Japanese Sake Miscellaneous #38 Two Ways to Make Sakura-colored Sake

There are two commercialized technologies that allow wine to be red when brewed, without the need for additional coloring. If the red pigment is obtained by adding pigments, or adding fruits for fermentation, or soaking the fruits after the sake is brewed to obtain their red pigments, then the definition of "sake" cannot be fulfilled, and must be labeled as other brewed wine or other brewed wines according to the process. It's liqueur.

Method 1. Rice containing anthocyanins

It is caused by the anthocyanin pigment contained in ancient rice "purple black rice". Myoko Mountain Red Sake made by Myoko Brewery in Joetsu City, Niigata Prefecture.

Method 2, red yeast

It is easy to fade when exposed to ultraviolet rays and must be properly shaded.ハルザケ of Kanai Brewery in Hadano City, Kanagawa Prefecture.

Although the sake brewer did not disclose the details of the yeast, Shumiao searched the Internet and found a mechanism for the production of red pigment. After all, Jiu Miao is not a biological science major, and can only use translation tools to try to understand and make a record.

The ナラノヤエザクラ yeast (Nara Yae Sakura yeast P-684) was isolated from Nara Women's University, and a red pigment-producing adenine-deficient strain (NYR20) was mutated, and the brewing technology of non-maize red sake was established. Obtained a patent in 2014 – the production method of ナラノヤエザクラ red pigment producing yeast およびそれを with いるるる brewing.

However, the production of red pigment is not the same as being seen!

The red yeast is adenine-requiring, and when it is in adenine-deficient state, the intermediate metabolites of adenine biosynthesis are transported into the vacuole through the glutathione-binding transporter of the tonoplast, and oxidative polymerization is carried out in the vacuole. Usually, red pigment accumulates in the vacuole, so sake brewed with red yeast does not turn red. But NYR20 can expel the red pigment out of the cells, making red sake. In the absence of adenine, the transcription levels of YCF1 and YBT1 were significantly reduced, and the red pigment of the NYR20 strain was accumulated in the cytoplasm and excreted because the efficiency of these pumps in transporting red pigment to vacuoles was reduced.

Source of data excerpted from: Keynote speech at the meeting of the Japan Society of Biotechnology 2015.10.28, 3P-057 Red Sake Yeast Strain of Nara Yae Sakura Yeast Origin, Red Pigment Discharge Mechanism, Shinichi Iwaguchi, Natsumi Yaji (Nara Women's University・Ri・・Biology)

By the way, if it is turbid sake どぶろくto make it red/peach/cherry blossom, there is a special strain in the association yeast. The alcohol concentration of the output is below 10%, and all the utensils that the red yeast will encounter must be completely separated from the barrels that use other yeasts during brewing to avoid contamination.