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Fermentation Atlas

Soft drinks from Japan

Amazake (rice-koji)甘酒

Koji amazake is a thick, sweet rice drink with no alcohol. Cooked rice, rice koji and water are held at 50–60 °C overnight while the koji's enzymes turn the rice starch into glucose. No yeast works in it, so no alcohol forms. Made in 4 steps over 19 h. The longest step, hold warm while the starch turns to sugar, takes 18 h (MAFF 2023) and runs at 50–60 °C (Kurahashi A. 2021). Aspergillus oryzae does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step18 hReported[maff-hakko][gifu2023]Hold warm while the starch turns to sugar
Temperature50–60 °CReported[kurahashi2021][maff-hakko][gifu2023]Hold warm while the starch turns to sugar
Fully documentedSoft drinks19 hMore soft drinksMore from Japan

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceEqual amounts of rice koji, cooked rice and water, as the Japanese agriculture ministry describes it. Another type uses only rice koji and water.
1 partRice koji[maff-hakko]
1 partCooked rice · Glutinous rice is often used[maff-hakko]
1 partWater[maff-hakko]
Starterkoji/qu/mold-starter (rice koji; its enzymes, not live growth)

Total time across the recorded steps: 19 h

Start
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90 °C

What changes: Heat cooks the rice so its starch is open to the koji enzymes

Step 1 of 4
Cook the rice
Time
30 min
Reported
Temperature
90 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Moulds

Output: cooked rice.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
soft, gelatinised rice
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

What makes this one different

Amazake uses koji's enzymes but no live fermentation; sake adds yeast to the same rice and koji and turns the sugar into alcohol. Korean sikhye sweetens rice the same way with barley malt instead of koji.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Sake-kasu amazakesake lees dissolved in hot water with sugar; carries yeast products and a little alcohol
  • Koji-only amazakerice koji and water with no added cooked rice

Safety

Keep the mash at 50–60 °C. Food-poisoning bacteria such as Salmonella and Staphylococcus do not grow in that range and die above 55 °C, but they can grow near 40 °C, and past amazake poisoning was mainly staphylococcal. Keep amazake cold after it is made or opened.

Hazards the sources name: Staphylococci and Salmonella (grow near 40 °C; past amazake poisoning was mainly staphylococcal).

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

The Nihon Shoki of 720 mentions a sweet rice drink close to amazake. By the middle of the Edo period it was made as it is today and sold by street sellers, drunk to beat the summer heat.

  1. [kurahashi2021] Kurahashi A. 2021, Ingredients, functionality, and safety of the Japanese traditional sweet drink amazake, Journal of Fungi 7(6):469, doi:10.3390/jof7060469 (author works for an amazake maker)paper
  2. [maff-hakko] MAFF 2023, にっぽんの発酵食品 (Japan's fermented foods), chapter 3, amazakegov
  3. [gifu2023] Kashima T., Kodera M., Udoyama M., Udoyama S., Yokoyama S. 2023, 有用微生物の探索と機能性 食品の開発 (第3報) (Search for useful microorganisms and application to food III), Reports of the Gifu Prefectural Research Institute for Food Sciences 5gov