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Starters and koji from Myanmar

Myanmar rice-wine starter balls

Village rice-wine starters in Myanmar's hill states are small cakes of ground rice. In a Kayah account the rice is ground, sun-dried, rolled into balls coated with rice husk, then threaded on bamboo and hung above the kitchen fire for about a week. A Chin household method seeds new cakes with part of an old one.

A short entry: the sources we found record only what is said here about Myanmar rice-wine starter balls itself.

Short entryStarters and koji7 days

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedWhat goes in. No source gives amounts for this ferment.
ground rice
Starterback-slop in the Chin method (part of an older cake is pounded in); not stated in the Kayah account

Total time across the recorded steps: 7 days

Start
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What changes: Rice is ground and sun-dried

Step 1 of 3
Grind rice and sun-dry
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Output: rice powder.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Village rice-wine starters in Myanmar's hill states are small cakes of ground rice. In a Kayah account the rice is ground, sun-dried, rolled into balls coated with rice husk, then threaded on bamboo and hung above the kitchen fire for about a week. A Chin household method seeds new cakes with part of an old one. Made in 3 steps over 7 days. The longest step, dry, pierce and thread on bamboo strips, and hang above the stove, takes 7 days (Kite Tales (Myanmar)).

Key numbers
Main step7 daysReported[kite]Dry, pierce and thread on bamboo strips, and hang above the stove

What makes this one different

Unlike Thai loog-pang or Indonesian ragi, the Kayah cakes are coated in rice husk and cured in the smoke above the hearth.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Chin household starter (Mwim, Mindat)Part of an older cake is pounded into sticky rice with herbs and spices; the creamy brown mix is formed into cakes, sprinkled with more old yeast, covered with banana leaves for 2 nights and dried until white. Families keep their own strains, and men may not touch the yeast.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

  1. [kite] Kite Tales (Myanmar), "Rice wine: from crop to cup"web
  2. [cornell2022] Cornell M. 2022, Traditional brewing in Myanmar: an amazing heritage (review of Corbin 2022, Heritage Drinks of Myanmar), Zythophileweb