Sake Lees & Sake Kasu: Fermented Flavor in Daily Cooking

Regular Japanese meals have long been enriched by many fermented foods including miso, soy sauce, vinegar, mirin rice wine, and fermented natto soybeans. Fermented foods and their umami flavorings are produced by the actions of endemic microorganisms and offer a host of benefits to the human body. Fermented foods, moreover, contain the hard-earned wisdom of our ancestors and are deserving to be passed on to future generations. In this series, we will present recipes that are easy to incorporate into today’s lifestyles while getting at the essence of fermented foods.

In Part 3, we look at saké lees, the base of kasujiru soup that heats the body in the cold winter months.

▶Shio Koji, Salted Koji & Japanese Food with a Koji-ya

▶Nukazuke Pickles: Simple Joys of Rice Bran Fermentation

A treasure trove of nutrients and umami produced by fermentation

Saké lees is a byproduct of the saké brewing process. Saké lees has been enjoyed since antiquity — it even appears in the Manyoshu collection of classical Japanese poetry — and in recent years, it has experienced a resurgence in popularity as a fermented food with both health and beauty benefits. We spoke with Kuriyama Mayumi, a cooking expert who is so fascinated with saké lees that she has even published cookbooks of saké lees recipes.

“Saké lees is the leftover solids produced when making saké. The liquid pressed out of the fermented moromi mash, which is made from rice, koji malt, and water, is the saké, while the remaining solids are saké lees. Saké lees used to be eaten in areas local to saké breweries, but the majority of it was simply disposed of. However, there is no reason not to use it, since it is healthy and packed with umami.”

Saké lees is highly nutritional, as it has an excellent balance of vitamins, minerals, proteins, and dietary fiber. It has outstanding beauty benefits, containing arbutin, a good skin-lightening agent, and various amino acids that promote moisturization. Moreover, saké lees purportedly helps regulate the gut microbiome. Kuriyama became hooked on saké lees when she experienced firsthand how good it was for her physical condition.

“I used to suffer from poor circulation and lowered metabolism. But then I remembered when I was young how warm my body felt after eating meals my mother prepared using saké lees. When I tried some saké lees, my body stayed warm all the way through to bedtime. There are other foods that warm you only during the time you eat them, but it’s rare to find something with the staying power of saké lees. Boosting your metabolism leads to more lustrous skin and helps you lose weight too. You’ll probably notice the effects even more if you use saké lees in hot dishes like soups.”

Saké lees is a dependable helper in the kitchen, no matter what type of food you are making

Besides its health benefits, another appealing point for saké lees is how it makes food taste better. The yeast in saké lees acts to bring out the umami of ingredients and deepens their flavors.

“People might think saké lees is suited only for Japanese cooking, but it can be used in all kinds of foods, including Western dishes, Chinese dishes, ethnic cuisine, bread, and confectionary. You can substitute saké lees for milk to make white béchamel sauce or make carbonara sauce with eggs and saké lees and omit the fresh cream. Saké lees has a light taste but with enough body that it doesn’t feel lacking in any way, and it helps cut calories. Because it adds umami, I recommend it to people who are trying to cut down on their salt intake. It does, however, contain alcohol, so it should be used with caution when preparing meals for pregnant women and children.”

You can create a saké lees pickling bed by adding seasonings to it for convenient pickling of fish or vegetables in saké lees. This traditional preparation method both heightens the umami of ingredients and extends their shelf life. Saké lees is often associated with the winter months, but it is useful year-round because it has remarkable sterilizing efficacy.

The recommendation for people new to saké lees is to add a little of it to their regular dishes. Try dissolving some in miso soup, in dipping sauces for udon or soba noodles, or in oden stews, or mixing it in with natto [fermented soybeans] or kimchi. The saké lees will boost the flavor and take the taste to the next level. Using saké lees — the wisdom of our ancestors — will give you a healthier body and enrich your dining table. You will notice its depth with just a bite.