Gukhwaju (Chrysanthemum Rice Wine)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •4-liter glass fermentation jar or small onggi
• •Rice steamer lined with cotton cloth
• •Digital thermometer
• •Clean cotton cover or fermentation airlock
• •Fine strainer and cheesecloth
• •Sanitized bottles with loose-fitting caps

Instructions

1. 1

   Clean the vessel

   Wash a 4-liter glass jar or small onggi, your spoon, strainer, and cloth with hot water, then sanitize them with boiling water or a no-rinse brewing sanitizer. Let everything air-dry. Gukhwaju is not a dish where you can scrub the jar lazily and ask the nuruk to forgive you.

   Do not seal the jar tight during active fermentation. Use an airlock or a clean cotton cloth tied firmly over the mouth so gas can escape.
2. 2

   Steam the rice

   Rinse the glutinous rice until the water runs almost clear, soak it 6 to 8 hours, then drain it for 30 minutes. Steam the drained rice over briskly boiling water for 40 to 45 minutes, until the grains are cooked through but still separate and firm. This is godubap, hard-steamed rice for brewing. Wet, soft rice makes a dull, sour mash.

3. 3

   Make herb tea

   While the rice cooks, put 600 ml of the boiled water in a small pot with the goji berries and rehmannia. Simmer gently for 10 minutes, turn off the heat, add 10 g of the chrysanthemum flowers, cover, and steep 5 minutes. Strain the liquid and discard the solids. Rehmannia is strong, so do not increase it. It should steady the wine, not take over the cup.

4. 4

   Cool and crumble

   Spread the cooked rice on a clean tray and cool it to 25 C or cooler. Break up clumps with clean hands or a sanitized spoon. Crumble the nuruk until it looks like coarse meal, not powder. The coarse pieces release their enzymes steadily, which helps the rice turn sweet before it turns alcoholic.

5. 5

   Mix the mash

   Put the cooled rice, crumbled nuruk, cooled herb tea, 1.2 liters of the remaining cooled water, and the optional yeast into the sanitized jar. Mix thoroughly for 3 to 4 minutes, lifting from the bottom so no dry pockets of nuruk remain. The mash should be loose and thick, with visible rice grains suspended in liquid. Cover with the cloth or fit the airlock.

6. 6

   Ferment first days

   Keep the jar at 18 to 22 C for the first 3 days. Stir twice a day with a sanitized spoon, scraping the bottom and folding the rice cap back into the liquid. This feeds the yeast and keeps the floating rice from drying out. You should see bubbles, a gentle rise, and a smell that moves from grain to sweet-tart flowers.

   Fuzzy green, black, pink, or orange growth means discard the batch. A tart aroma, bubbles, rice floating and sinking, and a thin pale foam are normal.
7. 7

   Add late flowers

   On day 4, pour 150 ml boiling water over the remaining 5 g chrysanthemum flowers, steep 3 minutes, then cool completely below 25 C. Stir this late flower infusion into the jar. Adding part of the flower now keeps more fragrance in the finished wine, because the first hard bubbling carries aroma away.

8. 8

   Finish fermentation

   Let the jar ferment 4 to 6 more days, stirring once a day for day 4 and day 5, then leaving it still. It is ready to strain when bubbling slows, the rice has softened and begun to sink, and the liquid tastes lightly sweet, tart, floral, and alcoholic with no raw flour taste. In a cool room this may take 10 days. In a warm room it may be ready in 8.

9. 9

   Strain and settle

   Line a strainer with clean cheesecloth and strain the mash into a clean bowl. Press gently for a cloudy, makgeolli-style gukhwaju, or let it drain without squeezing for clearer yakju-style wine. Bottle loosely and refrigerate 1 to 2 days so sediment settles. For clear wine, pour off the pale gold top and leave the cloudy lees behind.

10. 10

    Serve chilled

    Serve cold in small cups, 60 to 90 ml at a time. Float one edible chrysanthemum blossom in the first cup if you like, but don't make a garden of it. If the wine is sharper than your table wants, stir 1 teaspoon honey syrup into each 120 ml cup just before serving, not into the storage bottle, because sweetness can wake fermentation again.

Chef Tips

• •Use only edible, unsprayed chrysanthemums. Florist flowers are for looking, not brewing. Dried gamguk from a Korean herb shop is safer and steadier than foraged flowers unless you know the plant and the field.
• •Nuruk decides the character of the wine. It should smell grainy, earthy, and lightly sweet, never musty or rotten. Keep it cold if you will not brew within a week.
• •The optional wine yeast is a modern helper, not a betrayal. It makes fermentation steadier in a home kitchen. The nuruk still gives the enzymes and the Korean character.
• •Rehmannia and goji are medicinal ingredients, so treat them with respect. Do not increase the rehmannia, and avoid this wine if you are pregnant, avoiding alcohol, or have a medical reason to avoid herbal preparations.
• •Live rice wine keeps fermenting slowly in the refrigerator. Use bottles that can be opened easily, keep them cold, and release pressure daily for the first few days.

Advance Preparation

• •Soak the rice the night before you brew. Drain it well before steaming, because excess water is the difference between firm brewing rice and paste.
• •The goji, rehmannia, and first chrysanthemum infusion can be made one day ahead and refrigerated. Bring it back below room temperature before mixing with the rice.
• •Plan on 8 to 10 days for fermentation and 1 to 2 days for cold settling. After straining, keep the wine refrigerated and drink it within 3 weeks.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 120g)