On Food and Cooking

The full-bodied liquid is drawn off and
clarified, and ends up at around 14%
alcohol and from 10% to as much as 45%
sugar. Industrial imitations are made from
grain alcohol, sugar, and flavorings.
The solids left after pressing and
filtering the sake mash are called sake
kasu, or sake lees. They include starch,
proteins, the cell walls of rice, yeasts, and
molds, and some acids, alcohol, and
enzymes. These sake lees are much used in
Japanese cooking, especially in the making
of vegetable pickles, marinades for fish,
and soups.
Spirits and Waters of Life In Europe,
significant quantities of distilled alcohol were
produced around 1100 at the medical school
in Salerno, Italy, where it developed its
reputation as a uniquely valuable medicine.
Two hundred years later, the Catalan scholar
Arnaud of Villanova dubbed the active
principle of wine aqua vitae, the “water of