Sunhyangju-beop (Pure-Fragrance Wine Method)

Origin: Yeongyang, Gyeongsang, Korea

Source: Jang Gye-hyang (장계향), 1670

History

Sunhyangju — its name reads as "pure fragrance" — is a premium multi-stage rice wine recorded uniquely in Eumsik dimibang, appearing in no other surviving Joseon brewing manual. It opens the manuscript's large drinks section, roughly fifty rice-wine and vinegar recipes that make the book a major witness to the history of Korean traditional liquor, and it is an unusually long, method-heavy entry. Jang Gye-hyang builds it by the thrice-brewed (samyangju) method: a base brew (mitsul) of steamed white-rice cake, a first added-brew of steamed nonglutinous rice, then after about five days a second added-brew of rice porridge. It leans on nonglutinous rice rather than the glutinous finish of related brews, and she notes plain rice alone suffices for the last stage. Fermentation is driven by nuruk, the wheat starter; brewing in repeated stages stabilized weak natural yeasts and curbed sourness — the same logic behind famous wines (myeongju) such as samhaeju. Much of the recipe is craft: sterilizing and scenting the jar, keeping it warm through winter, preventing overflow during vigorous fermentation, storing it raised and undisturbed, and brewing in spring, autumn or winter but not summer. She closes with a rare aside — follow the method exactly and it cannot fail; lapses trace to servants washing or short-measuring the rice, so supervise the work closely.

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Prepare the crock (best is a well-fired one): wash it inside and out, pack in green pine branches, invert over a cauldron and steam to sterilize before use; soak a previously-used crock in water for days first. In cold weather wrap it in straw and cloth and stand it on a thick board so ondol heat cannot rise into it. (This crock treatment applies to all wines.)
  2. Base brew: wash 4 mal of white rice clear, grind to flour, steam thoroughly, slake in 4 mal of hot water and mash the cake evenly; spread in vessels, add water, mix and let stand overnight.
  3. Mix in 6 doe of sifted nuruk powder and about 1 doe 8 hop of fine wheat flour very evenly, pack into the crock and let it sit.
  4. After 5 days: steam 6 mal of washed white rice as rice, divide into vessels, pour 6 mal of well-boiled hot water over it, and let stand overnight.
  5. Skim the earlier brew into vessels, add 4 doe nuruk powder and 1 doe 2 hop fine flour, mix very evenly and return it to ferment until fully ripe and clear.
  6. Final addition: husk 6 doe glutinous and 4 doe non-glutinous rice white, wash clear, rinse repeatedly and grind fine. Boil water, dissolve the flour in cold water, pour in boiling water and stir until cooked, cover and keep warm.
  7. Scoop it out, let stand overnight, stir in 1 doe nuruk powder, pour into the wine, and use when it clears.
  8. General cautions: undercooked cake/rice or under-fermented, raw-smelling or scorched mash ruins the wine. Roughly, use 1 doe nuruk and 3 hop fine flour per mal of rice, reducing the rice-step amounts by what already went into the cake. Seal the crock in paper; skim when it foams over and re-tie when it settles. Store the wine high and undisturbed in dry vessels — steam, earth-vapor, or frequent moving all spoil it. Good in spring/autumn/winter, not summer.

View on Foodymology