KOREASCHOLAR

Li was a sweet beverage containing 2~3 percents ethyl alcohol made from malt by spontaneous fermentation from ancient custom to fifteenth century. Li was changed to the rice wine being a sweet beverage of low alcohol content using nuruk as starter and the sikhae which is non-alcoholic fermented beverage. Li was made for drinking and ceremony in Korea, China and Japan. It disappeared from the beverage items along with its method of manufacture from malt, but in Korean had made Li using nuruk until recent. We made Li according to Book of Imwon-Keongjae Ji (The book of country economy) methods for reappearance of Li. Fermentation characteristics for the production of Li with Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Saccharomyces bayanus and Saccharomyces sake were investigated. Among the yeast strains tested, Li fermented with S. sake showed higher alcohol production. Total sugar decreased considerably during the whole period of fermentation(30 hours), while ethyl alcohol content increased at 2.98~3.52%. As the fermentation progressed, the pH decreased until the 30 hours of fermentation, while total acid increased during the same period. In fermentation of 36 hours, Li consisted of about 2.98~3.52% of alcohol content, 5.3~6.0% of total sugar, 1.45~2.21mg% of reducing sugar and total acidity were reached up to 24.4~29.5mg% for Li manufactured with S. cerevisiea sake, S. bayanus and S. sake.

• 김선재 | Kim, Seon-Jae
• 정순택 | Jung, Soon-Teck