This week we're looking at the fundamentals of rice wine, a staple of many east Asian cultures. Rice wine, like any wine, is filled with nuance and complexity both in flavor and manufacture. There's so much that defines a good rice wine and sake is a great example of many of these finer points  so it makes a great primer for our exploration into the broader category of rice wine. Over the next few weeks, we'll be looking at everything from makgeolli to sake from koji to qu  from awamori to baijiu and we'll even look at rice wine vinegar. So get ready because there's a lot to learn here. As always, feel free to reach out with any questions, comments, suggestions or whatever else on instagram @planetpantrypod or by email planetpantrypod@gmail.com and don't forget to check out patreon.com/planetpantrypod if you want to support the show and help me to build a community around the pantry staples of the world.  Here is a great sake recipe that uses store bought koji which you can find at many Asian grocery stores under the brand "cold mountain koji"  https://byo.com/article/making-sake/ Some sources (more upon request, character limit is limiting) Koji Alchemy by Rich Shih and Jeremy Umansky Art of Fermentation by Sandor Katz Noma Guide to Fermentation by Renee Redzeppi and David Zilber Stephen Lyman's talk at Koji Con 2021 The wonderful resources provided by the members of the koji discord server https://www.truesake.com/pages/sake-types https://sakeguide.net/articles/2020/10/21/what-is-junmai-sake-1 https://boutiquejapan.com/sake101/#:~:text=Junmai%20is%20the%20Japanese%20word,such%20as%20sugar%20or%20alcohol. https://www.takarasake.com/sake-brewing-process https://www.seriouseats.com/sake-yeast-temperature-yeast-strains https://www.midorinoshima.com/en/content/6-sake-production-process https://theculturetrip.com/asia/japan/articles/a-brief-history-of-japanese-sake/ http://awamori-news.co.jp/1980_2-26_awamori-kuchi-kami-sake_sake-made-from-rice-or-other-cereal-which-is-chewed-before-fermentation_arakaki-kana/ https://thejapanesebar.com/sake-rice/ https://www.hakushika.co.jp/en/enjoy/Ingredients.html https://en.sake-times.com/learn/seimaibuai-rice-polishing-rate https://www.tippsysake.com/pages/sake-guide-lesson-3-types-of-sake https://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php/Aspergillus_oryzae https://www.thefermentary.com.au/products/tane-koji-to-grow-on-rice http://www.fao.org/3/x6897e/x6897e05.htm http://oa.upm.es/47964/1/INVE_MEM_2017_261872.pdf