Check out some obscure facts about sake – from pairing it with Singapore food, to bathing in it for good skin – compiled with the help of Japanese sake sommelier Ayumi Fujishiro.

The 28-year-old is one of only two official lecturers of the Sake Service Institute – Japan’s leading organised body for sake sommelier certification – based in Singapore.

Cook with or bathe in sake

Yes, you read that right. Besides drinking sake, the Japanese rice wine can be used in the bath tub – and there are benefits of doing so, Fujishiro says.

“In Japan, we put it in bathtubs when we take a bath so that [our] skin becomes amazingly beautiful,” she says.

You can also use sake to make garlic sauce for steak, to marinate karaage (Japanese fried chicken), and to steam fish and clams as the wine does a good job at removing the fishy taste, she says.

So there’s no reason for you to store the beverage if you can’t finish drinking it.

Pair sake with Singaporean food

The traditional Japanese wine goes well with a few of the most iconic food dishes offered in Singapore, Fujishiro says.

It can be paired with Lion City favourites such as satay, roti prata (an Indian-influenced flatbread dish) or bak chor mee (minced meat noodles).

Specifically, junmai or junmai ginjo – which are different types of sake – taste best when paired with strong-flavoured Singapore food, such as laksa and chilli crab, she says.

“Sake is made with rice so it is obvious that sake goes well with food,” she says. “Rice can go well with everything – salty, sour, spicy, bitter and sweet.”

... but only certain sake and food pairings work

It’s widely known that only certain food dishes and alcoholic beverages make ideal pairings, for example steak and red wine. And sake is no exception, Fujishiro says.

Sashimi (thinly-sliced raw fish or meat) and seafood such as steamed or grilled fish should be paired with junmai ginjo, ginjo, honjozo – all different types of sake.

Meanwhile, strong-flavoured meats, such as steak or yakitori (Japanese skewered chicken) should be eaten with tokubetsu junmai or junmai, which are stronger sake types.

She said that generally, having sashimi with junmai dai ginjo – a type of sake which may taste excessively fruity or sweet – would leave an undesirable fishy taste in one’s mouth.

Similarly, pairing Wagyu beef with the same type of sake would result in an overpowering beefy taste, which makes it difficult to savour the sake flavour.

Expensive sake doesn’t mean good quality

Higher quality red wine usually costs more. But when it comes to sake, this notion does not apply.

Fujishiro says the list of ingredients will show if a bottle of sake is of higher quality.

If it is made only with rice, water and perhaps some yeast, without any other chemicals, it is quality sake, she says.

Don’t keep sake for too long

Fujishiro says she is often asked how long a bottle of sake can be kept after it has been opened.

Ideally a bottle of sake should be consumed within a week after being opened, but shelf life varies depending on the type of sake, she says.

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This article originally appeared on Business Insider.

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