Kurozu – Brown rice vinegar, a healthy morning elixir
Living with someone for nearly two decades you grow tuned to his or her bio patterns. You begin to understand which seasons affect them worst, how many colds they get during the winter months and other idiosyncrasies related to their health. With Mari, it’s always been a challenge for me to know when she is sick. Fact is, the only time I see her suffering health-wise is during the pollen season which can least from about April to June here in Japan. She rarely suffers from cramps, stomach problems or other gastrointestinal maladies. I suspect Mari’s resistance to common illnesses has a lot to do with what I call her little “habits”. Among them, drinking aojiru (kale juice), regularly adding collagen to her food and adding brown rice vinegar to her morning toast. Sounds strange, and indeed it looked odd watching her spoon vinegar on her whole wheat toast every morning. But after she explained to me the health benefits of brown rice vinegar, I soon began imitating her; only I add it to pumpernickel toast. And it’s good. But straight brown rice vinegar though flavorful, may be a bit stringent so early in the morning. To flavor it up Mari follows a popular Japanese recipe that includes Okinawan Black Sugar (Kurozato) and bananas. The resulting mix is delicious, tangy and a real pick-me-up in the morning. Before I explain how Mari prepares this concoction, let’s look at some of the health benefits behind this morning vinegar mix.
Brown Rice Vinegar
Brown rice vinegar, made in the remote areas of Kyushu in southern Japan, is without doubt one of the most delicious and nutritious vinegar around. The manufacturing method hasn’t changed much in over 1000 years. The vinegar is still fermented in earthenware crocks and buried in the ground. The whole process takes one year and the result is a rich dark liquid brimming with life healing properties. The Japanese call this vinegar kurozu (black vinegar) and most of its nutrition lies in the high concentration of amino acids. According to Dr. Yoshio Takino of Shizuka University, Japan, the twenty amino acids and sixteen organic acids found in authentic rice vinegar help prevent the formation of toxic fat peroxides. These fat peroxides result when oil and foods are heated and exposed to light. Fat peroxides contribute to aging and to cholesterol formation on blood vessel walls. It’s important that you use authentic kurozu for this recipe. Regular rice vinegar uses alcohol which is distilled by boiling. This method leaves behind most of the beneficial amino acids.
Making brown rice vinegar – unchanged for 1000 years
According to the Japan Food Research Laboratories, authentic brown rice vinegar has five times the amount of amino acids as sake-lees vinegar. Mitoku Inc. sells some of the best quality brown rice vinegar available. They offer the following advice when shopping for kurozu:
“When shopping for rice vinegar, read labels carefully. The highest-quality products are made from either brown rice or sweet brown rice and water. Although many Oriental foods store vinegars are half the price of natural food brands, keep in mind that these lower-priced products are invariably made from distilled alcohol and sake lees. Some brands list wheat, rice, corn, sake lees, and alcohol as their ingredients, while other brands list no ingredients at all. It is impossible to judge the quality of rice vinegar by its color, since some Oriental food brands have added coloring agents.”
Brown rice vinegar
So make sure you find pure kurozu and avoid any of the clear colorless vinegars.
Kurozato – Japanese Black Sugar
The other ingredient used in Mari’s morning vinegar mix is Kurozato, Japanese black sugar. This is actually a very coarse brown sugar similar to Muscovado sugar and is made in the southern islands of Okinawa. Kurozato is unprocessed sugar. The result of mashing up sugar cane and boiling it down to a thick molasses. Unlike white sugar, which has all of the aroma, color and taste of the cane removed, raw brown sugar contains all of the important nutrients nature intended. Among them are calcium, potassium, iron as well as vitamins B1 and B2. Kurozato has been used by the Japanese to help reduce stress and lower cholesterol.
Japanese “black sugar” kurozato
The final ingredient is the humble banana. I won’t bore you explaining the health benefits of bananas; we all know they are rich in potassium and B6. Most important is that they lend the vinegar mix a delicious flavor…and who doesn’t like the taste of bananas in the morning?
Mari’s brown rice vinegar morning mix
Mari usually prepares the vinegar mix in the evening and lets it stand overnight covered on the kitchen counter. This gives it enough time for the vinegar to absorb some of the banana flavors. Most Oriental and health food shops will carry the Kurozu and kurozato. You can substitute non-Japanese brown sugar so as long as it is coarse and tightly packed. Make sure it is “raw” and not processed sugar with molasses added to it. Otherwise you loose out on the nutrients.
- 1 banana
- 300 ml of brown rice vinegar (kurozu)
- 150g of brown sugar (kurozato)
Peel and slice a large ripe banana
Place banana slices inside a jar that you can cover
Add the brown sugar clumps
Pour the brown rice vinegar
Place jar uncovered into a microwave (500 watts for 1 minute)
Cover jar and let sit outside overnight
Keep the jar covered when not in use. The vinegar mixture should stay fresh for months. Spread it on your toast, pour on your oatmeal or just gulp down a spoonful in the morning to kick off the day. If you add a spoon to a glass of milk, the milk will curdle a bit and form a delicious slightly sour yogurt drink. The Japanese are big on vinegar based health drinks. Over the coming months I’ll be writing more about brown rice vinegar and showing you how to incorporate this amazing elixir into your cooking and daily diet.
