Processing of sake in history

The koji process was developed centuries ago in the Far East and nowadays, is predominantly a starter culture and a source of enzymes for the saccharification of rice starch in the brewing of sake.

In ancient times, Chinese sake was made from malt and a koji mould variety. Koji performs the same function as malted barley does in a Western brewing regime.

In the earliest Japanese brewing, saccharification of rice was brought by chewing and spitting out the rice so that diastatic enzymes in saliva would break down the starches. By tradition, this method of preparation was carried out only by virgins and apparently survived until the early 20th century in Okinawa.

At the beginning of the 5h century, the Imperial Household and its government were the string driving force in culture and industry and they established many factories and monopolized the sake brewing.

Around 1200, sake manufacturing increased in Japan. By the 1500s, many of the same processes that are used today to manufacture sake had been perfected.

Commercial sake was pasteurized and it was written by Buddhist monk in 1568, three hundred years before the process developed by Louis Pasteur.

Due to the development of a vertical rice-polishing machine in 1933, the sake quality began to improve.
Processing of sake in history