Korean Baekseju Herbal Rice Wine

Name: Korean Baekseju Herbal Rice Wine
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Korean
Ingredients: glutinous rice 400 g; nuruk 80 g; water 1500 ml; fresh ginseng 30 g; jujube 6 pcs; ginger 20 g; honey 2 tbsp

Spread the steamed glutinous rice on a clean tray and cool it to room temperature before mixing it with 80 g nuruk, 1.5 L water, and the sliced ginseng and ginger and chopped jujube. Cover loosely so gas can escape, keep it at 18 to 24°C, and stir once daily with a clean utensil, checking at 6 to 8 days for bubbling that has diminished markedly and liquid that has separated. Strain, leave the honey out, and sweeten only the portions being served.

Quick answer

Total time: At least 7 days 3 hr 20 min
Level: Medium
Servings: 4 servings
Ingredients: 7

About this dish

This is not a copy of Kooksoondang's Baekseju but a homemade rice wine of glutinous rice and Korean nuruk with fresh ginseng, jujubes and ginger.

Whether fermentation is done is judged less by the day count than by the bubbling dropping off noticeably and the liquid separating into layers. Live yeast remains even in the strained wine and would ferment honey stirred into it, so honey goes only into each glass at serving.

Ingredients

servings

IngredientAmount

jujube6 pcs

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Instructions

6 steps

1

Rinse and soak 400 g glutinous rice for 3 hours, then drain.

Steam for about 20 minutes and continue if the center of a grain is still firm. Spread the cooked rice on a clean wide tray and cool to room temperature before mixing with nuruk.
2

Clean and thinly slice 30 g fresh ginseng and 20 g ginger.

Wash and pit the 6 jujubes, then chop the flesh.
3

Combine 80g of nuruk starter with 1500ml of water in a fermentation vessel, then add the cooled rice and herbs, mixing them thoroughly with clean hands to ensure even enzyme distribution.
4

Cover loosely so gas can escape and monitor fermentation at 18 to 24°C.

Stir once daily with a clean utensil. Use 6 to 8 days as a point to check progress, not a guaranteed finish: bubbling should diminish markedly and the liquid should separate. The culture and temperature may require a longer wait.
5

Strain through a clean cloth or fine sieve after checking fermentation progress.

Leave out the honey at this stage. Refrigerate in a fermentation container with a gas-release lid; do not seal active wine in a glass bottle that cannot vent.
6

Refrigerate for about a day to let sediment settle, then pour the clearer upper liquid gently.

Divide the 2 tablespoons honey among portions at serving, adding only as much as desired. Refrigeration does not completely stop fermentation, so retain the gas-release closure for any stored wine.