Making red yeast rice wine can be fun, we do encourage our clients to master this invaluable traditional skill and share with
friends and relatives. We do understand that people nowadays are getting busier and might need help in making rice wines or
buying it off the shelves.  Good wine takes time to ferment and we don't keep much stock. So if you ready need help please fill
in the wine order form. [click here]

To master the skill in a session, sign up
[SAKE MAKING WORKSHOP]
Monascus
Purpureus
(Red Rice Yeast)红麴米

Red yeast rice is rice that has been fermented by the red yeast,
monascus purpureus. It has been used by the Chinese for many
centuries as a food preservative, food colorant (it is responsible for
the red color of Peking duck), spice, and ingredient in rice wine.
Red yeast rice also has been used in China for over 1,000 years for medicinal purposes. Red yeast rice was described in an
ancient Chinese list of drugs as useful for improving blood circulation and for alleviating indigestion and diarrhea.

Since 800 A.D., red yeast rice has been employed by the Chinese as both a food and a medicinal agent. Its therapeutic benefits
as both a promoter of blood circulation and a digestive stimulant were first noted in the traditional Chinese pharmacopoeia,
Ben Cao Gang Mu-Dan Shi Bu Yi, during the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644). Practitioners of Traditional Chinese Medicine use red
yeast rice to treat abdominal pain due to stagnant blood and dysentery, as well as external and internal trauma. In addition to its
therapeutic applications, red yeast rice has been used for centuries as a flavor enhancer, a food preservative, and a base for a
Taiwanese alcoholic rice-wine beverage.(Burnham TH, Sjweain SL, Short RM (eds). Monascus. In:The Review of Natural
Products. St. Louis, MO: Facts and Comparisons, 1997).
Post Natal Diet

In traditional southern Chinese post natal dietry practice, red yeast rice wine is one of the important ingredients that cannot be
left out. New mother will experience the effect once the red yeast rice wine is consumed, the amount of lochia discharge is
more than woman that don't consume at all.

The wine must be boiled for at least 15 min to remove any trace of the alcohol for the new mother. Else the mother and the baby
will be drunken for the rest of the 40 days confinement.

Prepare the red rice wine 3 months before the delivery. At least 10kg of rice is needed.

Having the same health benefits of Sake or the rice wine, the red yeast rice wine known to be even better.

The lees or dreg after the fermentation is collected and make into various delicious Chinese dishes for everyday meals.

Classes may start with a minimum of 10 persons, and are subjected to postponed or cancelled in the event of low response.
You may also arrange for a small private cooking class with friends.

If you are interested in signing up for any classes , call the respective community clubs.


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Last modified: 27/01/2010

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Red yeast rice (Chinese: 紅麴米, 红曲米; pinyin: hóng qú mǐ; lit. "red yeast rice"), red fermented rice, red kojic rice, red koji rice, anka, or ang-kak, is a bright reddish purple fermented rice, which acquires its colour from being cultivated with the mold Monascus purpureus.  Red yeast rice is produced by cultivating the yeast strain Monascus purpureus on rice. The rice is first soaked in water until the grains are fully saturated. The raw soaked rice can then either be directly inoculated or it can be steamed for the purpose of sterilizing and cooking the grains prior to inoculation. Inoculation is done by mixing either M. purpureus spores or powdered red yeast rice together with the rice that is being treated. The mix is then incubated in an environment around room temperature for 3–6 days. During this period of time, the rice should be fully cultured with M. purpureus, with each rice grain turning bright red in its core and reddish purple on the outside.  The fully cultured rice is then either sold as the dried grain, or cooked and pasteurized to be sold as a wet paste, or dried and pulverized to be sold as a fine powder. China is the world's largest producer of red yeast rice.  Due to the low cost of chemical dyes, some producers of red yeast rice have tried to adulterate their products with red dye #2 Sudan Red G [1](in Chinese).CulinaryThe dried grain can be prepared and eaten in the same manner as white
rice—a common practice among Asians. It can also be added to other foods.Red yeast rice is used to colour a wide variety of food products, including pickled tofu, red rice vinegar, char siu, Peking Duck,  require red food colouring. It is also traditionally used in the production of several types of Chinese wine, Japanese sake (akaisake), and Korean rice wine (hongju), imparting a reddish colour to these wines.[2][3] Although used mainly for its colour in cuisine, red yeast rice imparts a subtle but pleasant taste to food and is commonly used in the cuisine of Fujian regions of China.
[edit] Traditional Chinese medicine
In addition to its culinary use, red yeast rice is also used in traditional Chinese herbology and traditional Chinese medicine. Its use has been documented as far back as the Tang Dynasty in China in 800 A.D. and taken internally to invigorate the body, aid in digestion, and revitalize the blood.[1]

[edit] Red yeast rice and 'statin' drugs
In the late 1970's researchers in Japan were isolating lovastatin from Aspergillus and monacolins from Monascus, the latter being the same yeast used to make red yeast rice. Chemical analysis soon showed that lovastatin and monacolin K were identical. An article "The origin of statins" summarizes how the two isolations, documentations and patent applications were just months apart.[2] Lovastatin became the patented, prescription, drug Mevacor for Merck & Co. Red yeast rice went on to become a contentious, non-prescription, dietary supplement in the United States and other countries.

Lovastatin and other prescription 'statin' drugs inhibit cholesterol synthesis by blocking action of the enzyme HMG-CoA reductase. As a consequence circulating total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol are lowered. In a meta-analysis of 91 randomized clinical trial of ≥12 weeks duration, totaling 68,485 participants, LDL-cholesterol was lowered by 24-49% depending on the statin.[3] Different strains of Monascus yeast will produce different amounts of monacolins. The 'Went' strain of Monascus purpureus (purpureus = purple in Latin), when properly fermented and processed, will yield a dried red yeast rice powder that is approximately 0.4% monacolins, of which roughly half will be monacolin K (identical to lovastatin). Monacolin content of a red yeast rice product is described in a 2008 clinical trial report.[4]

REGULATORY RESTRICTIONS: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) position is that red yeast rice products that contain monacolin K, i.e., lovastatin, are identical to a drug and thus subject to regulation as a drug. In 1998, the FDA initiated action to ban a product (Cholestin) containing red yeast rice extract. The U.S. district court in Utah allowed the product to be sold without restriction. This decision was reversed on appeal to the U.S. District Court. (Moore, 2001) (see Further Reading: PDRhealth). Shortly thereafter the FDA sent Warning Letters to companies selling red yeast rice. For a few years the product disappeared from the market.

In 2003 red yeast rice products began to reappear in the U.S. market. As of 2010 there are at least 30 brands available. Many of these avoid the FDA restriction by not having any appreciable moncolin content. Their labels and websites say no more than "fermented according to traditional Asian methods" or "similar to that used in culinary applications." The labeling on these products often says nothing about cholesterol. If they do not contain lovastatin, do not claim to contain lovastatin, and do not make a claim to lower cholesterol they are not subject to FDA action (no function, no foul). Two reviews confirm that the monacolin content of red yeast rice dietary supplements can vary over a wide range, with some containing negligible monacolins.[5][6] In 2007 the FDA sent Warning Letters to two dietary supplement companies. One was making a monacolin content claim about its RYR product and the other was not, but the FDA noted that both products contained monacolins. Both products were withdrawn.[7][8] The FDA also issued a warning press release (see Further Reading; FDA 2007). The crux of the release was that consumers should “…not buy or eat red yeast rice products…may contain an unauthorized drug that could be harmful to health.” The rational for “…harmful to health…” was that consumers might not understand that the dangers of monacolin-containing red yeast rice might
be the same as those of prescription statin drugs.

The FDA efforts to control this market have not been entirely effective. As noted above, many RYR products are sold in the U.S., including store brands at major pharmacy chains. In addition to the vague label statements quoted above, some labels and websites infer cholesterol-lowering function by having user warning language similar to prescription statin drugs and by being combined with coenzyme Q10, a dietary supplement recommended for people who are using a prescription statin drug. National Business Journal estimated 2008 sales in the U.S. at $20 million dollars (compared to billions for prescription statins). Outside the United States, red yeast rice products are available in a number of countries. For example, Hypercol is approved for sale in Singapore, Malaysia, New Zealand, and Norway. Xuezhikang (血脂康) is sold in China as a prescription drug. The European Union situation is as follows: Hecht-Pharma GmbH started selling RYR capsules in Germany in 2002. Sales were banned in December 2002 by the Bezirksregierung Luneburg on the grounds that this was a medicinal product. After a series of appeals it was ruled on 15 January 2009 that RYR can be sold in the EU. Of note: the court ruled that the definition of a medicinal product as dictated by Directive 2001/83/EC and amended by Directive 2004/27/EC does not apply if the product in question has not been scientifically
established to have any function and even if the product in question contains known active substances (in this instance RYR containing monacolin K at 1.33 to 3.99 mg/day) as long as those substances are not in sufficient amount to restore, correct or modify physiological functions when used as directed.

CLINICAL EVIDENCE: The amount typically used in clinical trials is 1200-2400 mg/day of red yeast rice containing approximately 10 mg total monacolins of which half are monacolin K. This does raise a question about the function of the other monacolins and non-monacolin compounds in the products, as the monacolin K content is lower than what is usually considered effective for lovastation (20-80 mg/dy). In 2006 Liu et al. published a meta-analysis of clinical trials. The article cited 93 published, controlled clinical trials (91 published in Chinese). Total cholesterol decreased by 35 mg/dl, LDL-cholesterol by 28 mg/dl, triglycerides by 35 mg/dl, and HDL-cholesterol increased by 6 mg/dl. The incidence of reported adverse effects ranged from 1.3% to 36%.[9] Of the clinical trials reviewed in the meta-analysis, the only study conducted in the United States reported a 22% reduction of LDL-cholesterol after 12 weeks.[10]

Subsequent to the 2006 meta-analysis there are a number of articles reporting on a massive trial conducted in China: the China Coronary Secondary Prevention Study (CCSPS). Close to 5000 post-heart attack patients were enrolled for an average of 4.5 years to either receive a placebo or a RYR product named Xuezhikang (血脂康). Key results: in the treated group risk of subsequent heart attacks was reduced by 45%, cardio deaths by 31%, and all-cause deaths by 33%. Some of the articles report on subsets of the population, i.e., just diabetics or just hypertensives.[11][12][13][14][15][16] Xuezhikang (血脂康) is a patented-process (U.S. patent #6,046,022), ethanol extract of red yeast rice, with a monacolins content of approx. 0.8%. In China and Singapore it is sold as XueZhiKang or as Lipascor.

SAFETY: The safety of red yeast rice products has not been established. As commercial products will have differing amounts of monacolins, and rarely declare this content on the label, defining risk is difficult. Ingredient suppliers have also been suspected of "spiking" red yeast rice preparations with purified lovastatin. One analysis reported several commercial products as being almost entirely monacolin K rather than the expected composition of many monacolin compounds.[17] Statin drugs are known to cause muscle and liver damage. This is why they are prescription drugs rather than over-the-counter, and with recommendations that the patients' physicians schedule liver function tests on a regular basis. There are a number of case reports in the literature of red yeast rice usage resulting in muscle myopathy and liver damage.[18][19][20][21][22][23][24] In 2009 Becker et al reported on a U.S. trial that enrolled 62 patients with known statin-associated myalgias. Half got a RYR product (3600 mg/day; 13 mg monacolins; 6 mg monacolin k) for 24 weeks and half a placebo. In the treated group LDL-cholesterol declined 21%. Two patients dropped out because of myalgia, 1 for diarrhea, and 1 for dizziness. In the placebo group one dropped out for myalgia. Creatine phosphkinase increased slightly in the treated group (from 122 to 128 IU/L) versus decreasing with placebo
(117 to 101 IU/L) but the shifts were not statistically significant. For those who completed the trial, subjective muscle pain scores were similar for the two groups.