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| Brewing better shochu |
| Barley is not only a great source of fibre, essential amino acids, and complex carbohydrates, it’s also used to brew beer. But beer isn’t the only thing brewing: barley is also used to make the Japanese alcoholic liquor, shochu. At 25% to 40% alcohol, this traditional drop packs a punch, and that could mean a lot to Australian barley producers. 230 000 to 250 000 tonnes of Australian barley is exported to Japan for the food market every year. Australia is the only country to supply barley to Japan for this market, and demand has been increasing 5 to 10% per year. Jennifer Washington of the University of Adelaide would like to see even more Aussie barley in Japan. ‘We’ve been working with Japanese processors and manufacturers to investigate the suitability of Australian barley varieties for shochu production’, she says. ‘Barley that is uniform in size and hardness reduces processing. Japanese buyers seek these characteristics in the grain they buy’. Jennifer Washington is working with ABB Grain Ltd, one of the main suppliers of Australian shochu-quality barley to Japan, as part of a team of barley breeders, biochemists and molecular biologists. ‘We have been screening genetic material in our breeding program, to determine the genetic basis of shochu quality, and also to get an understanding of the highly significant environmental impact on shochu quality’, she explains. She says the work has been extremely rewarding. ‘The mission to Japan with ABB Grain Ltd provided the opportunity to learn about the shochu manufacturing process at the Sanwa Shurui laboratories and meet traditional makers of shochu in Kagoshima. It was great to taste different types of shochu in a traditional Japanese setting, with researchers and manufacturers who are passionate about their unique product’. Contact in Australia: Jenny Washington, School of Agriculture and Wine, University of Adelaide, Waite Campus PMB 1 Glen Osmond 5064 SA Email: jennifer.washington@adelaide.edu.au Website: http://www.adelaide.edu.au Ph: +61 8 8303 7456 Fax: +61 8 8303 7129 Contact in Australia: Ken Saint, Manager - Technical Services, ABB Grain Ltd Ph: +61 8 8211 7199 Fax: +61 8 8231 1249 Mobile: +61 417 861 100 Contact in Japan: Sanwa Shurui Co., Ltd. 2231-1 Yamamoto Usa, Oita Email: wmaster@iichik.co.jp Japanese Website: http://www.iichiko.co.jp/ Ph: +81-9-7832-1431 Fax: +81-9-7833-3030 |
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