Effect of koji starter on metabolites in Japanese alcoholic beverage sake made from the sake rice Koshitanrei

ABSTRACT

In sake brewing, the steamed rice is used in 2 ways, added to sake-mash and making rice-koji. Rice-koji is made from the steamed rice by using koji starter, and its quality is an important determinant of the aroma/taste of sake. The sake rice Koshitanrei (KOS) was developed in Niigata Prefecture by crossing 2 sake rice varieties, Gohyakumangoku and Yamadanishiki. Recently, we reported the characteristic components/metabolites in sake made from KOS by conducting metabolome analysis using UPLC-QTOF-MS. In this study, to investigate the effect of koji starter and sake rice cultivars on the sake metabolites, we performed small-scale sake-making tests using the above 3 rice cultivars and 3 koji starters. Finally, we demonstrated that some of the characteristic components/metabolites of sake from KOS are affected by the koji starter. Thus, in addition to rice cultivar, koji starter plays an important role for establishment/maintenance of the quality of the final product.

Graphical abstract

Metabolites in sake affect the taste and aroma. Specific metabolites of sake from Koshitanrei are affected by koji starter were identified by sake metabolome analysis method.

KEYWORDS:

• Koshitanrei
• koji starter
• metabolite
• metabolome analysis
• sake

Acknowledgments

We thank all members of Asahi Sake Brewing Co. Ltd. for their support.

Authors’ contributions

All authors engaged in the experimental design and interpretation of the data. E.I., S.H., and Y.H. carried out experiments. E.I., K.I., and D.H. planned the project. E.I. and D.H. wrote the paper with input from the co-authors, and the other authors reviewed the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary material

Supplemental material for this article can be accessed here.