Amazake

Amazake is a traditional Japanese beverage made from fermented rice, sweet and thick in texture, produced using koji, the same rice inoculated with Aspergillus oryzae mold used to make sake, miso and soy sauce. Because the koji enzymes break down the rices starch into natural sugars, amazake can be made with little or no added alcohol and little or no added sweetener, and both non-alcoholic and lightly alcoholic versions exist depending on preparation method. It has a history reaching back over a thousand years in Japan and is traditionally drunk warm in winter, particularly around the New Year and at Shinto shrine festivals, valued as both a treat and a nourishing tonic.