It's a rather common practice to add herbal medicines in rice wine in China, the remedies are long term nourishments which improve health and prolong life if drank daily over a period of time. Ginseng is one of the common kind, other odd remedies are lizard, rat, snake or tiger weenie, yeah..... you read that right, it was not a typo.
I am making a ginseng sake here. Since sake is a low alcohol content rice wine, it's suitable for my taste. The ginseng I am using is a small inexpensive red ginseng root, they are widely available at most herb store in China towns across the states. Loosen the ginseng bundle, rinse with water and let air dry, then simply put them in the wine. I used 3 bundles in a 1800 ml bottle, 4 should be fine too. This ginseng sake is ready to drink in about a week. A shot glass (1 - 2 oz) of sake at dinner keeps the doctors away! The taste is great, the sweetness in ginseng significantly mellows down the sharp alcohol taste. Drinking it warm is even better, the aroma of rice and ginseng blend well together which add dimension to the enjoyment.
3 comments:
what kind of bottle did you use?
a sake bottle would be best for serving but how to get the root into the bottle?
I use small size roots
Do they swell up? Please post a pic of the finished product ^_^
Post a Comment