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I watched a video recently from NHK (a public broadcaster in Japan) about Amazake, a fermented rice drink.

It is called Amazake: Trails to Oishii Tokyo.

I had come across information about it before, and there was a recipe mentioned in an episode of Season 3 of Laid Back Camp for Amazake Cookies that intrigued me. I decided to see if I could order some.

One of the packages arrived, and I decided to sit on the back patio and follow the directions to make the drink using my camp stove.

It is slightly sweet, slightly thick, like a watered down porridge. But it’s better than that implies! I do like it, both hot and chilled. I drank the above serving hot, then put the rest in the fridge to have later.

I liked it enough to get a pouch from another brand, to compare, but it’s a once in a while treat, because it’s a bit expensive. That one was $12, and the other one, which I haven’t tried yet, was $16.

I am saving the second one for an early morning trip to the park or something like that.

If I decide I like it enough to want more, I think I will buy kōji and try making it myself. Koji is used in multiple kinds of recipes, so it might be interesting to try out some of those.