What is Tapai?
Tapai is a food served mainly in eastern and southeast Asia and in the Philippines. It consists of starch, such as rice that has been fermented for days until a sweet taste develops and sugars have been converted into alcohol. Sweet Tapai is considered a treatment or dessert in many areas and can be complemented by other sweet foods such as coconut or dried fruit. Although food is usually made of sticky rice, it can also be made by fermenting regular rice, root of cassava, bananas or sweet potatoes. Upon completion, Tapai is traditionally packed in banana sheets for storage or sale on the market. By using a collection of bacteria, yeast and molds, the starch in food is converted into other forms such as sugar and alcohol. This is most often done using a product known as ragi . Ragi is a piece of dried, uncooked rice that has a powder and mixed with water and various other ingredients, so it can support yeast and bacteria and create a dry and solid appetizer. Ragi is used by the fact that JEho crushes into food to be fermented, and transmit all the starting cultures that are held in it.
Food types used to produce Tapai usually have a large number of starch. This is because starch is what cultures use as food and what is converted to provide taste. Selected food, whether it is rice, potatoes or root of the cassava, is first cooked until the soft and natural elements inside have developed. After the food is cooled to room temperature, the ragi is added and the whole mixture is placed in a container where it is allowed to ferment for three or more days.
As Tapai ferment, sugars evolve to be sweeter and also begin to secrete the liquid that collects at the bottom of the container. Thecapaline is actually an alcoholic rice wine and the amount produced directly is directly related to the amount of starch in the food that ferments. The longer the fermentation of the progress of the procedure hasVat, the more alcoholic Tapai will happen. During fermentation, there is a point where the character of the food changes and causes the sweet taste to turn into an acidic taste when the mixture begins to dominate certain acids. Although some people consider it desirable, others feel that it means that Tapai has spoiled.