Ch. 7 Shochu History Flashcards
Why was distllation conceived in ancient times? What did they want to create?
Perfume and fragrance ingredients
When was the still for essence discovered in Mesopotamia?
3500 BC
What were the Arabic stills, alembic?
Used to extract essential oils and to distill alcohol used for medicine
What are the 4 theories on how distilled spirits were brought to Japan
- Indochinese Peninsula and Ryukyu Route
- China, Korean Peninsula, Tsushima Route
- Southern China, East China Sea, Japan Mainland Route
- China (Yunnan), Fujian, Ryukyu Route
What is the theory of the
- Indochinese Peninsula and Ryukyu Route
Most prevailling theory
Ryukyu was maritime commerce hub for China, Korea and SE Asia. Varous types of distilled spirits existed there.
Awamori tasted like a Thai Distilled spirit, Lao Khao
Spirits found are associated with alembib
More likely that distilled processes came from SE Asia to Japan
What is the theory of the
- China, Korean Peninsula, Tsushima Route
Theory that distilled spirits were made on the Korean Peninsula in 15th century and brought to Tsushima (Kyushu). But Korean stills are different from Japanese stills
What is the theory of the
- Southern China, East China Sea, Japan Mainland Route
14th - 15th century
Wakou (Japanese armed merchant ships) advanced to Korean Peninsula & China
Ships carried stills and distilled spirits as part of trade products
What is the theory of the
- China (Yunnan), Fujian, Ryukyu Route
Technique passed from Islamic World through India, China to Ryukyu
Active trade between China and Ryukyu. Distilled rice drinks from China had similar alcohol content due to level of foam like Awamori.
Still and koji used similar to Awamori
Production of barley shochu started on Iki island, Nagasaki because barley was exempt from
Land tax
Why was sweet potato cultivated in Kagoshima instead of rice?
The land was not suited for rice farming
What is the name of the engineer that developed the white koji mutant strain
Genichiro Kawachi
What was donburi-shikomi
One-pot mashing where koji and main ingredients were mashed at one time
Why was ni-ji shikomi developed
Because nidan-shikomi, developed after donburi-shikomi still resulted in spoilage for imo shochu since agitation was difficult
Ni-ji shikomi resulted in short fermentation time due to high volume of yeast and moromi is naturally agitated
This was then adopted for other styles of shochu
Shochu koji was made using:
The same methods for sake koji
Futa koji
Toko koji
Hako koji
Larger distilleries use the semi automated machine
What are the two types of old stills used for Awamori
Kabutogama (helmut shaped)
Tsuburo
