It turns out, getting pigs a little drunk off leftover shochu keeps their stress levels low and provides tastier meat. Shochu is a traditional Japanese liquor that’s been around for nearly 500 years, but it’s only famous in Japan. It has an alcohol content of between 20 and 40%; it’s weaker than whiskey or other spirits but stronger than sake or wine.
Shochu is made from a mash of wheat, barley, sweet potatoes, rice, potatoes, and other starchy ingredients that can break down with mold. It’s then fermented with yeast before being strained and distilled numerous times. The outcome is a clear spirit that can be drunk hot, warm, neat, on ice or mixed in countless ways.
The leftover strained out mash, is typically disposed of as industrial waste. A new study conducted by agriculturalists, professional brewers, and researchers at the University of Tokyo demonstrates a more practical use for the waste product—feeding it to pigs. Feeding the pig’s leftover shochu waste would reduce CO2 emissions that come from methods used to dispose of the waste mash, along with lowering brewer and farmer costs by turning the mash into a feed.
For the study, published in Food Chemistry, the team fed six pigs aged three to six months on a regular diet into which was mixed a supplement of shochu distillation waste comprising of yeast, barley, and mold. The results showed that the test pigs had higher levels of IgA antibodies in their saliva, which indicates that they were healthier than the control group of pigs that were only fed the regular diet.
The test pigs were also more relaxed, as they had lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol in their systems. Barley shochu has high levels of a pair of protein building blocks known as histidine peptides and leucine, which are linked to lower stress levels.
The stress-free pigs produced higher quality meat, particularly filet and sirloin cuts. The shochu pork was presented in blind taste tests and proved to have better umami, juiciness, flavor, and tenderness. However, this was not because the pigs were fatter.
Junyou Li, from the University of Tokyo, explained:
We saw no difference in the pigs’ weight gain between the two diets, and the pigs were slaughtered at the standard six months of age, meaning any difference in the quality of the meat was not because of a difference in the quantity of fat.
The team suggests that the pork turned out so tender because of a chemical difference in the meat caused by higher percentages of oleic acid, which is an unsaturated fatty acid associated with higher levels of healthy LDL cholesterol.
Yasuhisa Ano, the lead author on the study, said:
Kyushu, in Western Japan, is well-known historically for making shochu and for its many pig farms. We hope collaborative research projects like ours can directly benefit the local community and global environment.
On the gastronomic side, since the fat had a lower melting temperature, it resulted in the meat having a melt-in-your-mouth experience.
