Japanese sweet potatoes are used like this! The best raw material of Japanese soju

The bottle shape of soju is similar to that of sake, and the wine label usually appears with Japanese kanji and katakana, and they are also displayed on the wine shelves of Japanese restaurants and supermarkets, and they are all transparent or yellowish when poured into the wine glass. so it is often mistaken for the same thing.

The biggest difference between the two is the raw material and the brewing method.

The raw material of sake is rice, while the mainstream raw materials of soju are sweet potato, rice and barley. In recent years, the thinking of the soju industry has been greatly inspired, and soju based on black sugar, chestnuts, perilla, black beans, vegetables and even milk have sprung up one after another.

Sake is fermented wine with a maximum alcohol content of 22 degrees (14-17 degrees for mainstream sake on the market), while soju, as its name implies, means distillation-a wine that is fermented and then distilled, with an alcohol content of more than 25 degrees and a maximum of 60 degrees.

2. Japanese soju was not used to drink at first.

One of the theories about the origin of Japanese soju is that in order to enrich the country and strengthen the army, the 28th vassal of the Satsuma clan at the end of the shogunate developed the arms industry and built an arsenal next to his residence, Xianyan Park. In addition to producing cannons and warships, he also used Samoya (that is, sweet potatoes), a local local specialty of Satsuma, as raw materials to distill alcohol wantonly as munitions and industrial supplies. But then Shimadzu Qisan was defeated in the Saxo-British War, his factory was burned down, and the munitions alcohol was no longer useful. However, it was found that the alcohol distilled from Samoto taro tasted just right; at that time, even the wealthier Japanese were able to drink sake, so these soju made from cheap sweet potatoes naturally became gifts to the poor.

3. Why Japanese soju is not as famous as sake, the reason should be that its taste is very special

The flavor of soju is so special that many people do not accept it!

Among the many different types of soju, the most mainstream taro roast (in fact, sweet potato roast) is the least easily accepted by the Chinese. Most taro yams have an eerily sweet taste, giving the impression that the sweetness in sweet potatoes is not well combined with alcohol-especially in low-end soju. In barley soju and rice soju, this feeling is milder.

4. Soju is actually more popular than sake in Japan

In Japan, the consumption of soju is greater than sake. This makes me feel quite powerless to complain. After all, apart from being a little cheaper and a little more alcoholic, what other advantages do soju have compared with sake?