throughout the mass People eventually noticed that moldy rice tasted sweet and smelled alcoholic Sometime before the 3rd century BCE, these simple observations led to a regular technique for producing alcoholic liquids By 500 CE, a Chinese source lists nine different mold preparations and 37 different alcoholic products Today, few people outside of China have heard of chiu, but many millions have heard of its Japanese counterpart, sake(pronounced “sa-kay”) Rice cultivation and probably chiu production were brought to Japan from the Asian mainland around 300 BCE Over the following centuries, Japanese brewers so refined chiu that it became something distinctive Starch-Digesting Molds Though modern industrial production has brought a number of common shortcuts and simplifications, Chinese and Japanese brewers have traditionally used very different preparations for breaking rice starch down into fermentable sugars Chinese Chhü : Several Molds and Yeasts The ancient Chinese preparation, chhü, is usually made from wheat or rice, and includes several different kinds of mold as well as the yeasts that will eventually produce the alcohol Some of the wheat may be roasted or left raw, but most is steamed, coarsely ground, shaped into cakes, and then left to mold in incubation rooms for several weeks Species of Aspergillus grow on the outside, and species of Rhizopus and Mucor on the inside Aspergillus is the same kind of mold used to digest soybeans to make soy sauce and Rhizopus is the major mold in soybean tempeh (p 496, 500), while Mucor is important in some kinds of aged cheeses All of them accumulate starch-and protein-digesting ... cakes, and then left to mold in incubation rooms for several weeks Species of Aspergillus grow on the outside, and species of Rhizopus and Mucor on the inside Aspergillus is the same kind of mold... Chinese preparation, chhü, is usually made from wheat or rice, and includes several different kinds of mold as well as the yeasts that will eventually produce the alcohol Some of the wheat may be roasted or... used to digest soybeans to make soy sauce and Rhizopus is the major mold in soybean tempeh (p 496, 500), while Mucor is important in some kinds of aged cheeses All of them accumulate starch -and protein-digesting