Liquor + Air = Vinegar: Make It From What Grows Here
Master Cho Han-kyu, interpreted by Kim Chang, Founder of Korean Natural Farming (Janong)
Spoken in Korean. Translated to English and checked line by line.
The question held since Joe's talk comes back: must the vinegar be brown rice vinegar? Kim Chang, the interpreter, answers first in her own voice (4-5% acidity, and why competency matters), then Cho takes the flip chart. Don't insist on brown rice: carbohydrate plus nuruk makes liquor, the air's acetic acid bacteria turn it to vinegar in 3 to 5 days, and the material sets the quality. He adds coconut vinegar, a little cooked brown rice in banana liquor, why koji isn't IMO, and why brown rice beats white.
What they found
Does the Cleanser (vinegar) have to be brown rice vinegar, and how do you make it from local fruit?
End of Drake's Q&A. An audience member asks whether brown rice vinegar is needed or whether banana vinegar, more local to Hawaiʻi, will do. Kim Chang, the interpreter, first answers in her own voice. Cho had followed the room without English and takes over at the flip chart, writing 玄米酢 (brown rice vinegar) / 炭水化物 × 누룩 (carbohydrate × nuruk) / 술 + 酢酸菌 (liquor + acetic acid bacteria). She then interprets, standing beside him.
- Vinegar (Cleanser), the general method — Carbohydrate (rice, banana, papaya, any fruit) × nuruk (koji or yeast) → liquor; leave the liquor open and acetic acid bacteria from the air turn it to vinegar in 3 to 5 days, depending on temperature. No quantities given. (Cho's Korean and the board; the interpreter dropped the 3-5 days.) The prescription handout doesn't cover vinegar making.
- Coconut vinegar — Draw off the coconut juice separately; add koji or yeast (nuruk also works) to make alcohol; it then turns to vinegar. Scrape in the white flesh too for better quality. Use the old (mature) coconut. No quantities. (Cho's Korean; the interpreter.)
- Banana vinegar with brown-rice power — When making the banana liquor, mix in a little (조금) cooked brown rice; the brown rice's power goes into the vinegar. Confirmed back to the questioner: 'you've learned well'. (Cho's Korean.)
- Acidity check (Kim Chang and an audience member) — At least 4-5% acidity to extract calcium and calcium phosphate (Reproduction, Structure). An audience member: pH 2.4 or lower on a strip is about 5% acetic acid.
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Use local material for vinegar; it needs at least 4 to 5% acidity
Kim Chang, in her own voice: Cho uses what's available where he teaches if there's no brown rice; the acidity is what extracts the calcium and calcium phosphate.
▶ 2:05:57 As spoken
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Teach the lineage first (brown rice vinegar), then the local adaptation (banana vinegar here), and keep track of your changes
Drake Weinert.
▶ 2:06:27 As spoken
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Competency means high-quality solutions: make them, show them, keep notes, photograph the whole jar
Kim Chang: on projects, CGNF often found level 2 farmers' own solutions unusable and had to bring theirs. Then learn the nutritive cycle: 'you just look for the sign'.
▶ 2:07:16 As spoken
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pH 2.4 or lower on a test strip means at least about 5% acetic acid; legal vinegar is 4 to 5%
An audience member's rule of thumb, not Cho's.
▶ 2:09:25 As spoken
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Don't insist on brown rice vinegar alone; make it from whatever is around you
Cho says he caught the question by reading the room, without English.
▶ 2:11:39 As spoken
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In Hawaiʻi: papaya, mango and banana all work; the best quality is 'mango-stick', probably mangosteen
The interpreter said 'mango skin'.
▶ 2:12:04 As spoken
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Coconut vinegar: coconut juice plus koji or yeast makes alcohol, which turns to vinegar; scrape in the flesh; use the old coconut
Asked ripe or young: 'the old one', then Cho's question 'who's stronger, an old person or a young one?'
▶ 2:12:39 As spoken
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Carbohydrate × nuruk → liquor; liquor + acetic acid bacteria → vinegar
Board: 玄米酢 / 炭水化物 × 누룩 / 술 + 酢酸菌.
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The acetic acid bacteria come from the air
Banana, papaya, rice, it's all the same: once liquor forms, the air's bacteria get in with a little time. Same as makgeolli going sour.
▶ 2:16:22 As spoken
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Liquor turns to vinegar in 3 to 5 days, depending on temperature
And, Cho adds, on how much of the Creator's loving power comes through. He frames it with the wedding at Cana: the creating power fills the air.
▶ 2:20:00 As spoken
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Vinegar isn't made by technique but by the power of nature
▶ 2:20:27 As spoken
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The material changes the quality; the vinegar itself is the same
Brown rice, papaya and banana carry different nutrients, so what's made differs in quality.
▶ 2:21:03 As spoken
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For brown-rice power in a fruit vinegar, add a little cooked brown rice when making the banana liquor
▶ 2:21:33 As spoken
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Healthy vinegar needs healthy, rich raw material
Like a healthy mother and a healthy seed making a healthy baby.
▶ 2:22:22 As spoken
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Koji is not IMO: IMO are microbes collected from the soil
Bought koji may have been hung in the shade or come from a liquor factory; either way it isn't indigenous soil microbes.
▶ 2:24:22 As spoken
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White rice is brown rice with its clothes stripped off; brown rice keeps the minerals and nutrients
So Cleanser made from brown rice makgeolli is far better (last word unclear).
▶ 2:26:26 As spoken
- No quantities were given for any vinegar here: not the carbohydrate, the nuruk, or how much cooked brown rice ('a little').
- 'Mango-stick' is our reading of the fruit's name (probably mangosteen); it isn't confirmed.
- The 4-5% acidity and pH 2.4 rules come from Kim Chang and an audience member, not from Cho.
- Cho's Korean between 2:10:33 and 2:11:39 is mostly unreadable in both machine passes.
- Make your Cleanser (vinegar) from the carbohydrate that grows near you: banana, papaya, mango, coconut, rice.
- Turn it to liquor with nuruk, koji or yeast, then leave it open to the air; expect vinegar in 3 to 5 days, faster when warm.
- Check the strength: about 4-5% acid (pH 2.4 or lower) before using it for Reproduction (WCA) or Structure (WCP).
- Add a little cooked brown rice to a fruit liquor if you want brown rice's qualities.
- Use mature, rich material; the vinegar is only as good as what went in.
Next to Master Cho's teaching
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Agrees
Make vinegar from local material when brown rice isn't there In Hawaiʻi again in 2018, Cho said banana vinegar works fine when there's no brown rice vinegar, apples less well, and to find suitable local material.
2018/Cho - advanced hawaii/cho advanced 2018 3-2 @ 0:28:00 (translated)
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Goes further
Liquor + acetic acid bacteria = vinegar The BRV handout gives the same chain (makgeolli, yeast, then acetic acid bacteria). Here Cho adds that the bacteria come from the air and that the vinegar stage takes 3-5 days by temperature.
Brown-Rice-VinegarBRV, p. 1–6
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Agrees
Koji is not IMO His book rejects microorganisms produced mechanically or artificially; only indigenous ones collected locally count.
Cho, Janong Natural Farming (2003), p. 89
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Goes further
Coconut vinegar In 2018 Cho mentions knowing how to make coconut vinegar in the Philippines but gives no method; here he gives one.
2018/Cho - advanced hawaii/cho advanced 2018 3-2 @ 0:36:29 (translated)
“You were all talking, and since I don't know English, I caught it by reading the room.”
▶ 2:10:59
“The creating power that made everything in the universe, that power fills this air. Even now.”
▶ 2:18:23
“It isn't made by technique; it's made by the power of nature.”
▶ 2:20:27
In this talk
- 2:05:29Brown rice vinegar or banana vinegar?
- 2:07:16Kim Chang on competency
- 2:09:11Testing vinegar: 4-5% acid, pH 2.4
- 2:10:59Cho: make vinegar from what's around you
- 2:14:39Carbohydrate × nuruk → liquor; liquor + acetic acid bacteria
- 2:17:20The wedding at Cana: creating power in the air
- 2:19:473 to 5 days, and a little cooked brown rice
- 2:23:55Koji is not IMO; brown rice keeps its clothes on
Transcript
English translation, checked against the Korean as spoken.
2:05:30 Yes, Joe said it's important for the brown rice vinegar to be used. Do you feel the same way because you, I'm not too sure if everybody's belief or, because you know, it's Korean, and Korea and Japan of course use rice, but over here maybe like things like banana vinegar is more indigenous. Yes, so Master Cho always stress use local material, indigenous material. So when he goes to other country, they don't have brown rice. So he use whatever available in local. But then the percentage of vinegar, you need about at least 4% acidity to 5%.
2:06:20 So he extract the calcium or also calcium phosphate. And so the way I would teach that is to say, look, the way you study here is brown rice vinegar. Here in Hawaii, they recommend you use banana vinegar. So you pass on the integrity of the lineage of how we have them, and you say our local adaption for this space and this place is this. But if you're going to go to this other place and teach anyone that lesson that you've promulgated largely, then you got this, so keep track of your modifications. So yes, I agree with that. I just want to know, like, Kim is probably close to what...
2:07:03 maybe... [unclear] But since we have him here, can we ask him, is it important for it to be brown rice, or can it be a... [unclear] Sorry, I just wanted to ask the question and ask it for you. OK. This competency is very important. That's, we focus on how to make high quality and good quality input. Without that, you cannot have a good crops or you cannot really feed the microbes with the good food. So that's why we have a high focus on the competency. That's why you need to go into make your input and show us you did right thing.
2:07:51 And then also, you will help us to write some notes or so. And then take a picture. A little bit [back], so you can see the whole thing, not like that. That really help us. And then... [unclear] That will make big difference for you. That's the from there. If you do well from there, then you can really blossom. And then learn nutrient cycle. That one is a little bit tricky, but also it's easy. You just look for the sign. Master Cho will tell you. That's how we learn. And then also when we did a project,
2:08:37 the thing that we come up with level two, actually, they learn, but we never check their input. So some project, we go to their farm and help them. And we always say, can you give your input? And then sometimes, oh my god, yeah, we have to bring ours and then use it. So that's why that number two is very important. Try to pass that point. That's really important. Thank you, Kim. I have a question about testing the vinegar. Is that a simple thing where you can just get a pH and see if it's... 4 to 5.
2:09:23 Anything of a pH 2.4 or lower is at least 5% acetic acid. Kim just said 4 to 5, right? So if it is percent acetic acid, to be legal vinegar, it has to be 4 to 5%. And if you're using a pH test strip, the equivalent of that is at 2.4 pH or lower. Mr. Cho said he's going to respond to that question about the... I'm sorry, I didn't want to cut it off, but that's what he told us. He's going to tell us to grow rice and make brown rice vinegar.
2:10:12 You grow enough for me. It should be growing nice. Yeah, it grows well here. I would love to eat it. I don't know anybody that's growing rice.
2:10:59 You were all talking, and since I don't know English, I caught it by reading the room. I was listening to you guys, but I don't understand English that well, but I felt something. Something about brown rice vinegar. Brown rice vinegar: when people say brown rice vinegar, you shouldn't insist on brown rice vinegar alone.
여러분들 얘기하는데 영어를 모르니까, 눈치로 때려잡은 거예요. 현미식초, 현미식초 하면 현미식초라고 하는 것만을 가지고 주장할 것이 아니고,
2:11:48 You can use other things to make the vinegar. As needed, it can be made from whatever is around you. You don't just stress only brown rice vinegar. Here in Hawaiʻi you have plenty of papaya, mango and banana, and the best quality is 'mango-stick' (probably mangosteen). You can use papaya, mango, banana, but the best one is mango skin. Coconut juice?
필요에 따라서 그 주변에 있는 것으로 만들어질 수가 있는 거라고. 이제 그 하와이에 많이 있는 파파야, 망고, 바나나, 그리고 가장 질 좋은 게 망고스틱(망고스틴?).
2:12:39 You know coconut juice. Take the coconut juice, draw off the liquid separately, and put koji or yeast into it, and alcohol forms. You can put in nuruk, or you can put in [unclear]. So you only collect the juice of the coconut, and then you inoculate with nuruk or koji. When it becomes vinegar, it becomes very good. And when you use the coconut juice, there's that white stuff inside, you know. It's better to scrape all of that out and mix it in too.
코코넛 주스 있잖아. 코코넛 주스를 갖다가 물을 따로 빼가지고 거기다 고지, 효모로 집어넣으면은 알코올이 만들어지는 거. 누룩을 넣어도 되고, (…)을 넣어도 되고. 그런데 그 코코넛 주스를 써서, 그 안에 그 하얀 거 있잖아. 그것까지 다 긁어서 섞는 게 더 좋다고.
2:13:32 Also, you can scrape all the meat and mix it in there, and it becomes better quality. So ripe coconut or young? The old one. The old one. Who's stronger, an old person or a young person? Is an old person stronger, or a young person stronger? You're strong. Is there a question? I have another question regarding the brown rice vinegar, and she's asking, do you use the banana? Is that the banana fruit itself, or is it banana flower?
늙은이가 힘이 세요, 젊은 사람이 힘이 세요?
2:14:22 Some people understand that flower is the one that you make. Some people make vinegar with flowers, and vinegar with fruit. When we talk about that, the process of making vinegar: there's carbohydrate, right? Carbohydrate. You take the carbohydrate, and here you put in nuruk. Then this becomes alcohol. Liquor (sul).
그걸 얘기할 때, 식초 만드는 과정이, 탄수화물이 있잖아. 탄수화물. 탄수화물을 갖다가, 여기다 누룩, 누룩을 넣어. 그럼 이것이 알코올이 되죠. 술이.
2:15:10 So the first step: the carbohydrate, you put the nuruk, it's malt, or koji. And then it becomes alcohol after fermentation. Then that liquor: to it, here, [comes] the acetic acid bacteria. What is 'chosan-gyun'? Chosan-gyun is the vinegar bacteria. Once it becomes alcohol, you need to put in the bacteria of the... like a mother?
그 술, 거기에다가, 여기다가 초산균. 초산균이 뭐예요? 초산균이 식초균.
2:16:02 Yes. Oh, these bacteria are in the air. Plenty of them in the air. So, I don't know whether any of you have seen makgeolli, but banana, papaya, it's all the same. You put it in, and once liquor forms, as a little time passes the acetic acid bacteria [get into it]. The acetic acid bacteria in the air. That's how natural vinegar is made. Okay, so you can use rice, makgeolli, or banana alcohol, anything. From this stage, you let it sit there, and then in the air, this microbe goes in there and make a vinegar.
그래서 여러분들이 혹시 그 막걸리를 보신 분이 계실지 모르겠지만은 그 바나나나 파파야나 그거 다 마찬가지야. 거기다 넣어가지고 술이 만들어지면, 술이 만들어지면 조금씩 지나가면 거기에 초산균이 (들어가). 공기 중 초산균이. 자연식초가 만들어지는 겁니다.
2:16:57 So you can use any food and this nuruk. In the Bible, the New Testament, [Luke?] What's in there? The wedding feast at Cana. There is a wedding in Cana.
성경 속에 신약, 누가 보고(?) 그곳에 뭐가 있냐면 가나의 혼인잔치가 나와.
2:17:44 So there's the wedding feast, they gave the guests wine at first, and later the wine ran short. So 'make some wine,' Jesus's mother said. 'Do as he tells you,' and so they fetched water and set it out. They set the water out, poured it, and he gave a blessing. He prayed. He prayed, and the water became wine. So what does that mean? The creating power that made everything in the universe, that power fills this air. Even now.
그 다음에 혼인잔치가 나오는데 잔치 손님들한테 처음에 포도주를 줬다가 나중에 포도주가 모자랐잖아. 그러니까 포도주를 만들어 봐라, 이렇게 예수님 엄마가 얘기를 했잖아. 그 시키는 대로 해라 해가지고 물을 다 떠다 놨잖아. 물을 떠다 놓고, 그 물을 갖다 부어서 축사를 했잖아. 기도를 했잖아. 기도를 했는데 그게 물이 변해서 포도주가 됐잖아. 그럼 그건 무슨 말이냐. 우주 만물을 창조하신 창조의 능력, 그 능력은 이 공기 중에 꽉 차 있다고. 지금도.
2:18:29 So they have lots of wine, but the wine is all gone. So he said, bring this water. And then they prayed to the water, and then it became wine. So that means in the universe, everything is in there, what you need. Because Jesus is the creator. same as rock so God blessed the water to become a wine so that universe has God's creating power and that's in the air
2:19:15 so it's the same principle when you try to make the brown rice vinegar if you use that all this carbohydrate and put it in the room and then it will become alcohol and then when the air has lots of that bacteria or whatever microbes, it will change to the brown rice vinegar. How long does that take? How long does it take? Three to five days. But that depends on the temperature.
(…) 얼마나 걸리나요? 3일 내지 5일. 근데 그거는 온도에 따라서 달라.
2:20:08 It depends on how much of the Creator's loving power comes out. That means, from the creator, how much love is coming through them. Through you. So when that power wells up, our vinegar gets made. It isn't made by technique; it's made by the power of nature. So it's not from your technique making this vinegar, It's not from your technique, it's from the universe.
창조주의 사랑의 능력이 얼만큼 나오냐에 따라서 다른 거야. 그래서 능력이 팍 끓어오르면은, 우리가 식초가 만들어지는 거는 기술로 만들어지는 게 아니라 자연의 능력에 의해서 만들어지는 거예요.
2:20:56 So then, what's the difference between brown rice, banana and papaya? The nutrients in brown rice, in papaya and in banana are different, so the quality of what gets made is different. It's not that the vinegar itself is different. So each material, brown rice or other fruit, they have a different nutrient. The nutrient is different, but when it comes to vinegar, it doesn't matter. So if you want to draw out the same power as brown rice vinegar, when you make the liquor from banana, a little cooked brown rice,
그런데 거기서 현미하고 바나나하고 파파야하고 뭐가 다른 거냐. 현미에 들어있는 영양분하고 파파야에 들어있는 영양분하고 바나나에 들어있는 영양분이 달라서 만들어진 것에 대한 자질이 달라지는 것이지. 초가 달라진 건 아니야. 그러니까 여러분들이 현미식초와 같은 능력을 끌어내고 싶다 하면 말이지, 바나나 가지고 술 만들 때 현미밥을 조금
2:21:45 mix it in together, and you get brown rice vinegar. So if you want to use the power of brown rice vinegar, you don't have to use full brown rice vinegar. When you make other fruit vinegar, you add some cooked rice in there, brown rice, cooked brown rice, and mix together, and then you will use brown rice power. You know what I mean? To compare it with people: just as a healthy baby is born when the human seed goes into a healthy mother,
같이 섞어서 넣으면 현미식초가 만들어진다고. 사람으로 비교하면 말이지, 건강한 엄마에게 사람의 씨가 들어가야 건강한 아기가 태어나는 것과 마찬가지로
2:22:34 healthy vinegar comes from vinegar bacteria working on raw material that is very healthy and rich. So if you want to have a healthy child, the seed has to come in. Healthy seed has to come in, and then the baby will be born a healthy child. That's the same theory. If you want healthy vinegar, you need to use healthy fruits or source material. So did I understand that correctly that if I'm making a banana vinegar that I put
그 식초를 만들려고 하는 원료, 그것이 아주 건강하고 풍부한 것에 식초균들로부터 건강한 식초가 만들어지는 것입니다.
2:23:19 a little bit of cooked brown rice in with that while it's fermenting and that will help bring the energy from brown rice into the banana. [She asks:] when you make vinegar with banana, if you cook brown rice and put a little in, does the brown rice's power go into it? Yes, you've learned well. Yes, you learned very well. Very good. Is koji the same thing as IMO 1? Because I bought koji from Japan, and it came in a package, and it's grown on white rice, and it looks the same.
바나나 그거 갖고 식초를 만들 때 그 현미밥을 해갖고 거기다 조금 넣어서 하면 현미밥에 힘이 거기 들어가 (냐고). 네, 잘 배웠습니다.
2:24:07 And then IMO is always grown on white rice. And then what is the significance of brown? [She asks about] koji: she has [Japanese?] koji, and she made IMO 1; is that the same? That's not it. I don't know how it was made as koji, but was the koji made by hanging it up in the shade, or is it koji brought from a factory that makes liquor? It depends on that koji. But this is not indigenous microorganisms. IMO are microbes collected from the soil, so they're different from koji made in an [enclosed] space. Oh, so the koji is...
고지, (…) 고지가 있고 미생물 1번을 만들었는데 그것도 된다고(?) 그것은 아니, 고지에서 만들어도 모르겠지만 고지를 만들 때 음지에다가 매달아가지고서 만든 건지 아니면 술 만드는 공장에서 만드는 고지를 가져온 거지. 그 고지에 따라서 달라지는 건데, 지금 이건 토착미생물이 아니야. 토착미생물은 토양을 상대로 해서 채취한 미생물이기 때문에 공간에서 만들어진 고지하고는 달라요(?).
2:24:55 I don't know where you get it from, but it's collected from the air. The indigenous microorganism we collect from the soil is different. How about brown rice? Why brown rice, not white rice? What are you talking about? Joe said brown rice is important because it has extra nutrients in the husk. Is that what he says, the same thing? [Relaying the question:] making vinegar with brown rice... [unclear] You ask where the difference is. Well, what's the difference between a person wearing clothes and a naked person?
현미로 식초를 만드는 (…) 그 어디가 다르냐고 그러는데, 옷을 입은 사람하고 발가벗은 사람하고 어디가 다르냐고.
2:25:43 Okay, he's going to compare with human being. What is different, people with their clothes with the naked people. That's right. Because even the clothes, there's a nutrient. So even the hull, What's that they're saying? Yeah. Oh, you're welcome to answer now, right? That's what I'm saying. He taught you well. So he is blessing you. Between white rice and brown rice: white rice is brown rice with its clothes stripped off,
하얀쌀하고 현미하고는, 하얀쌀은 현미 옷을 벗긴 거고
2:26:35 and brown rice is rice that hasn't been stripped. Brown rice holds a lot of minerals and all kinds of nutrients. So brown rice vinegar made from it, once it becomes vinegar made from our makgeolli, it is far [better]. So the white rice is taking off the hull. Hull has extra mineral and other nutrients on it. So it's better to make with brown rice, not white rice. Did you understand?
현미는 벗기지 않은 쌀이거든요. 현미에 미네랄이나 각종 영양소가 많이 들었다고. 그걸로 만든 현미식초가 저희가 막걸리로 만든 식초가 되면 훨씬 …