Effect Of Koji Starter On Metabolites In Japanese Alcoholic Beverage Sake Made From The Sake Rice Koshitanrei

In sake brewing, the steamed rice is used in 2 ways, added to sake-mash and making rice-koji. Rice-kojiis made from the steamed rice by usingkojistarter, and its quality is an important determinant of the aroma/taste of sake. The sake riceKoshitanrei(KOS) was developed in Niigata Prefecture by crossing 2 sake rice varieties,GohyakumangokuandYamadanishiki. Recently, we reported the characteristic components/metabolites in sake made from KOS by conducting metabolome analysis using UPLC-QTOF-MS. In this study, to investigate the effect ofkojistarter and sake rice cultivars on the sake metabolites, we performed small-scale sake-making tests using the above 3 rice cultivars and 3kojistarters. Finally, we demonstrated that some of the characteristic components/metabolites of sake from KOS are affected by thekojistarter. Thus, in addition to rice cultivar,kojistarter plays an important role for establishment/maintenance of the quality of the final product.