicines or acupuncture and moxibustion, and mainly through daily diet.

Such indirect treatment will not remove the problem immediately. “It may take time” and “The duration before you feel certain effects will vary depending on individuals”

But surely safe, and it addresses the root cause of the problem and provides you sustainable help.

(Of course, there are a lot of cases that such mild oriental medicine is not enough. We will discuss it in our next post.)

Oriental Doctor
The old grinding of Chinese herbal medicine of traditional Chinese medicine

Japanese Diet and Oriental Medicine

“Medicine” meant Chinese traditional medicine in Japan in most of its long history (about 1,500 years)  and it was simply called “Medicine”.

Japanese first modern government, which replaced the last and long lasted Samurai government in the late 19 century, adopted modern medicine imported from the Western countries as the official medicine.

Since then, Japanese people call modern Medicine Western Medicine, or only Medicine, and their former standard medicine Oriental medicine or Kanpo.

Regardless of this historical major change of their public policy, Oriental medicine is deeply rooted in their culture and daily life. Even doctors of Western medicine sometimes recommend Oriental medicine treatments to their patients.

Its idea is also rooted in the Japanese diet and makes it healthy. It never is their principle idea that a specific food provides them a particular health effect. Each food has various and general health effects, and good health needs multiple and diverse foods.

But there are surely various foods which help your health in some specific problems. We, Juveriente focused on some of them, which have back data and great performances in Japan, made them into supplements, and introduced them to the world.

Thus, the concept of Juveriente supplements is an extension of Oriental medicine. “It may take time” and “The duration before you feel certain effects will vary depending on individuals” “But surely safe, and it addresses the root cause of the problem and provides you sustainable help.”

 

 

 

 

The Art of Japanese Sake 2 (Take a look inside the sake master’s world.)

Why we say “The Art of Sake”?

Sake brewing passes through complicated processes. The sake master (Toji) needs to take care of each point in a delicate manner. It requires high expertise and continuous carefulness all through the processes.

I try to explain to you the key points of such a complicated brewing.  It may be interesting but maybe somehow lengthy for you. You don’t need to read it through if you don’t have time or are not interested in such details.

The summary and the most important thing to know is that such complication enables Toji to make up the premium sake’s delicate taste and flavor without leaning on a fortune called “great vintage,” but only on his expertise and technique. 

On the other hand, it also means sake sometimes falls into a terrible quality if the brewer neglects such carefulness to save operation costs. 

If you are new to Japanese sake and enter the world of beautiful sake’s art, we commend you to start with brands already known to have premium quality like SOTO or Dassai. 

Lack of temperature management in international logistics often damages even sakes, which are considered great in Japan, their origin country. Still, these two brands are brought to you even in Western countries under their careful temperature control. 

It will be a tragedy if you try a terrible sake at first and walk away from the potential valuable experience without knowing the real beauty of sake. 

Anyway, if you have a little time and be interested in the venture of the sake world, continue to the following. 

The Basics of Sake Brewing

By the way, what is so complicated, and how a Toji (sake master) manages it with his expertise and techniques?

The points we explained in our previous post are as the followings.

  1. Yeast ( microorganism) derive enzymes and take energy by resolving sugar with them. Yeast discharges alcohol (ethanol) and carbon dioxide. This is the basic process of alcohol fermentation.

  2. In the case of Japanese Sake; They plant Koji mold on steamed rice. It is called “Koji,” and Koji’s enzymes will resolve the rice starch into sugar. In the same tank where this reaction happens, sake yeast will resolve this sugar and make the alcohol fermentation.

The actual works and phenomenon to reflect the above principle in the actual brewing is the following.

  1. To input the raw materials for the saccharification fermentation (fermentation to turn starches into sugars) (We call the following all together “ingredient set” hereafter.)
    1. WATER
    2. STEAMED RICE
    3. KOJI (STEAMED RICE COVERED WITH KOJI MOLD)

  2. The ingredient set turns the rice starch into sugar.

    The sake yeast causes alcohol fermentation when it eats this sugar and derives alcohol (ethanol).

 

Japanese sake brewing

What are the challenges?

The subjects to handle in this procedure are live microorganisms. The reactions vary every time. Also, the two different lively responses will weave a far complicated and unforeseeable flow. Even the right set of brewing conditions will never guarantee the right product. Toji, the sake master, observe the liquid surface and add delicate adjustments in need based on his expertise and technique.

The things you should know to understand the sake brewing’s critical points

  1. The alcohol fermentation does not happen in a bio clean room. (Probably technically possible, but impractical in terms of the cost.) It means the liquid where the alcohol fermentation is ongoing always contact outside air, where numerous kinds of unwanted bacterias including wild yeast exist. The contamination can happen anytime.

  2. They nurture only the target microorganism, sake yeast, with the following methods.
    1. To make the environment where only sake-yeast can survive or keep its activity over other bacterias. Sake-yeast is endurable under high acidity and low temperature, where most of the others stop their activity and multiplication. (Once the sake yeast becomes predominant, it keeps its surrounding highly acidic on its own by deriving lactic acid and carbon dioxide.)

       

    2. To keep sake-yeast predominant. Besides its keeping the acidity, the predominant sake yeast will eat up the feed, sugar, and leave no room for survival for the other bacterias.

       

The two critical control points to brew good sake

  1. As explained above, it is necessary to eliminate the room for unwanted miscellaneous bacterias and wild yeast for safety and to avoid unpleasant taste and flavor.

  2. Keeping the low temperature is not important only to prevent unwanted bacterias, but it keeps the alcohol fermentation active to the longest extent. A too rapid increase in alcohol will stop the yeast’s activity. The greater extent of the alcohol fermentation will resolve the rice starch as much as possible and make the taste of sake clean. It is also known that we can generate the premium sake flavor only in low-temperature fermentation.

What they actually do in their operations and managements

To implement the above conditions, the main thing that Toji, the sake master, does is to balance the saccharification (starch-to-sugar fermentation) and the alcohol fermentation in their speeds.

Multiple Factors To Complicate The Temperature Control

The following multiple factors always fluctuate, respectively, and change and require the best expertise of Toji, the brewing master.

  1. The initial temperature of the liquid in the tank

  2. The temperatures of the input steamed rice, water, and koji.

  3. Heat generation by the fermentation’s progress

  4. The alcohol fermentation will generate and increase the heat with its progression. It will make the temperature distribution uneven and hard to measure the temperature condition only with a thermometer.


Toji uses thermometers but makes his judgments at every critical point, eventually based on the traditional method. He finds what he should do by observing the liquid surface with full of his five senses.

Three Steps Input

As one of the principal methods, they input the ingredient set little by three times. It is called “three steps input.” When they input a portion of the ingredient set, it will dilute the yeast concentration and the tank’s acidity. Too much input will make them too low and give unwanted bacterias the room for multiplication.

Narrow Target of the saccharification speed / never too fast and never too slow.

They need to secure the right rice saccharification speed to keep up the yeast’s activity by providing enough sugar, the feed, on-demand. On the other hand, too much sugar by too fast saccharification will accelerate the yeast’s alcohol fermentation too much. It will make the alcohol percentage of the yeast’s surroundings too high and eventually prevent its own activity halfway. Otherwise, higher sugar concentration will also prevent the yeast’s activity.  

Saccharification paces

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The followings are the major factors to affect the saccharification speed.

  1. The way Koji mold is rooted in steamed rice. The saccharification power is strong when it’s rooted deep inside the rice.

  2. Softness/stiffness of steamed rice (= moisture content). Both smooth melting and not-too-fast are required.

  3. Higher temperatures will encourage faster saccharification.

Such temperature control will directly affect the saccharification and the alcohol fermentation, as explained earlier. 

Saccharification Speed Elements

Summery

Many other critical points affect the above matters in other processes like rice grinding, rice steaming, etc. They also require fine expertise in detail. We don’t write about them here, but you already know how sake brewing needs the expertise of sake masters and careful control. 

In such a way, beautiful sake is made beautiful. Try a premium sake with such careful brewing and, don’t forget, shipped with careful temperature control. 

P.S. How they make the yeast predominant at the start?

I explained that they need to keep up the high concentration of sake yeast in the fermentation tank. By the way, who do they start it? Do they purchase a liquid full of cultivated yeast? No. It was impossible in pre-modern while sake brewing procedure was already established. 

The answer is that they do a similar fermentation in a tiny tank with a small volume before going to a big tank. This process’s main purpose is not alcohol fermentation (though it arises as a result) but the cultivation of the sake yeast. It’s much easier to control the environment in a small tank. 

The sake yeast is not predominant here at the start. So they raise the acidity by lactic acid secreted by lactobacillus. The high acidity will prevent unwanted bacterias from multiplying, and the protected yeast increases. The sake yeast will generate alcohol through its multiplying (= alcohol fermentation). The heightened alcohol percentage will kill the lactobacillus, and eventually, only the sake yeast remains predominant. 

This starting liquid is called “Shubo,” which means sake’s mother liquor. They carry the mother liquor into the main fermentation tank and add the ingredient set by the “3 steps input,” as explained above. 

Do you like the article? Share your knowledge with others.