C7 - Rice Cultivation - completed Flashcards
What is rice?
- Rice is a type of grass
- planted from seed each spring
- harvested in the autumn
- leaving no viable parts behind
How rice is propagated?
- by planting seeds harvested from the previous crop
What’s the difference between rice and barley and wheat in terms of their propagation?
they’re the same
What’s the other term of Asian rice?
Oryzae sativa
What is Oryzae sativa?
the plant species commonly known as Asian rice.
what are the two types of Asian rice (Oryzae sativa)?
- Indica (long grained)
- Japonica (short grained)
Which type of Asian rice used to brew sake?
Japonica - short grained, non-sticky
how Indica and Japonica can be further categorised?
by more or less glutinous (sticky)
why it’s important to use non-sticky rice?
- it’s easier to handle because it won’t stick together
- it’s easier for the koji enzymes to break down the starch into sugar
what are the features of Shuzō kōteki mai?
- a low protein content
- a well-defined shinpaku
- large grains (25-30g/1000 grains)
- resistant to cracking when polishing
- good water absorbency
- broken down easily by enzymes when brewing
what is shinpaku?
- the white, opaque section at the centre of the rice kernel, made up of starch granules
what is the ideal shape of shinpaku?
flat and disc-shaped.
what is the advantage of using rice that has low protein content?
- which ensures the sake contains less amino acids and peptiles.
what is the advantage of using rice that has large grain and resistant to cracking?
- which ensures the small amount of undesirable components can be removed completely
- if the rice grain cracked during polishing, it’s difficult to remove the undesirable components effectively.
- large grain means after polishing the remaining grain size is still large enough, and easier to continue polishing.
what is the advantage of using rice that has good water absorbency?
- which ensures the water can penetrate deep inside the grain during washing, soaking and steaming
- the high water content helps the rice break up easily during fermentation
- its starch will dissolve into the liquid during fermentation, made available to be converted to sugar for the yeast to feed on.
how many registered sake-specific rice varieties in Japan in 2015?
over 100
which two sake-specific rice species made up half of all sake-specific rice production?
- Yamada-nishiki
- Gohyakuman-goku
Which three sake-specific rice ranked the top 3 for over a decade?
- Yamada-nishiki
- Gohyakuman-gaku
- Miyama-nishiki
Nearly half of the current sake-specific rice varieties are registered after which year?
year 2000
which sake-specific variety ranked no. 4th today?
Dewa-sansan
which year did Dewa-sansan registered?
1997
what happened to the previous (10 and 15 yrs ago) ranked no. 4th rice varieties today?
no longer in the current top 10 list.
historically, how the brewers source the sake-specific rice?
from the rice farmers.
why it’s unusal for a brewer to grow their own rice?
for historical reasons
Most commonly, which organization does the brewer purchase the rice from?
Prefectural Brewers Associations
How Prefectural Brewers Associations assist brewers in purchasing rice?
it can provide loans to the brewers
Which organization does the PBA (Prefectural Brewers Associations) source rice from?
Agricultural Co-operative Associations
where does the Agricultural Co-operative Associations source the rice from?
from the growers.
what is the recent trend in the rice market for the brewers?
- integration of growing and brewing
- a few breweries grow their own rice
- or collaborate with local farmers
how’s the market contirbution of breweries’ own rice production model?
it’s only a very small proportion of premium sake.
out of the top 3 sake-specific rice, how’s the proportion of the other rice varieties in total rice production?
a number of rice varieties, each account for about 1-2 per cent of the total sake-specific rice production. (as of the year 2015)
What is the difference in rice fields being used in Japan and other places of the world?
Japanese rice is produced in irrigated rice fields (paddies)
Others are generally cultivated in dry fields.
Where did the rice cultivation techniques come from?
imported from China over a thousand years ago.
What is the difference in producing sake-specific rice and table rice in terms of the grain size?
the growers needs the sake-specific rice to grow bigger with a bigger shinpaku.
While table rice can be small in size.
What is the other difference in producing sake-specific rice and table rice in terms of using fertilizer?
growers who produce sake-specific rice only use fertilizer in a limited way.
growers who grow table rice will use large amount of fertilizer in order to increase yields and the flavoursome ccomponents (proteins, lipids, vitamins, minerals)
What would the result in the final sake if the rice have absorbed too many fertilizer?
- the rice will contain high level of undesired components i.e. proteins, vitamins, lipids, minerals.
- which would result undesirable flavours and a coarse texture in the sake.
where in Japan is the only region can grow two crops in a year? Why?
- Okinawa
- it has a long and hot enough growing season.
briefly describe the rice growing season in Japan?
- late April to mid-June: transplant seedling into the field
- August to early September: appearance of the ears of grain
- late September to October: harvesting, drying and removing the husks.
Where the farmers get the seedling from?
they buy seedlings that are ready to transplanted from growers
what is special to the growers who grow the seedling from seeds?
they’re certified by the Japan Agricultural Co-operatives Group (JA)
what is an ideal landscape for rice paddies? why?
- a natural basin
- so that it is easier to flood and drain the field in a controlled way.
why deep soil is preferred for rice fields?
so that the bedrock will not disrupt root growth
What properties of the soil is needed (4)?
- gluey
- clay
- rich in nutrients
- free of volcanic ash
explain how the 4 properties of soil affect rice growing?
- gluey substance from plants and animal deposits can help in retaining water.
- high percentage of clay can help retaining water and fertilisers. (b’cos clay particles are very small)
- rich in nutrients especially nigtrogen
- free of volcanic ash is good, because which can disrupt rice growing
How farmers prepare the soil before transplanting the seelings?
- In spring, the soil is broken up into fine particles and mixed with water
- the resulting sludge holds water well and allows the paddy to be flooded
- water slowly drains away and can be replaced by irrigation channels
What is the advantage of flooding the fields?
- weeds are difficult to grow
Why can’t just plant seeds into the field but use seedlings instead?
- seed sink, cannot access oxygen and light they need for growth
Which one is the most important components of fertilizers?
nitrogen compounds
Why nitrogen and calcium are important for growing sake-specific rice?
- rice needs very high level of nitrogen to develop large grain size
- calcium is needed for forming large shinpaku
Why using fertilisers is almost unavoidable?
sake-specific rice needs high level of nitrogen
Generally, fertilisers are added by how many times ?
3 times
when is the timing for adding fertiliser?
- when the seeds are sown
- when the seeds are planted out
- when the plant begins to grow rapidly before the ears appear.
Do rice farmers use organic fertilisers?
Yes, either from manure or compost
what’s different in terms of using fertilisers for sake-specific rice growing?
- sake-specific rice is rarely grown orgnically.
- the rice needs high level of nitrogen
- synthetic, nitrogen-rich fertilisers are nearly always used
what is the ideal weather between planting seedling and appearance of ears?
- sunny and warm
- daytime temperature is abt 22C
- high level of sunlight
- cool nights
what is the ideal weather between appearance of ears and harvest?
- continue warm daytime temperature abt 20-25C
- long hours of sunlight
- marked cooling during the night
- night-time temperature is abt 9.5C cooler than the days
- low or no winds
How winds affect rice growth during flowering?
- strong wind can disrupt fertilisation, lead to fewer grain
How winds affect rice growth near the harvest time?
- strong wind, especially typhoon will damage the rice plants
how temperature affects the rice growth in terms of glutinous and protein during ripening?
too cool:
- starch molecules become branched, rather than straight, therefore increasingly glutinouse.
- this is not good for sake production
too hot, warm night or lack of sunlight:
- the rice grains struggle to ripen
- therefore proportionally contain more protein
- more prone to crack
what is an increasing problem affecting the ideal temperature for rice growth?
climate change
why grading the quality of sake rice is needed?
because it’s transactions between local sake brewer’s associations, agricultural co-operatives and individual farmers, thus a standardised measures of quality is needed.
who grades the rice quality?
the Japanese government
by law, which kind of sake must use rice that has passed inspection?
Premium sake (tokutei-meisho-shu)
Can sake use uninspected and ungraded rice?
Yes, but only for non-premium sake (futsu-shu)
rice quality grades listed with the highest first:
1- Above special (toku-jo) 2- Sepcial (toku) 3- First Grade 4- Second Grade 5- Third Grade
what’s special for the first 2 grades of rick quality?
it’s only used for grading sake rice.
The other grades apply to both sake rice and table rice
any other rice grades lower than the Third Grade?
Yes, but these cannot be used to make premium sake
what are the two criteria are used in the rice quality classification?
1- moisture content (too much means risks to rot; too little is easy to crack during polishing)
2- percentage that are broken, cracked or under ripened (smaller the better)
is grain size a criteria in grading rice quality?
No, although it’s also an important factor.
which factors affect the price of sake-specific rice?
- quality of the rice
- availability and demand each season
which variety of sake-specific rice cost more than others?
Yamada-nishiki
how much does Yamada-nishiki cost more than standard sake-specific rice?
cost more than three times.
Yamada-nishiki / main growing region
Hyogo prefecture (~80%)
Yamada-nishiki / proportion to the total sake-specific rice production
30%
Yamada-nishiki / became popular since (year)
1930s
Yamada-nishiki / ideal for sake styles
gingo / daigingo
Yamada-nishiki / profile
- great depth of flavour
- generous, full, soft texture
- purity and precision
- light in intensity > allowing yeast to express themselves.
Gohyakuman-goku / main growing region
- Niigata prefecture
- neighbour prefectures of Niigata
Gohyakuman-goku / proportion to the total sake-specific rice production
25%
Gohyakuman-goku / profile
- slightly smaller than Yamada-nishiki
- behaves very well when polish
- ideal for making koji
- very light aromas, textures and flavours
Gohyakuman-goku / ideal for sake style
style of Niigata: light, simple, delicate and dry with a short finish (kire)
Miyama-nishiki / profile
- well adapted in cool, mountainous conditions
- simliar size to Ghoyakuman-goku
Miyama-nishiki / main growing region
Nagano and north-east
Miyama-nishiki / proportion to the total sake-specific rice production
10%
Miyama-nishiki / sake style
- rich and robust
- some grip and graininess texture
- sweeter, richer and more robust than Ghoyakuman-goku
- aromas is more restrained than Yamada-nishiki
Dewa-sansan / main growing region
- Yamagata-prefecture
- almost none outside of Yamagata
Dewa-sansan / proportion to the total sake-specific rice production
2%
Dewa-sansan / special brand using local rice, water, yeast and koji
Dewa33
Dewa-sansan / sake style
- purity and depth of subtle herbal aromas
Omachi / main growing regions
- Okayama prefecture
- neighbouring Hiroshima
- south-west
Omachi / proportion to the total sake-specific rice production
around 2%
Omachi / register as sake rice in (year)
1866
Omachi / profile
- very large grain
- flat, disc shape like
- soft texture of the shinpaku
- very difficult to polish
Omachi / sake style
- ginjo and daiginjo
- rich-textured
- earthy and spicy
- higher umai and less pruity than other sake-specific varieties
- delicious when served warm
what is this call the change of the rice structure, the starch molecules are unravelled by steam (heat)?
gelatinisation
% of amylopectin in a rice grain to call sticky or glutinous?
100%
% of amylopectin and amyulose in a rice grain to call non-sticky or non-glutinous?
80% amylopectin / 20% amylose
how’s starch molecules formed inside a rice grain?
rolled up into extremely tight balls
why the starch molecules inside a rice grain is not water soluble?
they’re rolled up in a extremely tight balls and surrounded by a protective shell
what is the benefit of the starch molecule rolled up tightly inside the rice grain?
save space (space efficient)
How the sake brewer break open the tight balls of starch in order to breakdown the sugar?
by steaming (heat with water)
what’s next after the starch is gelatinised (means the raw starch has been cooked and softened)?
using enzymes (koji mould) to break up the starch to sugar molecules
How the enzymes produce sugar molecules from the gelatinised starch?
The enzymes keep cutting up the starch molecules into smaller pieces until sugar molecules are produced
Why yellow koji cannot breakdown all the starch into sugar?
Because yellow koji cannot produce all the enzymes found in the rice germ
what is dextrins?
the branches of a starch molecules not being broken down to sugar because the yellow koji can only breakdown the straight part of the starch molecule.
“Dissolving starch” and “breaking up the rice grain” are 2 _______ ______ happening during fermentation
different processes
briefing what are the steps in growing seedlings (March to May)
1 - select seeds of suitable quality
2 - wash the seeds to remove dirt and fungal spores
3 - soaked in water for germination
4 - seeds are sowed in small containers with fertilised soil (mats of seedlings)
5 - grown in greenhouse until 15 - 20 cm long
6 - transplanted to rice paddy
briefly describe the steps in transplanting (late April to mid-June)
1 - usually done by a small, swimming tractor
2 - plants the seedling in even space, straight row to paddy fields
3 - this allow seedling to grow evenly, make weeding possible
4 - if overcrowded, yield high but grain size is smaller
5 - if too widely spaced, quality will be inconsistant
6 - depends on varieties and climate regions, usually planting out between early-mid May (cooler north) and early to mid-june (warmer south)
- need sunny weather after transplanting
- normally flood till 3/4 of the lenght of the seedling
- treat with herbicide to inhibit weeds growth
briefly why regular draining and re-flooding the paddy is needed (late June - late Sept)
1 - when the paddy is constantly flooded, some vegetation is out of oxygen, creates poisonous acids and gases when it rots
2 - draining the field let these rotted vegetation access oxygen, enable it to decompose into the soil, becomes nutrients to the rice plant
3 - dry period encourage plants to grow larger grains rather than vertical growth
4 - also plant can develop stronger root systems to support themselves
describe appearance of the ears (Aug to early Sept)
- ears are structure of the grain
- between August to early September, ears appear on the end of the stem
- the blossom only for 2 hours
- once the flowers are pollinated, it’ll develop into rice grain
- timing of the ears appearance depends on the climate and the rice variety
What is ripening? (late Sept to Oct)
- after flowering and development of the rice grains
- the internal structure of the grain developed, fill with starch
What are the criteria to access a crop’s quality during ripening?
- colour of the ears (even, glossy golden is good)
- number of leaves left on each plant (3)
- number of ears per plant (15-20)
- number of rice grains per ear (90+)
- the plant has strong and deep root
When is the harvest time?
late September to October
How the farmers decide it’s harvest time?
when the ears changed colour from green to gold.
what happen if harvest too early?
the grains are unripe, give undesirable flavours to the sake
what happen if harvest too late?
the grains are dryer, easier to crack - during harvest, storage, polishing or soaking.
describe steps of harvest
- farmers drain water in the field ten days before the harvest
- to allow the crops to complete ripening and to loosen up the roots
- dry soil give easier access to the field
- machine chops the stems and take the grains
- the grains are separated from the stem
what is the desired moisture level of the dried rice?
14 - 15%
why the moisture level of the dried rice is important for trading?
it’s an agreed standard to weight the rice.
why the moisture level of the dried rice is important for making sake?
- if it’s too dry, the rice grains are easier to crack during.
- If it’s too moist, it will be easy to rot
- the right moisture level allows the grains to store safely for a longer period of time.
When to dry and remove the husks after harvest?
late September to October
