Sake
January 4th, 2008 by adminFor some reason, an unusually large amount of alcohol has been consumed in my apartment over the past 2 weeks. (More on this later – I have pictures). This has lead me back to the CRC liquor list. Although there are many things there which are interesting (the issue of scotch alone is worthy of a lot more than I care to write), the issue of sake caught my eye. Sake is brewed by fermenting rice, in a process similar to that of beer (which most people agree does not need hashgacha). One potentially problematic difference is that with beer, the enzyme used to convert the starch into sugar (which can be fermented) comes from the beer itself. Sake uses the protease enzyme which comes from the aspergillus oryzae fungus, although there is now an artificial source as well. (For the record, I just learned this all on wikipedia about 10 minutes ago. I don’t know how I used to live without it).
The CRC clearly states that sake needs a hashgachah
Only recommended when bearing a reliable Kosher symbol.
The star-K on the other hand, disagrees:
Based on our understanding of industry practice, rice wine (sake) does not require kosher certification.
Surveying other people, the MK copies straight from the CRC. The Seattle vaad agrees with the star-K, saying that all unflavored sake is okay. Few other people have independent opinions, in part I’m sure because sake has not yet become a widely consumed product in North America.
Now of course comes the big question: who will I go by? I don’t see a clear reason why sake isn’t just considered the same as beer, but then I also feel like I really wish I knew the CRC’s logic before I simply dismiss their opinion. There is also the issue of consistency. Although I feel like the star-k’s opinion makes more sense, I go by the CRC’s opinion when it comes to scotch because that makes more sense to me as well. (By more sense, I mean that I like Rb. Moshe Feinstein’s take on the issue). I can’t simply pick and choose my sources based on who is the more lenient opinion in each case (or can I?). This is yet another case where I wish there were more openness in the kashrut organizations to allow consumers to make a more informed decision.
January 4th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
I find that one of the largest problems when it comes to hashgacha is that people (and by this I mean lay-persons as well as rabbinical organizations) suffer from a large degree of ignorance and a lack of application of common sense.
The certifying organizations, far too often, do not understand (nor do they seek to take the time to understand) the food science behind the manufacturing of a product. Not only do I find this irresponsible, I have religious problems with it as well. Our religious leaders should be making every effort to make keeping kosher easy, rather than finding chumras and unreasonable, and often undisclosed (see below), standards.
In this case, I believe in the old axium of common sense. Based on your posting (I have not read wikipedia), I don’t per se see a problem with it being kosher. Since at least 1 reputable kosher certification gang agrees with me, I’ll hold by that.
For the record, thegameIam has an interesting post (http://thegameiam.livejournal.com/223019.html) about the use of open standards in kosher certification, one that I 100% agree with.
January 6th, 2008 at 11:26 am
Mmmmmmmmmmmm. Now I’m in the mood for sushi. Yes, I know that I just had it a little over a week ago, but you can never have sushi too often, right? :)
January 6th, 2008 at 11:55 am
I was delighted when I asked RBF (before he became RDBF), and he said that sake did not require hashgaha. Yay!
January 6th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
Every since the strawberry/toothpaste things, I have rejected the authority of the CRC. (I will still use their hashgacha, but not their chumras.) And My family has generally followed Star-K pesak, so I am comfortable with that.
If it makes you feel better, though, the link from Scotch Blog that you cited mentions in passing that the Star-K *does* approve sherried scotches. It’d be nice to see that directly from them, of course, but, in the meanwhile, I think you can have both your sake and your scotch with an easy conscience.
January 6th, 2008 at 9:29 pm
The star k on scotch
From what I know about scotch, pretty much all scotch is aged at one time or another in sherry casks. (Or some of it is).