Japanese Foods-- nomimono

[jrufusj]

I'm allergic to alcohol, but sake is one of the very few alcohols I can actually drink without getting sick.

I found your remarks interesting for two reasons:

1) I have never heard of anyone allergic to alcohol. I suppose that you simple mean you can't hold your liquor, which means that your liver cannot decompose acetaldehyde fast enough. You can become allergic to pollen, house dust, buckwheat, eggs, and other substances, but not to alcohol. Or, am I wrong?

2) In Japan, sake is said to be more likely to give you a hangover than other types of alcohol such as shochu. After running through several websites, however, I have found that this is not necessarily true. All types of alcohol give you a hangover if you drink too much of it.

Alcohol Allergy

Allergic reaction to alcohol is rare, but can occur. Most often, in testing, it is identified as an allergy to one of the breakdown products of alcohol, such as acetaldehyde or acetic acid. There are relatively few documented instances in the public, layman's literature. I'm not an MD, a substance abuse counselor, or indeed a scientist of any stripe, so my understanding is limited and open to correction. Ethanol levels of .01 to .03 mg/100 ml of blood are naturally produced by the body's ordinary functions, so total alcohol allergy is unlikely to occur (but is theoretically possible, I imagine).

By definition, an allergy is the reaction of the immune system to a substance (allergen). Most often, the allergen is a protein. Ethanol is not a protein; neither are acetaldehyde or acetic acid. Thus, one would expect alcohol allergies to be realtively rare.

Intolerance to alcohol is much more common. Intolerance reactions can range from mild to severe, but do not involve the immune system, hence they are not technically allergies. Antabuse (a drug sometimes used to treat severe alcohol abuse -- somewhat on the model of behavioral therapy, by creating an extremely unpleasant physical reaction to alcohol) creates an intolerance reaction, not an allergic reaction.

Alcohol can also be a powerful cofactor in anaphylactic reactions where allergy to another substance is involved.

Those Damn Hangovers

In the narrowest sense, a hangover is the body's reaction to excessive alcohol intake and the process of alcohol metabolism (and byproducts thereof).

Hangovers can be exacerbated by other substances in the alcoholic beverages. To make matters more confusing, these exacerbating reactions can be allergic reactions (such as to histamines or sulfites) or intolerance/mild poisoning type reactions. Beers and wines are most likely to produce allergic reactions. Sake falls into this category, though I have never heard of allergic reactions to sake. Are sulfites commonly used in sake production?

If one were to drink "perfectly" distilled, undiluted spirits, any reaction one had would be to the alcohol, as there are no foreign substances (except for small amounts resulting from the fact that alcohol is unstable and cannot exist in 100% purity if in the presence of air).

However, other than "grain" alcohol, almost all distilled spirits distributed for consumption contain other elements. The process of distilling is dependent on temperature. Alcohol evaporates and condenses within narrow temperature bands. If distillation processes capture the product of evaporation within the right band, only alcohol is captured.

Pure alcohol, though, is essentially without character. Flavoring in the ultimate product comes from three main sources: congeners, direct flavor additives, and indirect flavor additives. Congeners are substances other than ethanol that are produced by a distillation immediately before and after ethanol (in other words, in temperature ranges near the distillation band for ethanol). It is these congeners that give a spirit any character of the source product (such a hints of the grape/wine in cognac or marc or grappa). They are commonly referred to in the whiskey industry as heads and tails.

Direct flavor additives are things like the plums in ume-shu. Indirect flavor additives (my term, not a term of art) are flavor compounds that come from processes such as barrel aging (major elements in brandies and whiskeys).

It is these other substances that can make one's hangover worse with one type of beverage compared to another.

I hope that the experts from one of the drinks fora will correct my errors (of which there are sure to be many). This is simply an off-the-top-of-the-head layman's explanation.

Longwindedly yours,

Jim

[Hiroyuki]

Are sulfites commonly used in sake production?

Wow, thank you for such a full report, jrufusj, and congratulations to the recent addition to your family.

I have just learned from several websites that sulfites are not used in sake production. I have also learned that no antioxidants are added to sake. I'm glad to know that. Thank you again for your information.

I was silly enough to believe (just from my experience) that wine is less likely to give me a hangover than sake. Now I know I was wrong. Or, maybe this is true especially for me.

[Sleepy_Dragon]

Thanks for that info, jrufusj. After reading it, I guess technically, I am not allergic to alcohol itself. Probably what is happening is an intolerance to alcohol, and an allergic reaction to something that only occurs in beer and wine.

Sake gives me the least trouble, followed by a few of the spirits, but I can only have one drink. About 3/4 the way through that one drink, it starts to taste very, very bitter. Probably my body telling me something important! But I'm generally in good spirits (hehe) while drinking it.

Beer and wine make me hyperventilate, because it feels like I'm suffocating and can't get enough air into my lungs. Then after that I just throw up. It's really unpleasant and miserable, and I have no good memories of it. So whenever people make sympathetic comments from assuming my life must be empty without beer and wine, I just shrug and tell them they'll have to drink one for me. They always agree to do that!

And Hiroyuki, nice to know you like 2 liters of tea, I do too!

I like plain green leaf tea and the kind with toasted rice in it as well. The first time I tried the toasted rice kind, it was such a revelation. Never knew tea could be like that.

Pat

[Hiroyuki]

>The first time I tried the toasted rice kind, it was such a revelation. Never knew tea could be like that.

Oh, was it? I guess you mean genmai-cha 玄米茶. I do like genmai-cha, but I usually drink kuki-cha (stalk tea).

Have you read this thread?:

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=20288

[melonpan]

sangaria melon soda and strawberry soda come in aluminum bottles and are sold for under us$2. they can be a hard to find because they arent replenished as often as other more popular drinks. but i have seen them once at a local 7-11 (yaaay!).

sangaria melon soda is special, though, because it tastes EXACTLY the way those fruity korean (and japanese) erasers i got as a kid smell. you know, the ones that smell soooooo deliciously tasty that youre never sure if its edible or not (they arent!!). every sip of what we call 'ji-u-gae soda' (eraser soda) is a sip into my childhood.

[melonpan]

first, thank you to hiroyuki for his help. :D

we drink barley and corn tea like water but im always game for instant bottled beverages... like kirins morokoshi namacha and suntorys manten batake.

when you first sip morokoshi namacha (kirins namacha page) youre belted with a pleasant, but very strong and very clear roasted corn taste. theres a slight taniney tang from green tea but it doesnt scream green tea. morokoshi namacha is a happy, pale golden color and the ingredients list includes corn, green tea and black beans. great little drink.

suntorys manten batake page also has a roasted taste, but its not as clear or light tasting as the morokoshi. it tastes thicker somehow and the flavour is complex, hard to describe. there is no outstanding flavour, no "this is barley tea", no "this is corn tea" feeling. its definitely kind of vegetably. this isnt hard to understand when you know that 14 grains, beans and vegetables that go to make this tea: barley, something referred to as "herb tea" (herb tea? what kind of herb??), job's tears, brown rice, corn, soybeans, spinach (actually komatsu), peas, asparagus, sweet potato, bitter melon, cabbage, daikon and onion. whew! i dont know how this stuff manages to avoid tasting like a decent vegetable broth, but it does. its not a broth at all; its very much a tea. and like the morokoshi namacha, there isnt any strong taniney taste from the green tea (thats a 15th ingredient!) in it, but i do notice a slight dryness to my throat after drinking.

if they both werent so precious and around us$2, im sure id be drinking them more often, but i dont mind too much. homemade barley and corn tea arent such slouches either.

[melonpan]

buahahahaha....

chosun ilbo reports today about two companies who have put out a series of commercials. edit: found a direct link to the video with better translations in korean: here. some of the translations have been changed as a result...

fanta put out a "classroom series" (top movie link) and suntory put out a acrobats link for their amino shiki drink... both are really amusing.

korean translations were provided for the classroom series, but they were kind of spotty. a couple of the classes didnt have any translations, notably the salesman and the principal classes. but they are still a riot to watch. ive translated what i could from the korean. apologies if they arent true to the japanese thats said...

3rd year, room a: rocker sensei!

(in class)

sensei: oh yeah!!!

students: yeah...

sensei: baby, baby, babeeee~~!

students: baby...

(outside)

student: will i be able to keep up?

* coming soon! new fanta!! *

3rd year, room c: dragon sensei!

(in class)

sensei: (circling a portion of what he wrote) this is the portion thats going to be covered on the exam

students: (write down whats going to be covered)

(outside)

student: i cant take it anymore...

* new semester!! new grapefruit fantas out!! *

3rd year, room d: "exceptional deal" sensei!

(in class)

sensei: if the video is 1,980,000 yen, the take is 20%!! bonus!! (?) if you do silver, 5% off!! now!! add 13% cashback!! so! how much??!!

(outside)

student: the savings was 60%...

* its summer break!! new peach fantas out!! *

3rd year, room f: dj sensei!

(in class)

sensei: the ne-ne-ne-ne-ne-ne next person is yama-yama-yama-shita-chan!

student: the answer is 3x.

sensei: incorrect

(outside)

student: im hurt...

* fanta sweetie is out!! *

3rd year, room g: shogun sensei!

(in class)

sensei: class has begun!

students: (heads are all bowed in front of the shogun)

sensei: does anyone know the answer to this?!!

students: (stay silent and keep their heads down)

sensei: anyone???!!

student: (raising head to answer) yes, i know the answer.

sensei: how dare you (look up)!!!

(outside)

student: what was i supposed to do??

3rd year, room h: soap opera sensei!

(in class)

sensei: (reading book) sashios hometown...

man: (running into room) masako!!

sensei: (kicking stool) what now??

man: i was bad...

sensei: fool! (slaps man, crying) ive been so lonely...

old lady: (standing outside the door) you stray cat...

sensei: mother!

(outside)

student: can we please just go over the lesson...

* fanta! plum flavor! *

3rd year, room j: no good for nothing sensei!

(in class)

sensei: kanji test!

sensei: yoko! if youre a senior, you should be able to at least read this! loser!

student: i cant read it...

sensei: (reading the kanji) to ro pi ka ru fu ru stu!

(outside)

student: pure unreasonableness...

* fanta! even though its spring!! tropical fruits!! *

3rd year, room s: blackbeard sensei!

(in class)

(students draw keys and put the keys in a barrel with the teacher inside.)

sensei: (to unlucky student) you get cleaning duty.

(outside)

student: whos heard of doing it that way...

principal sensei!

(not translated into korean)

Edited August 5, 2004 by melonpan (log)

[torakris]

Pocky has their royal milk tea flavor back out......

the one on the left

Edited September 22, 2004 by torakris (log)

[Akiko]

My husband is a huge snob when it comes to coffee and tea (he's british so he thinks he's a born expert when it comes to that kind of tea ). I have to admit, he makes excellent coffee and tea with milk... I don't know how he does it, I use the same ingredients, it never tastes as good when I make it.

He does, absolutely love can coffee. He craves the coffee boss from Japan as well as gogocha! Kirin's gogocha milk, regular, and lemon are all very good.

I actually miss the entire canned, plastic bottle drink market from Japan. I loved the just slightly flavoured waters - vitamin water, and the acerola drinks, as well as the hundreds of teas.

It's too bad those things are so heavy or I would bring back boxes of the stuff!

[torakris]

I personally can not touch amazake (literally "sweet" sake), hence I was surprised to find this:

http://www.grainaissance.com/amazake.html

flavored amazake drinks....?? in the US....??

and then I found this:

http://www.clearspring.co.uk/ifood/issue2/4.htm

with recipes for using amazake in cooking....

I didn't know it was more than a drink, they are calling it a dessert...??

[Foodie_Penguin]

I personally can not touch amazake (literally "sweet" sake), hence I was surprised to find this:

http://www.grainaissance.com/amazake.html

flavored amazake drinks....?? in the US....??

and then I found this:

http://www.clearspring.co.uk/ifood/issue2/4.htm

with recipes for using amazake in cooking....

I didn't know it was more than a drink, they are calling it a dessert...??

←

Funnily enough, the only amazake product I've ever consumed was the Clearspring amazake pudding about four years ago. It is a dessert. It has an applesauce-like consistency but I didn't like the flavor. I wanted to try and finish the jar of it but I couldn't. It's just didn't appeal to me.

Clearspring is an excellent brand in the UK. They sell a lot of macrobiotic and Japanese foods and ingredients.

I can see why amazake is sold flavored in the US. It's got to be made more appealing to "gaijin" who aren't accustomed to the somewhat funky natural taste.

Foodie Penguin

[torakris]

I love fanta in Japan!

Today I found lychee flavor

and not long ago I had one called white strawberry (second from the right)

[AmyDaniel]

I was too distracted by the variety of Japanese drinks during my visit last year to take notice of fruit juices - are they popular and widely available in Japan?

[torakris]

I was too distracted by the variety of Japanese drinks during my visit last year to take notice of fruit juices - are they popular and widely available in Japan?

←

sure lots of juices!

Tropicana is probably the biggest:

http://www.k-tropicana.com/products/index.html

just click on any of the names to see the line-ups.

[torakris]

Kagome makes some great juices, focusing more heavily on vegetables juices:

http://www.kagome.co.jp/products/drink/index.html

their yasai seikatsu drink, a blend of 8 vegetables and 3 fruits, is my 4 year old son's favorite. You can even get it as part of the happy meal at McDonald's...

http://www1.kagome.co.jp/cgi-bin/products/search.cgi?A=9030

[MomOfLittleFoodies]

sangaria melon soda and strawberry soda come in aluminum bottles and are sold for under us$2.  they can be a hard to find because they arent replenished as often as other more popular drinks.  but i have seen them once at a local 7-11 (yaaay!).

←

I had one of the Strawberry Sodas this week. I liked it... didn't have that heavy, syrupy flavor that a lot of American Strawberry Sodas do. The local Pan Asian store carries the Melon, Peach and Strawberry Flavors.

[melonpan]

watched a dvd the other night ukigusa (1959 -- "floating weeds") and was pleasantly surprised to see some bottles of ramune. havent changed the bottles in decades.

i know the drink is rather old... how long have they been around?

[torakris]

watched a dvd the other night ukigusa (1959 -- "floating weeds") and was pleasantly surprised to see some bottles of ramune.  havent changed the bottles in decades.

i know the drink is rather old...  how long have they been around?

←

This is a drink with a past. It appeared early in the Meiji period, soon after Japan was reopened to the outside world a century ago. No one knows for sure, but general opinion has it that the name is a corruption of lemonade. Indeed, it sounds more like the English word than the present day Japanese word which is an acknowledged attempt to say "lemonade". Another theory has it that a man named Mr. Ramune was the one to first make it, although this idea has few subscribers.

from here

The Meiji period ran from 1868 - 1912 so yes it is rather old.

not familiar with ramune? lots of pictures here

[melonpan]

wow! maybe around 100 years old?!

just learned about "<a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=codd+bottle&btnG=Google+Search">codd bottles</a>" which was mentioned <a href="http://www.asiagrocery.com/sodapop.html">in the link</a> that torakris provided...

i always thought the bottles were bizarre and now, thanks to the articles from google (esp <a href="http://www.go-star.com/antiquing/codd.htm">this one</a>), i realise why the ramune bottles are made the way they were. back in the 1870s a man named codd came up with a way to seal carbonated drinks without a lid, just a marble kept in place through the pressure of the carbonation.

coolness.

in looking at other ramune links, i found out that some people collect the marbles (!) and that some companies make the marbles coloured (never seen that yet).

i also found out that some people dont like the drink bc they cant control the drink from spilling out and making a mess after theyve pushed the marble down. they dont know that the secret is is to keep your palm held up against the bottle right after pushing it through. hehe...

hm. im kind of craving some ramune about now. havent had any in a loooong time...

off to shop!

[torakris]

i also found out that some people dont like the drink bc they cant control the drink from spilling out and making a mess after theyve pushed the marble down.  they dont know that the secret is is to keep your palm held up against the bottle right after pushing it through.  hehe...

←

I am one of those people.....

I didn't now that, I always dribbled, but I do that when I drink from a cup as well...

[torakris]

my newest Fanta find

Anzu (apricot) Fanta! with melon soda (green one)

[melonpan]

have you tried them yet? im curious how the apricot one tastes. i dont know that ive tried anything apricot flavoured. ever.

some melon soda sounds like it would hit the spot just about now.... its been just a bit humid lately...

[torakris]

Yes I did drink them! as soon as the picture was taken.

The apricot one was ok, I might get it again but I am in no hurry to do so...

I don't think I have ever had anything apricot flavored either, but it definitely did have an apricot flavor.

melon soda is always good... and you are right it really does hit the spot on a hot day.

[helenjp]

I was standing in front of the beer cabinet at the supermarket in a late-night daze, when something titled "Slurp Burp" caught my eye. I looked again, and found that it was actually called "Slim Beer"...

My women friends are telling me that they like the diet beers because they are low alcohol (from 3 to 4.5%). That's quite a big change for Japan, where the standard seems to be 5.5%.

DH sticks to Nama-shibori Happoushu mostly, but he was almost ready to switch loyalties to something else when the manufacturers pulled it off the market. Tanrei-nama is a reluctant second choice...

Draft One, a "type 3" beer, got a big thumbs down. Despite claims to prefer real beer, I rarely see real beer on people's tables anymore, even at parties...that's a big difference from even 5 years ago...but then again, maybe we just live in the wrong part of town!

[torakris]

I don't think I have seen real beer around here in a while either......

my last sip of beer was about 17 years ago so I can't help out on what's new.