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Soft drinks from Korea

Sikhye (malt rice drink) and Andong sikhye식혜

Sikhye is a boundary entry. Cooked rice is held warm in malt water so the malt's enzymes turn its starch into sugar. Andong sikhye is the true ferment of the family. Rice, radish, ginger and red pepper in malt water are fermented cold by lactic acid bacteria into a sour, spicy drink.

Fully documentedSoft drinks4.2 days – 4.3 days

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceLaboratory conditions found best in a 1999 Korean study of malt sikhye (Mok et al.), given as the abstract states them without a stated base for the percentages. Andong sikhye uses glutinous rice, malt, radish, water, ginger and red pepper (Choi 1991); no amounts for it are given here.
Malt powder (yeotgireum)4 %The abstract gives the percentage without saying what it is a percentage of[mok1999]
Rice, steamed firm (godubap)20 %Soaked 1 h and steamed 30 min; same base as the malt percentage[mok1999]
WaterExtracts the malt enzymes and carries the saccharification[mok1999]
Starternone (malt enzymes) for standard sikhye; in one 1992 study Andong sikhye was inoculated with Lactobacillus delbrueckii

Total time across the recorded steps: 4.2 days – 4.3 days

Start
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Close-up: water moving into a grain60 °C

What changes: Malt powder is steeped in warm water to draw out its enzymes

Step 1 of 4
Extract the malt enzymes in warm water
Time
1.5 h
Reported
Temperature
60 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Lactobacillus
Streptococcus
L. delbrueckii
Streptococcus cocci

Output: enzyme-rich malt water (yeotgireum-mul).

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

Sikhye is a boundary entry. Cooked rice is held warm in malt water so the malt's enzymes turn its starch into sugar. Andong sikhye is the true ferment of the family. Rice, radish, ginger and red pepper in malt water are fermented cold by lactic acid bacteria into a sour, spicy drink. Made in 4 steps over 4.2 days – 4.3 days. The longest step, ferment Andong sikhye with radish, ginger and red pepper, takes 4 days (Choi C 1992). Lactic acid bacteria in Andong sikhye; rod-shaped Lactobacillus lead early, then cocci (Streptococcus) take over; L. delbrueckii chosen as the best starter in one study does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step4 daysMeasured[choi1992]Ferment Andong sikhye with radish, ginger and red pepper
Temperature60 °CReported[mok1999]Extract the malt enzymes in warm water
AciditypH 4.2Measured[choi1992]Ferment Andong sikhye with radish, ginger and red pepper

What makes this one different

Standard sikhye is saccharified with malt. Enzymes drawn from the malt break down the steamed rice, and maltose is the main sugar. Andong sikhye goes further. Radish, ginger and red pepper are added and the drink is left to ferment cold, so lactic acid bacteria make it sour.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Andong sikhyeGlutinous rice, malt water, sliced radish, ginger and red pepper powder fermented cold (5 °C in one study). pH falls to 4.20 by day 2 and 3.90 by day 20 of storage; flavour is judged best around day 2–3.
  • Tea-bag sikhye with added enzymesAdded amylases turn the starch almost all to glucose and fructose instead of mostly maltose (Yook 1990).

Safety

Bacillus cereus spores tolerate heat. In a laboratory test at set inoculum levels, they had a D at 95 °C of 2.8–4.9 min, across sikhye and lab broth. The abstract does not say how often they occur in sikhye. A modified tyndallization with CO2 cut them by 5.8 log and was more effective than conventional heat treatment. Andong sikhye is soured to pH 4.06–4.36 and was stored at 4–5 °C in the studies.

Hazards the sources name: Bacillus cereus spores, heat-tolerant in a test at set inoculum levels (D at 95 °C of 2.8–4.9 min, across sikhye and lab broth); the abstract does not say how often they occur in sikhye.

History and sources

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

Yoon (1988) presumes that Andong sikhye took its present form after red pepper came into wide use in Korea in the second half of the 18th century. He describes it as a kind of so-sikhae, a family found on the coast of the East Sea and the inland areas next to it, and related to fish sikhae (o-sikhae).

  1. [mok1999] Mok E.K., Nam E.S., Park S.I. 1999, Traditional sikhye preparation, part 2, preparation with malt (전통식혜제조 - 제 2 보 엿기름에 의한 제조), 한국식품영양학회지 12(2):170 (abstract)paper
  2. [yook1990] Yook C., Hwang Y.-H., Pek U.-H., Park K.-H. 1990, Preparation of shikhae with starch hydrolysing enzymes/malt mixture in tea-bag, Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology 22(3):296–299 (abstract)paper
  3. [choi1992] Choi C., Son G.-M. 1992, A study on the preparation of traditional Andong sikhe with lactic acid bacteria, Korean Journal of Food Culture 7(3):259–270 (abstract)paper
  4. [choi1991a] Choi C., Lim S.-I., Seog H.-M. 1991, Changes in composition during aging of traditional Andong sickhae, Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition 20(4):381–387 (abstract)paper
  5. [choi1991b] Choi C., Seog H.-M., Lim S.-I., Lee W.-J., Cho Y.-J. 1991, Studies on the storage stability of traditional Andong sikhae, Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology 23(5):546–553 (abstract)paper
  6. [woo1995] Woo H.-S., Choi C. 1995, Organic acids and volatile flavor compounds in traditional Andong sikhe, Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition 24(2):208–213 (abstract)paper
  7. [yoon1988] Yoon S.-K. 1988, A study on the cookery of Andong sikhe (I), a historical study on the origin of the cookery of Andong sikhe, Korean Journal of Food Culture 3(1):101–111 (abstract)paper
  8. [kim2012] Kim H., Kim H., Bang J., Kim Y., Beuchat L.R., Ryu J.-H. 2012, Reduction of Bacillus cereus spores in sikhye, a traditional Korean rice beverage, by modified tyndallization processes with and without carbon dioxide injection, Letters in Applied Microbiology 55(3):218–223 (abstract)paper
  9. [heo2018] Heo J. et al. 2018, Ottowia oryzae sp. nov., isolated from Andong sikhye, a Korean traditional rice beverage, International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology 68(10):3096–3100 (abstract)paper