RICE FOR SAKÉ

Rice is the mainstay of the Japanese diet. It is used to make everything from noodles to rice cakes, from candies to confections, from saké to vinegar. There is short-grained rice which is typically served as the main accompaniment to most Japanese meals, and a form of glutinous rice which is used to make rice cakes called omochi and special casserole-type dishes. Rice is also used to make washi or Japanese paper which in turn is used to make everything from folding and sliding screens to lamp shades to paper dolls. It is planted in the spring and harvested in the fall, and there are many religious ceremonies steeped in Shinto tradition associated with rice cultivation and harvest.

Altogether there are more than 200 varieties of rice grown in Japan which vary according to the region where it is grown and the way it is cultivated. Among them, a special variety of rice called sakami, is used almost exclusively in the production of saké. There are about 40 varieties of sakami - nine of which are popularly used in saké production. Sakami rice grains are slightly softer and larger than the rice (okome) cultivated as the Japanese dietary staple. This distinction is important since every trace of oil, protein and ash associated with the hull must be ground away from the inner core of pure white starch to produce the most desirable flavor.

Some sakami comes from strains of rice which have been cultivated in Japan for centuries while others have been genetically engineered to produce a premium product. Since sakami only grows well in certain parts of Japan and requires special care, it tends to be more expensive to produce than regular okome.