Natural Japanese Skin Care Superfood - The Secret of Japan Traditional Sake Rice Wine

Japanese Sake is a superfood that has been hiding in plain sight for centuries. However, Japanese women have been in on this secret for as long as Japanese Sake has been produced. Japanese Sake is one of Japanese women's beauty secrets to youthful, hydrated, and glowing skin!

So how does this superfood Japanese Sake help nourish your skin and maintain a youthful look? Let's understand more!

What is Japanese Sake and How is Sake Produced?

Japanese Sake wine is a fermented and strained product of Japanese rice, koji starter and water.

1. The process starts with Rice Milling as only white rice that has been polished is used for Sake brewing. The Rice Milling process takes at least 6 hours and up to 3 days as it is performed carefully to ensure that the rice is optimally polished between 25-50%. 

2. Next, the milled rice is washed to remove the bran and dust from the surface then it is transferred to a soaking tank where fresh water is added and the rice is allowed to soak for a certain period of time before it is drained and steamed. Steaming the rice breaks down the starch tissue in the rice grains and makes it easier to ferment as it is more susceptible to the enzymes and easily dissolved. Steaming also sterilises the rice and the steamed rice is cooled to the right temperature before koji starter is added.

3. Koji starter is a type of mold that is one of the most important things in Sake brewing.

"Koji starter is a type of mold that is propagated from the surface to the center of steamed rice, and is used as a source of various enzymes such as starch-degrading enzymes, proteolytic enzymes, and lipolytic enzymes."

4. After the koji starter is added to the steamed rice, the shubo or sake "mother" is added for healthy and smooth alcoholic fermentation. A large amount of lactic acid produced also helps to suppress the growth of germs in the early stage of sake brewing. 

"Lactic acid naturally accumulates in raw liquor due to the balanced function of various microorganisms such as lactic acid bacteria, germs are eliminated, and a large amount of sake yeast is purely cultivated. In addition, it can be said that it is a sake mother suitable for making rich sake with a lot of amino acids and peptides (a state in which amino acids are connected). "

5. Moromi is the core of the sake brewing process where the various enzymes of the koji starter and purely grown sake yeast play an active role. During this process, not only the starch of steamed rice is decomposed into glucose by the power of enzymes, but also various amino acids, peptides, organic acids, etc. that are great for skin care are also produced. 

6. After the fermentation process is complete when the rice mash is aged, the aged mash is squeezed and the solid sake lees and liquid fresh sake are separated and filtered. The filtered Japanese Sake wine is heated to sterilise and continued to age in tanks for another 6 months before it is ready for consumption. 

Tradition of Japanese Sake in Skin Care Routines

Japanese Geisha have been using Sake in their skin care routines for centuries. Geisha have used Sake as a lotion prior to application of makeup and even adding some Sake to hot baths before enjoying a moisturising soak. Since ancient times, Sake is believed to help promote youthful skin because of its softening, plumping, moisturising, brightening, and nourishing properties. The amino acids in Japanese Sake have a great moisturizing effect on the skin. 

Introducing Natural Japanese Skin Care Made from Superfood Sake

The famous Japanese Sake brewery Kiku Masamune founded in 1659 has been producing top quality wines for the Emperors and Shoguns throughout Japanese history. Acknowledging the nourishing and moisturising properties of Japanese Sake products, Kikumasamune has developed their own proprietary secret recipe for Skin Care Lotions.

This Japanese Sake Skin Care Lotions series is very well received in Japan as they contain the equivalent of 1.8L bottle Sake of Amino Acids which makes it highly moisturizing with excellent skin penetration while still being lightweight and comfortable.

In addition, placenta extract and arbutin are added into this Japanese Sake Skin Care Lotions series as additional moisturizing ingredients, and also ceramide, a highly moisturizing ingredient that promotes youthful skin is included. Using this Japanese Sake Skin Care Lotions series, your skin is protected from dryness by natural ingredients, without fragrances and is weakly acidic which is gentle on the skin, so you can enjoy this beauty regiment everyday. 

Kikumasamune Japanese Sake Skin Care Lotions series also comes in large volume per product which is value-for-money, so you can enjoy it lavishly on your body and face to experience the highly moisturizing beauty effect on your whole body without feeling the pinch of a high price.

While Kikumasamune Japanese Sake Skin Care Lotions series is made from brewed Japanese Sake, the by-product of Sake which is the solid sake lees is also a very useful and nourishing ingredient for skin care and there are many Japanese skin care brands which use this natural superfood for the benefit of our skin. 

One of COSME No. 1 sake lees skin care product is Wafood Made sake lees Skin Face Pack which was rated as the Best Natural Skin Moisturizer Face Pack. 

This moisturizing natural face pack is a sake lees pack that you can easily enjoy at home. This is a Rinse-off type face pack that contains original sake lees extract extracted from sake lees from Kawazu Sake Brewery in Kumamoto Prefecture.
After application, it washes off dullness and leads to moisturized and smooth skin.

This Best Natural Skin Moisturizer Face Pack by Wafood Made also contains moisturizing ingredients (sake lees extract, cucumber fruit extract, rice ceramide, yuzu seed extract).

For those who want the ease and convenience of just applying a sheet mask and removing it after use without messy application or rinsing off, there are also super moist sheet masks permeated with sake lees to give you the benefits and moisturising effects of sake lees with zero hassle.

As mentioned earlier, sake lees are a by-product of making sake. From ancient times, it has been said that the hands of sake craftsmen who handles sake lees are beautiful and remain youthful, so the beauty properties of sake lees became famous and widespread. Sake lees extract is tightly used in this Wafood Made Sake Lees Moisturizing Face Sheets so that you can enjoy such sake lees beauty method more easily. Wafood Made Sake Lees Moisturizing Face Sheets is a permeated sheet mask that you can apply onto your face quickly, easily and experience moisturized, bouncy, glowing skin in minutes.

Other than Wafood Made, other Japanese brands like Kose Cosmeport also embraced the power of superfood sake lees in their artisanal face sheet mask series.

Kose Cosmeport selected natural materials that are said to be good for beautiful skin, and created a rich beauty essence based on hot spring water.
This particular face sheet mask contains sake lees extract that sharpens the texture around the pores, leaving your dull skin refreshed and bright.

It is time for everyone to embrace the natural superfood Japanese Sake not only as an alcoholic drink but also as a powerful skin care and beauty regiment for beautiful, youthful, and bright skin!

Reference:

日本酒図書館｜菊正宗～生酛（生もと）で辛口はうまくなる。～. (n.d.). Retrieved April 03, 2021, from https://www.kikumasamune.co.jp/toshokan/index.html