<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>> Reading more on sake, I found many, many sites, none of which mentioned the use of any grain but rice in modern sake production. Some sites were commercial, some seemed to be independent. At this point, I would feel safe drinking any Japanese sake. The purity of the ingredients--rice, water and koji (the spores of Aspergillus Oryzae* that are applied to steamed rice) seem vital to the making of good sake. In older generations, the sake was produced by chewing the rice, together with chestnuts and millet ! See: http://gojapan.about.com/travel/gojapan/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http:= //www.sake.com/sakehist.htm But it is not produced like that today. *This site offers a great description of the sake brewing process: http://www.bento.com/drinks/sake01.html Here is another site by the same author, with links, books, and more: http://www.sake%2Dworld.com/ This site offers many good links for sake and other Japanese drinks: http://gojapan.about.com/travel/gojapan/library/bldrink.htm?iam=dp& terms=sake%2Crice%2Cferment%2Cprocess More good sites: http://www.sakeamerica.com/ http://www.optic.or.jp/com/kosakashuzo/kosakashuzo_e.html http://www.sun-masamune.com.au/pp.htm http://www.sakeusa.com/sake/handbook/handbook.html http://www.joyofsake.com/Joyofsake/technique.html http://www.japansake.or.jp/sake/english/02.html I did a search using www.dogpile.com (which accesses a wide number of search engines), and dogpile.com found the vast majority of sites using infoseek.com (thousands), about.com (thousands), and google (281). Cheers! Bobbi in Baltimore
