Amazake

Amazake 甘酒?, is a traditional sweet, low- or non-alcohol (depending on recipes) Japanese drink made from fermented rice. Amazake dates from the Kofun period, and it is mentioned in the Nihon Shoki. It is part of the family of traditional Japanese foods made using koji and the koji mold Aspergillus oryzae (麹 kōji?) that includes miso, soy sauce, and sake.
See also :

• Fermented food
• Koji

Special Precautions of Amazake

The amazake you buy in the store varies considerably from the version made at home. Commercial versions often substitute laboratory-produced enzymes for koji. While these enzymes, like koji, cause fermentation, manufacturers often choose specific enzymes designed to produce a sweeter product. If you're trying to restrict your carbohydrate intake, commercially produced amazake might contain too much sugar. With homemade amazake, you can control the sweetness by adjusting the amount of koji added; the more koji, the sweeter the taste. Amazake contains about 50 percent simple sugars and 50 percent complex carbohydrates, so it provides quick but long-lasting energy, author John Belleme explains in "Japanese Foods That Heal."

Benefits and uses of Amazake are

Amazake is high in fiber and complex carbohydrates, as well as the B vitamins niacin and thiamin, and is low in fat.

• Digestion : Amazake is produced by combining cooked rice with koji, a fermented product made by mixing rice with aspergillus oryzae and incubating at a warm temperature for several hours. Fermented foods like amazake might benefit your stomach if you don't digest food well. The enzymes in amazake help break down fats, complex carbohydrates and proteins for your body to use.
• Detox : Rice fermented with aspergillus oryzae might help your body eliminate toxins such as polyvinyl chloride, according to a Japanese study published in the October 2004 "Chemosphere." The study compared blood levels of PVCs and other toxins in Japanese women who consumed the mixture with those who did not over a two-year period. Women who consumed the mixture eliminated more of the toxins than those who did not. This was a very small study of just nine women, but it did show a possible benefit of the mixture.
• vitamins and minerals : Amazake produced from brown rice supplies more vitamins and minerals than amazake made from white rice. Brown rice retains the bran and germ of the rice, which contains B-complex vitamins niacin and thiamine, vitamin E and fiber. Brown rice also serves as a good source of iron, zinc, potassium, calcium, manganese and magnesium.

References

• Japanese Foods That Heal; Tuttle Publishing
• Chemosphere: Impact of FEBRA (fermented brown rice with Aspergillusoryzae) intake and concentrations of PCDDs, PCDFs and PCBs in Blood of Humans from Japan
• Mitoku.com: Amazake
• Cooking for Healthy Healing; Healthy Healing Publications; 2002