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Alcoholic drinks from Korea

Moju (Jeonju spiced makgeolli)모주

Moju is a sweet, spiced drink from Jeonju, drunk as a hangover cure. Makgeolli (or the lees left after straining rice wine) is stirred and heated with medicinal herbs and brown sugar, then strained, so most of the alcohol is driven off. Moju sold in Jeonju restaurants averaged about 1 % alcohol and pH 4.25.

Fully documentedAlcoholic drinks30 min – 40 minFamily: Makgeolli (takju, nongju)

Recipe

Moju (Jeonju spiced makgeolli), a photo from Wikimedia Commons
Photo: jojo722, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
No fixed amounts recordedRestaurant recipes with no published amounts. A 2011 study measured 22 moju sold in Jeonju restaurants; its abstract gives no recipe amounts.
Makgeolli (takju)Older practice used the lees left after straining rice wine, washed with water and strained cloudy[lee2011][KOWP:모주]
Ginseng, arrowroot (chik), licorice, cinnamon, jujube and gingerOne description counts eight medicinal herbs in all[lee2011][KOWP:모주]
Brown sugar[lee2011]
Cinnamon powder, added at the end[KOWP:모주]

Total time across the recorded steps: 30 min – 40 min

Start
Drag the bar or press Play

What changes: Makgeolli, or rice-wine lees washed with water, goes into the pot

Step 1 of 4
Start from makgeolli, or from wine lees washed with water
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Output: cloudy rice-wine base.

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

At a glance

Moju is a sweet, spiced drink from Jeonju, drunk as a hangover cure. Makgeolli (or the lees left after straining rice wine) is stirred and heated with medicinal herbs and brown sugar, then strained, so most of the alcohol is driven off. Moju sold in Jeonju restaurants averaged about 1 % alcohol and pH 4.25. Made in 4 steps over 30 min – 40 min. The longest step, heat and stir until reduced and most alcohol is gone, takes 30–40 min (Jeonju Jujo Co. (전주주조)).

Key numbers
Main step30–40 minReported[jeonju-jujo]Heat and stir until reduced and most alcohol is gone
AciditypH 4.3Measured[lee2011]Strain, and add cinnamon powder

What makes this one different

Moju starts from finished makgeolli but is cooked with herbs and brown sugar, so most of the alcohol is driven off. Makgeolli itself is drunk unheated.

Related ferments

Safety

The restaurant moju in the 2011 study held about 1 % alcohol and pH 4.25 on average.

History and sources

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

By tradition the name comes from Lady No, mother of Queen Inmok. The Daedong yaseung says she was exiled to Jeju under King Gwanghaegun and sold cheap makgeolli made by brewing the lees a second time, so it was first called daebi moju (queen mother's moju). In late Joseon Seoul, moju shops sold lees stirred with water and boiled hot, with very little alcohol, to day labourers on winter mornings. The Encyclopedia of Korean Culture gives this lees-and-water version; the Jeonju herbal version on this page is described only by the 2011 study and Korean Wikipedia.

Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
Microbes
No study we found names its microbes.
  1. [lee2011] Lee B.-Y., Kim S.-J., Doo H.-S., Kwon T.-H., Kim J.-W. (이보영, 김상준, 두홍수, 권태호, 김종욱) 2011, Physicochemical and sensory characteristics of moju sold at restaurants located in Jeonju, Korean Journal of Food Preservation 18(6):907–915 (abstract)paper
  2. [KOWP:모주] Wikipedia (ko), 모주 (outline only)wiki
  3. [encykorea-moju] Yi S.-U. (이성우) 1995, rev. 2023, 모주 (moju), Encyclopedia of Korean Culture (한국민족문화대백과사전), Academy of Korean Studiesbook
  4. [jeonju-jujo] Jeonju Jujo Co. (전주주조), 집에서 간단하게 핸드메이드 모주만들기 (home moju recipe), company websiteweb