How to make sweet wine koji

Sweet wine, also known as rice wine, fermented glutinous rice, and fermented glutinous rice, is a very popular food. Sweet wine koji is a substance used to make sweet wine, which is usually made through fermentation. In addition to making sweet wine, sweet wine koji can also be used as cooking wine and can also be used to make steamed buns. So, what is the method of making sweet wine koji? The following article will give you a detailed introduction to the production methods and uses of sweet wine koji!

1. The fermentation process of sweet wine koji

During the fermentation process, saccharifying bacteria first break down the starch in the glutinous rice into glucose and the protein into amino acids. Then a small amount of yeast converts the glucose into alcohol through the glycolysis pathway. This makes sweet, delicious and nutritious sweet wine. The most important active substance in sweet wine koji is Rhizopus, common Rhizopus include black Rhizopus (commonly known as bread mold) and rice Rhizopus. The most suitable temperature for black Rhizopus is between 30℃ and 35℃, and it cannot grow at 37℃ (some also say: the most suitable growth temperature for black Rhizopus is about 28℃, and it will no longer grow above 32℃); while the development temperature of Rhizopus oryzae is 30℃ to 35℃, the most suitable temperature is 37℃, and it cannot grow at 41℃.

2. How to make sweet wine koji

1. Take a piece of steamed bun or bread, one or two centimeters thick, expose it to the air for one or two hours, then put it in a small plastic bag, spray it with a spray bottle, and then tie the bag tightly. Keep in a dark place.

If the temperature is above 20℃, after two or three days, the surface of the steamed buns and even the wall of the plastic bag with steamed bun crumbs will grow loose white fluff, with small black ash dots the size of coal ash scattered on the white fluff. These are the colonies of Rhizopus.

2 . Observe hyphae and rhizoids

Use a dissecting needle to pick out some Rhizopus with black spots from the steamed buns, and try to take away or as little steamed bun crumbs as possible. Place in a drop of water on a slide and spread out carefully without pulling apart the attached hyphae. Cover with a coverslip and you can see under a microscope that the hyphae of Rhizopus have no septa.

The hyphae spread in all directions and grow on root-like protrusions where they come into contact with the soil or substrate, but they do not have the complex structure of the roots of seed plants, so they are called rhizomes. The hyphae connecting two rhizomes are called creeping hyphae.

3. Observe the sporangium and find clusters of upright hyphae from the rhizoids, with sporangium growing on their tops. The hyphae with sporangia are called sporangiophores. Move the slide, find several spore sacs at different stages of development, and then compare them to understand its maturation process. It turns out that the top of the sporangium of Rhizopus is swollen and spherical, and the spores are gathered at the swollen part of the top of the sporangium stalk, covered with a thin film on the outside. When the sporangium matures, the film cracks and the spores are released. It can be seen in the Rhizopus colony that the spores are completely scattered, leaving only the swollen sporangium stalk at the top.

3. The use of sweet wine koji

Sweet wine is the original product of rice wine koji. It is the prototype of various types of wine making. In addition to being eaten, it has two uses. One is to use it as cooking wine, such as in Sichuan hot pot and added to bean paste; the other is to make steamed buns, such as the rice wine steamed buns in Zhoukou, Henan and Jinhua, Zhejiang. In addition, sweet wine koji can also be used in the fermentation of seasonings. Therefore, the users of sweet wine koji include sweet wine factories, families, catering units, and seasoning production units.

Sweet fermented rice is used as cooking wine mainly for its good taste and unique flavor. During the seasoning process, it has a certain wine aroma, as well as sour and sweet tastes. It can remove fishy smells, enhance freshness and fragrance, making dishes unique in flavor and mellow in taste. It has become an indispensable condiment when cooking dishes. Sichuan cuisine is famous for its seasoning, and sweet wine plays an important role in this, such as the Sichuan cold dish of crispy crucian carp with green onions.

Sweet wine is used in the production of steamed buns. The most important representatives are in Zhoukou, Henan and Jinhua, Zhejiang. It has a strong local traditional color and is generally called rice wine steamed buns. There are many ways to make rice wine steamed buns. Some are to directly use sweet wine koji to ferment the dough for a long time to make steamed buns; some are to use the wine in the sweet wine as the dough water, and then add appropriate yeast to make steamed buns. This fermentation method is most typical in Jinhua; others are to ferment sweet wine and flour together for a long time to make steamed buns. Although the methods are different, these steamed buns all have the unique mellow flavor of sweet wine and a delicate taste, and are foods with very traditional ethnic characteristics.

Sweet wine koji is used for seasoning fermentation, mainly utilizing the strong saccharification properties of Rhizopus in the sweet wine koji. For example, the production of sauces uses starch and protein as the main raw materials. The main roles in the production process are the saccharifying mold and protease systems produced by the Rhizopus strain. Through saccharification, starch is broken down into sugar. Through the hydrolysis and fermentation of protein by the protease system, various amino acids are produced, thus forming the sweetness and umami flavor of the sauce. Then, through the alcohol fermentation of yeast and the lactic acid fermentation of bacteria, sauces with different flavors are obtained.