This is a very rich and sweet mirin made in the traditional way. It can be used as a substitute for dessert wine, brandy, or sugar.
What is Mirin?
Mirin is an alcoholic beverage made from shochu (distilled rice spirit) and glutinous rice, and is a kind of seasoning. It is one of the most essential seasonings for cooking Japanese food, like soy sauce. It is almost always used in Japanese soup dishes.
Is Mirin for an alcoholic beverage or for a seasoning?
When Mirin was invented in the 15th century, it was used as a drink, and in the 19th century, it was used as a seasoning. At that time, it was popular as a sweet alcoholic drink among women who didn't like sake. However, when there were food shortages during World War II, ”mirin-like seasoning” that were cheaper to make became available. As a result, the traditional Mirin, which was delicious to drink and required a lot of work, became rare, and only Mirin-like seasonings were used by ordinary families. Today, there are only a dozen or so companies that make Mirin, which is drunk as an alcoholic beverage.
Difference between Traditional Mirin and Mirin-style Seasoning
Traditional Mirin is made from shochu (distilled rice spirit) and glutinous rice.
Is Mirin for an alcoholic beverage or for a seasoning?
When Mirin was invented in the 15th century, it was used as a drink, and in the 19th century, it was used as a seasoning. At that time, it was popular as a sweet alcoholic drink among women who didn't like sake. However, when there were food shortages during World War II, ”mirin-like seasoning” that were cheaper to make became available. As a result, the traditional Mirin, which was delicious to drink and required a lot of work, became rare, and only Mirin-like seasonings were used by ordinary families. As a result, the traditional Mirin, which was delicious to drink and required a lot of work, became rare, and only Mirin-like seasonings were used by ordinary families. Today, there are only a dozen or so companies that make Mirin, which is drunk as an alcoholic beverage.
Difference between Traditional Mirin and Mirin-style Seasoning
Traditional Mirin is made from shochu (rice liquor) and glutinous rice. On the other hand, Mirin-style seasonings use white liquor, syrup, sugar, and chemical seasonings in order to make it cheaper.
Usage
For drinking and cooking
As a substitute for dessert wine
As a substitute for brandy, honey or sugar for desserts.
What we do
1. we use specially cultivated glutinous rice, which uses less pesticides, for the raw material, and it costs the same as sake brewing rice. We also polish the rice to 80% of the normal milling ratio of 90% in order to reduce miscellaneous tastes. Therefore, the cost alone is almost 1.5 times higher than other companies.
2.We do not use any brewing alcohol in our shochu brewing process, but only authentic shochu made from pure rice wine lees and rice, distilled in a single distiller.
3.We do not use a rice steamer to cool the glutinous rice. This is because the low milling ratio makes the rice too soft to use a machine. Therefore, the naturally cooled steamed rice is put into the brewing tank by hand, just like in 17th century.
4.Mirin Moromi, which is made from glutinous rice, rice malt, and shochu, is too dry Mirin Moromi, which is made from glutinous rice, rice malt, and shochu, is too viscous to be pressed with an automatic press, so it is pressed by hand with an old type of press called a sakebukuro (sake bag) and ship. By doing so, we are able to produce a thicker and richer Mirin than other companies.
We also produce mirin lee and brewing mash of mirin. These are also used asd seasonings in Japanese cuisine.