Palatability Characteristics of Sake-Lees with Pre-germinated Brown Rice

Abstract

  Sake lees from pre-germinated brown rice (SBR) and ginjo sake lees were examined for their palatability characteristics. The free amino acids, organic acids, minerals, total sugar amount and tasty nucleotides were analyzed. The results show that sake lees from SBR included more free amino acids, organic acids and minerals, while ginjo sake lees contained more glucides. No inosinic and guanylic acids, or tasty nucleotides were detected. Such difference in constituents would have been caused by polishing during milling, pre-germination, or adaptation during fermentation. The GC-MS analysis results show that lees from SBR contained such mature odor components as isoamyl alcohol and ethyl hexadecanoate that are present in whiskey and “awamori”. Bread baked with SBR lees also contained many similar components. The organoleptic test results show that bread baked with SBR lees had higher levels of roasted effect (p＝0.0365) and smell of lees (p＝0.0026) than bread baked with ginjo lees. This indicates that the addition of SBR lees would increase the flavor characteristics of bread.