Sweet Fermented Rice Wine (Jiu Niang)

Ingredients

• 800 g glutinous rice
• 8 g sweet rice wine starter culture (Angie brand)
• 720 g water
• 600 g water

Method

Cook the glutinous rice in a rice cooker with 720 g water on steam mode. The starch in glutinous rice is almost entirely amylopectin — the branched starch that gelatinises at lower temperatures and absorbs more water than long-grain varieties. This matters: you need a dense, sticky matrix for the fermentation culture to colonise evenly.

Cool the rice to 30°C before inoculation. This temperature is critical. The starter culture — a consortium of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Aspergillus oryzae spores — germinates best in the 28–32°C band; cooler and the lag phase extends; hotter and you risk killing the spores outright. Once the rice is warm but not hot to touch, mix the 8 g starter with 20 ml water at 30°C and scatter it across the surface. Stir thoroughly for two minutes to distribute the spores into every grain. Add the 600 g water — this creates a shallow brine that keeps the rice moist without drowning it, and allows the amylase enzymes from the Aspergillus to diffuse through the mass more effectively than dry fermentation would.

Transfer to a clean glass or ceramic vessel (no plastic; it can absorb odours and leach into the ferment). Press the rice flat and create a shallow well in the centre with the back of a spoon — not a deep hole with a rolling pin, which damages the grain structure. Cover tightly with cling film or a lid. Maintain 28–32°C for 24–48 hours. Do not disturb it. The Aspergillus will begin breaking down the starch into glucose and maltose within 12 hours; you'll see clear liquid pooling in the well. By 36–48 hours, the yeast kicks in to ferment those sugars into ethanol and carbon dioxide, giving the characteristic mild alcohol aroma. The sweet flavour comes from incomplete fermentation — the residual sugars that remain when you stop the process.

Refrigerate once the brine turns noticeably sweet and the aroma shifts from earthy-fungal to wine-like with no vinegary or off-smells. The cold arrests the yeast-fermentation. You can add osmanthus flowers here for floral depth, though it's optional. Use a clean spoon every time you take a portion. For secondary fermentation, add 500 ml water to the remaining solids and repeat the 24–48 hour cycle at ambient temperature — this extracts more sugar and creates a thinner, more spoonable jiu niang.

To halt fermentation entirely, steam the vessel (sealed) for 10 minutes at 100°C to denature the enzymes and kill the yeast. This allows storage at room temperature for several weeks. Otherwise, freeze to preserve indefinitely.