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Fermentation Atlas

Alcoholic drinks from Korea

Dongdongju (bueuiju, floating-ant wine)동동주

Dongdongju is a quick Korean rice wine served with grains of rice floating on top. Its old name, bueuiju, means floating-ant wine, after the grains that look like small ants. Steamed glutinous rice is mixed with nuruk powder and cooled boiled water in a single stage and is ripe in about three days in warm weather, or seven in winter. Made in 4 steps over 4 days – 8 days. The longest step, ferment until ripe, takes 3–7 days (Baek Du-Hyeon 2010). Nuruk moulds and yeasts; the study nuruk was made with Aspergillus oryzae, Aspergillus kawachii and Saccharomyces coreanus does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step3–7 daysReported[baek2010]Ferment until ripe
Fully documentedAlcoholic drinks4 days – 8 daysFamily: Makgeolli (takju, nongju)More alcoholic drinksMore from Korea

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceOne batch as written in 18th- and 19th-century Korean recipe books (Sul mandeuneun beop, Jusikbang, Eumsik bangmun), in old Korean volume units. A 1987 lab brew used 900 g glutinous rice, 1,200 mL water and 90 g nuruk.
1 malGlutinous rice · Washed, steamed and cooled[baek2010]
3 bottles (byeong)Water, boiled and cooled[baek2010]
1 doeNuruk powder[baek2010]
Starterkoji/qu/mold-starter (nuruk)

Total time across the recorded steps: 4 days – 8 days

Start
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What changes: Glutinous rice is washed, steamed and spread to cool

Step 1 of 4
Wash, steep and steam the glutinous rice
Time
24 h
Reported
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Moulds
Yeasts

The old recipes say to wash the rice clean, steam it well and let it go fully cold. Output: steamed, cooled glutinous rice.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
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

Dongdongju is a one-stage glutinous rice wine that is ripe in a few days, and it is served with the rice grains floating on the clear wine instead of being strained and thinned like makgeolli. The floating grains give it both its names, dongdong (bobbing) and bueui (floating ants).

Related ferments

Variants

  • With pine nuts (Jeongildang japji)Five doe of glutinous rice with five hop of crushed pine nuts; after seven days two bottles of clear wine are added, and it is used three days later.
  • Yangjubang versionsOne recipe makes a non-glutinous rice wine in two stages; another, as Baek reads it, floats real ants on the cleared wine.

History and sources

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

Recipes under the name bueuiju appear in hand-written Korean recipe books from about 1795 (Jusikbang) to the late 19th century (Sul mandeuneun beop, Eumsik bangmun, Jeongildang japji).

  1. [baek2010] Baek Du-Hyeon 2010, 한글 음식조리서로 본 전통음식 조리법의 비교 – 부의주(동동주) (Comparing traditional recipes in Korean-script cookbooks, bueuiju/dongdongju), 식품문화 한맛한얼 3(3):246–257paper
  2. [jung1987] Jung J.H., Jung S.T. 1987, Comparison of the aroma components in the Korean traditional yakjus, Journal of the Korean Agricultural Chemical Society (Applied Biological Chemistry) 30(3):264–271paper
  3. [WP:Makgeolli] Wikipedia, Makgeolli (outline only)wiki