Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/683760
Onerecentafternoon,I visited the Blithedale Av- enue Whole Foods, in Mill Valley, hunting for a few gro- ceries and the evening's bottle of brew. While browsing, I found my- self sidestepping from the beer aisle, past the rows of wines, and over to the su- permarket's selection of Japan's classic table bever- age, sake. I was struck by how rel- atively paltry the selec- tion was, with only about two dozen bottles — but that's not Whole Foods' fault. There simply isn't much sake around, not in this country, anyway. In the United States, there are about 8,000 winer- ies, nearly 1,000 distill- eries and more than 4,000 breweries. Each category is growing, in fact. How- ever, amid such an interest in making and drinking alcoholic beverages, Amer- ica is home to less than 20 commercial operations that make sake. (In Japan, there are about 2,000.) I think this is almost absurd. Sake can be ex- ceptionally delicious — smooth as coconut wa- ter and highly aromatic, characterized almost universally by scents of tropical fruit and flow- ers. Some styles of sake tend toward the earth- ier end of the flavor spec- trum, with surprising fla- vors of dried mushroom, wood and chestnut. In color, sake may be sweet, thick and milky — a pop- ular style called nigori — or clear as vodka, which gives some consumers the false impression that sake is a distilled beverage, to be consumed cautiously from shot glasses. Others treat it like wine, which is fair enough given its simi- lar alcoholic content, usu- ally between 12 and 16 percent. But sake's closest cousin in the average beverage department is certainly beer. The places that make sake are even called brew- eries, and the brewing process is a close paral- lel to that of brewing beer. First, white polished rice is steamed and added to a vat of warm water. Then, a mold by the name of As- pergillus oryzae, known in the sake world as koji, is deployed into the cooked rice. The koji turns the starch into sugar. Yeast, meanwhile, eats this sugar and makes alcohol. That's about it. Like beer, sake can be consumed just weeks after brewing. One remarkable dif- ference between brewing beer and brewing sake is that in the former, the bar- ley is used in whole form, with husks and all. With sake rice, however, each grain is polished in a com- mercial mill — ground down to small white pearls. The idea is to elim- inate the outer layers of bran and germ, which con- tain oils and proteins that, when mingled with fer- menting sugars, can create harsh off-flavors. In fact, the more the rice is milled, the better — and more ex- pensive — the sake is likely to be. Cheaper brands may be made with rice from which only the outer 15 percent of each kernel was polished away. Bet- ter — and more expensive brands — will have had at least 30 percent of the rice kernel milled away. Ginjo grade sake is made from rice milled to 60 percent the kernel's size at har- vest. Daiginjo grade sake — considered by many to be the most delicate and the very best — has had at least half the outer rice layers removed. While no one, as near as I can tell, is making sake commercially in Marin County, nationally, a small craft sake renaissance is underway. There is a sake brewpub in Minneapolis called Moto-I, a couple of them in Asheville, North Carolina, two sake brew- eries in Portland, Oregon, two in Southern Califor- nia, and a handful more around the United States and Canada. There are several popu- lar sake bars in San Fran- cisco, and there is an ex- cellent retail shop called True Sake with scores and scores of beautiful bot- tles, many colored pink, baby blue and cloudy white. Berkeley is home to Takara Sake USA — the American brewing loca- tion of a Japanese sake- making giant. The Takara brewery features a mu- seum and a tasting bar — but it's hardly the quaint, cheerful kind of setting one finds in a brewpub. The best retail location for finding a wide sake se- lection is probably Whole Foods. The store carries about 30 brands, mostly Japanese, of several styles. Among these is a brand called Momokawa, brewed in Portland and probably the best big sake line in America. While we may need to keep waiting for a sake brewpub to crop up, it turns out there is an easy way to taste small-batch, artisanal sake almost any- time you want — brew it yourself in two weeks. It's easy to do, but that's a conversation we'll have an- other day. ContactAlastairBlandat allybland79@gmail.com. THROUGHTHEHOPVINE IJARCHIVE Nigori-style sake is unfiltered, giving it a milky appearance and a sweet taste. Get to know beer's closest cousin, sake Alastair Bland By Heather Shelton hshelton@times-standard.com We had a chili cook-off at work earlier this week and — even though I'm not a big chili aficionado — one of my co-workers encour- aged me to try my hand at this popular go-to meal. I was in good culinary company. Five Times-Stan- dard employees ended up entering their favorite chili in the friendly competition. There were several classic chili entries, as well as one super spicy dish and an- other that combined sweet and heat thanks to the ad- dition of various chili pep- pers and maple syrup. The winner of our cook- off was Times-Standard Production/Distribution Director Carmel Bonita- tibus, who got the most votes for his Mild Chili. (He also entered an eye- watering, mouth-searing version of the same dish.) His recipe will now be en- tered in the Chili Cook-off at McKinleyville's Pony Express Days on June 1. Congratulations, Carmel! For my entry, I decided to combine the concept of chili with my love of vegetables. This recipe — which I dubbed Have Your Chili and Eat Your Veggies, Too — is loaded with bell pepper, zucchini, carrots and corn and mildly spiced with cayenne pepper, Old Bay Seasoning, garlic pow- der and my favorite addi- tion, Humboldt's own Ted & Barney's Meat Season- ing. Enjoy! Haveyourchiliand eat your veggies, too INGREDIENTS 2pounds lean ground beef 1white onion, diced ½ cup water 2cans diced tomatoes 1can Ro-Tel diced tomatoes and green chilies 1can kidney beans, drained 1can garbanzo beans, drained 1-2teaspoons Ted & Barney's Meat Seasoning (depending on taste) 2teaspoons Old Bay Sea- soning 1teaspoon cayenne pepper ½ teaspoon garlic powder 1carrot, thinly sliced 1bell pepper, diced 2zucchini, thinly sliced 1can of corn, drained DIRECTIONS Place ground beef, onion, water, diced tomatoes, Ro- Tel, kidney beans, garbanzo beans, Ted & Barney's, Old Bay, cayenne pepper and garlic powder in a large slow cooker and cook on low heat for 8hours. A er 8hours, take the lid off the slow cooker and mix up all ingredients in the pot, making sure the beef is broken up into small chunks. Add carrot, zucchini, bell pepper and corn. Cook on high heat for another 2 hours. Serve hot. FRIENDLY COMPETITION Se rv in g up a g oo d ti me HEATHER SHELTON — THE TIMES-STANDARD Have Your Chili and Eat Your Veggies, Too is a veggie-filled variation on classic chili. By Brigitte Moran and Shannon Lovelace-White Agricultural Institute of Marin Ask 100 people their opinion on beets and you are likely to find your- self among two divided camps: beet lovers and beet haters. Beet lovers can't get enough of them, and gen- erally, the earthier tasting the better. If you're of the "beets taste like dirt" per- suasion (aka a beet hater), you've likely tried them once, maybe twice, and have little desire to give them another shot. You may, however, want to re- consider your position on this root veggie. Beets can serve an important biolog- ical function — they help detoxify the body — but they are also low in calo- ries and high in fiber, an- tioxidants, iron, potas- sium, folate and calcium. Whether you're a beet novice or someone open to conversion, the fol- lowing strategies are for you. First, try dif- ferent varieties. Golden beets, for example, are far mellower and sweeter than red beets. Second, try them in a variety of ways. If you've had them raw, try them roasted or grilled, which maximizes their sweetness. Third, consider your pairing. Your ability to appreci- ate beets could depend heavily on what you pair them with. Citrus is al- ways an excellent choice. Need convincing? Try Glen Ellen Star's wood oven-roasted golden beets served with a sa- vory yogurt streusel and blood orange oil. This dish may just make a beet believer out of you. Looking for a great starter recipe? Head chef and co-owner Ari Weis- wasser recommends try- ing beet butter. Beet but- ter is a fantastic way to begin acclimating one- self to the distinctive fla- vor of beets. Use beet butter to dress a salad or pasta. Take a page out of Weiswasser's book and add goat cheese, pine nuts and sorrel for delicious summer din- ner. Beets can be found year-round at both the Thursday and Sunday Marin Farmers Market. The Farmers Market Beet is provided by the Agricultural Institute of Marin (AIM). Each week features a seasonal ingredient and recipe from or inspired by a Bay Area chef/ restaurant. Call AIM at 415-472-6100. FARMERS MARKET BEET A dish even beet haters will love RICK E. MARTIN — BAY AREA NEWS GROUP Golden beets are far mellower and sweeter than red beets. Beet butter Serves 4 Four medium to large beets (or 1cup beet juice) 4tablespoons butter Using a juicer, juice beets. In a small saucepan, simmer juice on medium to low until reduced to approximately 1/3 cup of syrup. Add butter and begin whisking vigorously to melt butter and emulsify with beet syrup. Remove from heat and add to 1pound of prepared pasta. 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