Breeding of Rice Cultivar Akita-sake-komachi for Brewing and Approach to Local Branding of the Rice

We developed “Akita-sake-komachi”, which is the rice cultivar suitable for brewing. The refined sake produced from “Akita-sake-komachi” is characterized by the taste of refined sweetness and a light finish. We tried to make “Akita-sake-komachi” local branding. In order to make “Akita-sake-komachi” of high quality, we developed a cultivation method, which enabled us to get grains with low protein content, low expression of white-berry and less crack. Since the protein of “Akita-sake-komachi” had little glutelin, it was recognized that the peptidase activity of koji (malted rice) was stronger, but that there was little amino acid generation from the steamed rice. To develop a new type of sake of “junmai-shu” using the property of “Akita-sake-komachi”, the Aspergillus oryzae “Gin-aji” was selected. The peptidase activity of the koji used by “Gin-aji” was less with “Akita-sake-komachi”. And the yeast “Akita-kobo No. 12 and No. 15” were selected for producing the “Junmai-shu” which fit to “Akita-sake-komachi” and the Aspergillus oryzae “Gin-aji”, and we commercialized “Akita-sake-komachi” brand “junmai-shu”. Accodring to the result, the product amount of the rice “Akita-sake-komachi” increased to about 2 times (2009/2005), and the shipment amount of the “Akita-sake-komachi” brand sake increased to (2009/2005) more than 3 times.