Amazake

What is Amazake?

Amazake is a sweet creamy rice paste, and is white in colour. It has a subtle honey or malt like fragrance. It is used as a sweetener, with a thickener effect added. During the fermentation process, Koji breaks down the carbohydrates in rice to glucose, then it becomes extremely sweet. It takes about 10 hours to make, and its transformation process is quite amazing.

The simplest use of Amazake is using it as a straight paste, as a creamy topping for desserts, and also it will make a nice thick drink such as a smoothie, by combining with milk and/or fruit. Another way of using it is to make a sake cocktail. Because it is made from the same original ingredients, Sake and Amazake are a great combination.

It is called Sake (Zake) because it is made from the same ingredients as Sake (Rice Wine), but it actually is non-alcoholic. Also it is named Sake (Zake) because Amazake is made by Sake brewers as a side product during their off season.

Nutrition-wise it is full of vitamins. Normally, vitamins in supplements cannot be fully absorbed by the body because it’s not in its natural form, whereas absorption ratio of the natural vitamins in Amazake is around 90%. Also, the Vitamin B2 level is increased by 6.3 times as much from the original ingredients because of the chemical transformation in the fermentation process.