Treasure from the Rice Paddy- By Julie Cader

By Julie Cader

Julie is Finance & Administration Manager for the California Rice Commission, and a big proponent of trying new culinary experiences- especially if they feature food (and beverages) featuring California Rice.

As soon as my son, Jeff, poured the cloudy Sake into Ashley's glass, I had a sudden flashback of my childhood growing up in Alaska.

The milky color of Takara's Nigori Sake brought back memories of the milky color of the Nenana River, a glacially-fed river near Denali National Park, in the heart of the Alaska range.

Of course in the 60's (I'm dating myself) we would load up the family in the station wagon and head to Mt. McKinley for a weekend camping adventure.

On the way there, we would take the ferry across the Tanana River into the fishing village of Nenana and head up the Park Highway, following the Nenana River. In those days you could drive into McKinley Park and 18 (dusty and winding) miles up the mountainside, but years later the tremendous growth in automobile traffic in the park resulted in a shuttle bus system and restrictions on private vehicles.

Now back to eating and drinking, the sake was wonderful! Takara Sake USA was established in Berkeley in 1982. They use pure snowmelt from the Sierra Nevada and California rice from the fertile Sacramento Valley to make sake worthy of the Takara mark. Nigori is the way Sake first appeared when it was brewed for the Imperial Court in Kyoto, Japan as well as for most of its 2,000-year history. It is lightly-filtered and the sweetest of all types of sake made by Takara. Incidentally, Takara means "treasure from the rice paddy.” This foodie feels it is especially delicious with very spicy foods, especially Thai cuisine. Don't forget to shake the bottle each time you pour since it has a high rice content that settles in the bottom of the bottle.

So the next time you try Takara's Nigori Sake, know that it has a lot of nourishing California rice left in it--a drink that is a meal! And of course, if you feel adventurous, head north to Alaska and see for yourself the wonderful color of the Nenana River. Who knows, if you're really lucky, the clouds may move away so that you can see the peak of our majestic Mt. McKinley.

Kampai!