Breakthrough Beverages: Healthier Alcohol?

It’s unimaginable for most of the world nowadays to live a life with absolutely no alcohol.

It is easier for those who’ve never had it as you can’t miss what you don’t know. As for those who have made it a part of their lives – wouldn’t it be great if there was an added benefit to drinking like longevity, instant success, super powers… and here’s where we draw the line. We’re probably a few generations behind such augmentations, but recently, two PhD students have with the help of their professor created functional libations with healthy advantages. We speak with Chua Jian Yong, Alcine Chan and Associate Professor Liu Shao Quan to get some of our questions answered. 

Sachi (Tofu whey wine)

Sachi is a tofu whey wine; the project of Chua Jian Yong (CJY), Food Science & Technology Programme, National University of Singapore. With aims to eliminate wastage stemming from tofu production, Chua has decided to find a way to make this into wine for consumption.

DD: What made you decide to use tofu?

CJY: We were thinking of making use of tofu byproducts; I am using the whey and my colleague is dealing with okara the solid by-product. Tofu whey is another product that is commonly overlooked in the research area; if you Google tofu whey utilisation, there is not much research done on it. So, there is an opportunity for us to explore this area and figure out how to convert them into edible food products. My final year project during my undergraduate years was on durian wine fermentation which gave me some knowledge on fermentation and alcohol production. So, when it comes to my Ph.D., I wanted to give this a shot and it surprisingly turned out well.

DD: How did the name sachi come about?