Nungil Village: An Unsung Hero to Makeoli Drinkers Everywhere

The Happy Bears went to Nungil Village to make Makeoli. We did it for our health, taste, enjoyment, and self-knowledge. 

Makeoli has the alcohol percentage above a standard lager( 6%) with the sweetness of a soft drink and milky texture with an acidic kick. Some even are carbonated to have the fizzyness of soda. We love its taste.

Makeoli is particularly special to me. It's an example of what can be called healthy alcohol. When traditionally made, its taste is amazing and it contains many beneficial bacteria and yeast. Just like how kimchi, and yogurt have symbiotic healthy lactobacilli bacteria for our gastrointestinal track, so does Makeoli. However,  Makeoli also has the added benefit of yeast.

Most commercial Makeoli is pasteurized and artificially sweetened with Aspartame, which is a known neurotoxin. Fortunately, there are people who are bringing back the old style of making alcohol, such as  commercial brewers or individuals and groups who are doing it themselves for themselves or their families. They are heros to us for doing something that costs a little more but is safe and healthy for us.

Nungil Village is one of those heros.

Nungil Makeoli is not a brewer of commercial makeoli, but a school to teach people how to make nutritious and delicious Makeoli, food, and how to grow food. 

So we went to learn.

We were not disapointed.

The Happy Bear drove to the Nungil Restaurant and entered the school.

Our teacher, had already the materials laid out before we arrived. On stepping into the room, there was a container of yeast in liquid, nuruk(누룩), a cake wheat, barley, and rice, which has wild gathered lactobacilli bacteria and yeast from the air that accumulated on the cake. Both rested on a tablecloth spread across a long folding table.

I'm a homebrewer so while my Korean is spotty I'm familiar with the brewing process and I felt comfortable as our translator translated the teachers words to us.

Our teacher brought out the steamed rice.

Our teacher told us what to do and we listened.

"The rice must be steamed in a steamer and not a rice cooker so it does not lose sugar. It must be slightly hard."

We spread the rice out and allowed it too cool. When the rice was the temperature of our hand, we would add the nuruk.

"If too hot, the bacteria will die," the teacher said.

He then showed us the nuruk which sat in a metal bowl shown in the picture on the right.  Nuruk is made traditionally by wrapping a wet cake of wheat, barley, and rice in a husk and putting it in a barn or someplace else to gather the wild yeasts and bacteria.

We mixed the nuruk into the rice. The nuruk will break the rice into simple sugars for the yeast to eat and produce the alcohol. Without the nuruk, the complex sugars cannot be broken down into simpler sugars for the yeast to eat and make alcohol.




Then the teacher showed us the yeast, which was simply Fleichers Bread yeast prepared in warm water with some sugar. The yeast is not necessary as it is airborn, everywhere on Earth, but it shortens the process of Makeoli making from 1 and half weeks to four days.



A texture of yeast.


We added water over the rice to just over the rice and then sealed the pot with a lid with an air gauge attached. We carried the pot to a stone cellar with thick stone walls which keeps the temperature inside cool and keeps the temperature from fluctuating extremely.

The stabilization is important according to our teacher to keep the Makeoli ph balance between base and acid. If too much of one or the other, then the wonderful flavor will be bad.

After four days water, the yeasts outcompete and kill all the unhealthy bacteria and the healthy bacteria remain.

The value of alcohol as a safe source of water was appreciated by European colonists of America. The Pilgrims refused to drink water for fear of diseases remembered from plagues in the past  and drank beer instead because they knew that it would keep them healthy.

After the four days, water is added at a 3:1, water:rice ratio and the Makeoli is aged for a week so the flavors mingle and the taste improves.

The Happy Bears were lucky to get to drink the Makeoli available. Before drinking it our teacher reminded us to not drink commercial makeoli with Aspartame in it.

The Makeoli he served was special because it was made from the extract of Jerusalem Artichoke leaves (돼지 감자 or pig potato). It has many medicinal effects some of which are pain relief, antioxidization, and stomach soothing.

The taste was amazing so we happily drank two or three glasses before we were went on to our next adventure.


Jerusalem Artichoke Roots





Jerusalem Artichoke Makeoli

-Greg

NungGil Makeoli

JinAhn Nungil MaEul(Village)

http://www.nungil.org/

JunBok Jinahn-Goon DongHyang-Myun NunGumL-Lee Nungil MaEul